

KELLY: And connect for me how it was in your head this year. But that note is just pregnant with meaning, and it is indeed the roadmap for the rest of my life. And Tommy left us a huge number of beautiful essays and poems and plays and speeches. And every day, I find new things in that note. RASKIN: It's the last thing we see when we go to bed. And it's the first thing that Sarah and I read every morning when we wake up. Look after each other, the animals and the global poor for me. RASKIN: Tommy said to us, please forgive me. He wrote it in his final hours, which you say gave you the roadmap for the rest of your life. KELLY: Tommy left you a note, left it behind. JAMIE RASKIN: Thank you for that, Mary Louise, and thank you for having me on your show. And then when that effort was behind him, he sat down and wrote about it all in a new book titled "Unthinkable," which includes the line, quote, "if a person can grow through unthinkable trauma and loss, perhaps a nation may too." Congressman Raskin, welcome, and may I say, I am sorry for your loss. Well, instead if retreating into his grief, he decided to channel it, to lead the impeachment effort against President Trump for inciting the violence. Capitol as it was attacked and ransacked by a mob of Trump supporters. The very next day, January 6, Jamie Raskin was at the U.S. And to understand how those two facts thread together, you need to know this - that one year ago today, Raskin buried his only son, Tommy Raskin, who had just died by suicide.

Raskin is a Democratic congressman from Maryland. Each year, we bring nearly 500 events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy to our members and the public, both in-person and via extensive online and on-air listenership and viewership.It is hard to wrap your head around just how difficult a year Jamie Raskin has just lived through. The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. The leading national forum open to all for the impartial discussion of public issues important to the membership, community and nation. This program is part of our Good Lit series, underwritten by the Bernard Osher Foundation. Please join us as congressman Raskin recounts his moving story of balancing tragic personal loss and appalling political violence simultaneously, and how he found hope to press on in his darkest moment to continue fighting for American democracy. A professor of constitutional law at American University Washington College of Law, chair of the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and co-chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, Raskin has been a leading voice in Congress for executive accountability and electoral integrity. Raskin has served as an elected official in Maryland since 2007 and represented its 8th Congressional District since 2017.
Jamie raskin loss trial#
Raskin and his nine-member team were able to lead the most bipartisan impeachment trial ever conducted. Facing division and the tremors of a nation rocked to its core, Rep. In his new memoir, Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy, Raskin recounts that after the tragic loss of his son Tommy, it was Tommy’s values and vision for the country that provided him inspiration to not only weather the challenges of January 6 but to lead the ensuing impeachment trial of Donald Trump for inciting insurrection.

Raskin’s 45-day journey at the start of 2021 is an inspiring epic of strength, tragedy and determination. Having lost his son to suicide only days before, and days later leading the ensuing impeachment effort against Trump, Rep. The January 6 attack on Congress as it met to certify Joe Biden's presidential victory is a day that will live on in infamy, yet for Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin, this was just the next in a sequence of tragic events that changed his life forever.
