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The Conversation with Dasha Burns

The untold story of Trump's botched impeachments

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

News, Government, Politics

4.01.6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2022

⏱️ 66 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s hard to imagine a political event that was covered more intensively in real time than Trump’s two impeachments. But only now, 18 months after the Senate acquitted Trump a second time, we are learning crucial new details about what happened behind the scenes of those proceedings. And only now are we starting to reckon with what those two failed impeachments have wrought for Congress, the presidency, and the Constitution — and who was responsible. That reckoning comes courtesy of Playbook’s own Rachael Bade and Washington Post national security reporter Karoun Demirjian, who on Oct. 18 will publish “Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress's Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump.” It’s an unsparing look at the characters, the calculations and, frequently, the cowardice that shaped Congress’s dealings with Trump — and how the results have likely changed impeachment forever. On this week’s Playbook Deep Dive, Rachael and Karoun talk extensively about their book and its provocative argument with Playbook editor Mike DeBonis. It’s a reunion for the trio, who covered Capitol Hill together at the Washington Post and watched closely as Congress struggled to hold Trump to account. They discuss why “Unchecked” is an unapologetically “both sides” book, how congressional leaders’ public rhetoric rarely matched private reality, and just how many impeachment articles President Joe Biden might be facing if Republicans take the House. Mike DeBonis is Playbook's editor for POLITICO.Rachael Bade is Playbook's co-author for POLITICO. Karoun Demirjian is a national security reporter at The Washington Post.Afra Abdullah is an associate producer for POLITICO audio.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.Brook Hayes is senior editor for POLITICO audio.Adam Allington is senior producer for POLITICO audio. Jenny Ament is executive producer for POLITICO audio.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Well, this is not what I envisioned at all.

0:03.4

I thought it was much smaller, this room.

0:06.2

Behind every grand congressional hearing room,

0:08.9

like here in the Longworth House office building,

0:11.8

there's a back room where history is secretly made.

0:15.0

We've heard the descriptions of this room.

0:17.2

Yeah, I've been in the library several times,

0:19.6

there's never been any.

0:21.0

I met Rachel Baden, current emergent

0:22.8

in one of these back rooms.

0:24.4

In this case, a small wood paneled library,

0:26.9

replete with leather bound books

0:28.6

and a marble fireplace.

0:30.3

Just outside is one of the most iconic spaces in the capital.

0:33.5

It's technically the ways and means committees hearing room,

0:36.2

but it's also where house leaders go

0:37.8

when they want to make a splash.

0:39.6

It's a room, in fact, that played a crucial role

0:42.1

in both a former president, Donald Trump's two impeachments.

0:45.8

It's the room where the Trump impeachment investigations

0:49.2

were introduced to the country.

0:50.3

Everybody who tuned their TVs into watch

...

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