Now his family was in danger, hidden in the ceremonial office of the majority Whip Steny Hoyer, while the rebels surrounded the chamber of the Chamber. Raskin’s chief of staff, Julie Tagen, who was with Tabitha and Hank, barricaded the door and took a bronze bust as a weapon in case anyone entered.
It was about an hour before the Capitol Police rescued them and they met with Raskin, he said in an extensive interview. The ordeal has only added to the trauma the Raskin family has suffered since their son Tommy died of suicide on December 31.
The events leading up to the president’s second impeachment are personal to Raskin.
“I chose a hellish time to take her daughter to work,” said Raskin, recalling the events of January 6. “After an extremely long and terrible day, I managed to send Tabitha and Hank home after 9:30 pm or 10:00 pm. He hugged them and said to Tabitha, ‘I promise it wouldn’t be like that the next time you come to Capitol.’ And she said, ‘Dad, there won’t be a next time.’ ”
Raskin stopped for a long moment, organizing his thoughts.
“These people have poisoned something precious in our political system,” he said, “and we have to recover and defend democracy with everything we have.”
‘We will see this to the end’
“It is a solemn and incredible skill,” said Raskin of his role. “It was also something that I had to discuss with my family. But let’s take care of that.”
Raskin has done his best to stay focused on the task at hand since his son’s death. Lawmakers and advisers who worked closely with Raskin say Tommy’s memory provided a kind of fuel for the congressman to move forward during the preparatory sessions, votes and plenary debates. After Tommy’s death, Raskin and his wife, Sarah Bloom Raskin, wrote a moving tribute to Tommy and all the people he inspired. Tommy was “an anti-war activist, a badass self-taught moral philosopher and progressive humanist libertarian and a passionate vegan,” they said.
At age 20, Tommy suffered from “an extremely painful and ruthless illness called depression,” wrote Raskin and his wife. “He left us this farewell note on New Year’s Eve: ‘Please forgive me. My illness won out today. Please take care of each other, animals and the poor around the world. With all my love, Tommy. ‘”
Raskin was reportedly forgiven for leaving after his son’s death, despite his role in defending the Electoral College a week away. But Raskin said he took his son’s departure message seriously to help him move on.
“Tommy left us a note,” said Raskin. “He had nothing there about taking time off.”
“I carried Tommy in my heart all the time,” said Raskin of his work on January 6. “Because of that, as much as I was terrified of the children and our republic, I felt encouraged and encouraged by my son’s strength and values.”
From law professor to congressman
The role of the main impeachment manager is one that Raskin has prepared for his entire career. Raskin was a professor of constitutional law at American University’s law school for more than two decades before turning to politics. He first served as a state representative in Maryland and then was elected to Congress in 2016.
Raskin said his decision to enter politics for the first time in 2006 was a familiar one: everyone voted. His children, he said, were a big part of his campaigns.
Rep. Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat and one of nine impeachment managers, said it was appropriate for Raskin to be the manager of the next trial instead of the first, because there is now more focus on the constitutional issues that are in Raskin’s home trial the rudder.
“Experiencing the kind of grief and loss he experienced and still having the same central impulse and sense of purpose to save our republic is just incredible,” said Neguse, who is close to Raskin. “It’s inspiring – it inspired me, it inspired fellow managers and I certainly think it was an inspiration across the country, certainly for members on both sides.”
Still, the rigor with which Raskin sought this round of impeachment left his colleagues concerned about his friend. The bond between impeachment managers goes beyond the professional. Several of the members are close friends of Raskin. Some of them served as witnesses to Raskin’s pain in the days shortly after his son’s death.
When the new Congress was sworn in on January 3, three days after Tommy’s death, Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, a close friend of Raskin’s, did not want to let him out of his sight. Together with Neguse, the three men spent the afternoon in Hoyer’s ceremonial office, where members appeared to pay their respects.
On some occasions, Cicilline said that he thought he might leave to make room for Raskin, but said he could not stand the thought of leaving Raskin alone. In the hours that followed, Cicilline watched Raskin tell one story after another about Tommy, telling his colleagues that Tommy was too bright and good for this world, a teacher and a student of the world. Tommy was teaching a course and, at the end of the semester, he corrected the assignments and wrote to each student that he had made a donation to a charity aligned with something that each student was interested in.
“In those moments when Jamie collapsed and you realized that all the brilliance of Jamie Raskin and all the dedication to the Constitution and the responsibilities we have as members of Congress – none of that can ease your pain,” said Cicilline, another of the nine impeachment managers. .
‘I care about him’
Behind the scenes, those who work closely with Raskin describe a motivated but democratic leader. People close to the process describe preparation sessions that include Raskin starting with the team before moving on to members. The meetings always end, the sources say, with Raskin thanking everyone for their uninterrupted work.
Raskin is used to being busy in Congress. He serves on five committees – far exceeding the duties of most members. But leading an impeachment trial amid a personal tragedy is a new challenge.
“That kind of dedicating yourself to this important work for our country, at a time when you could be focused on your own (dumb) broken heart, tells you everything you need to know about it,” said Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania, another Democratic impeachment manager.
Still, those involved told CNN that Raskin maintained his zeal for intellectual curiosity, holding meetings such as discussion sessions at a law seminar. In a recent test preparation session, Raskin asked the team to investigate the philosophical origins of labeling a crowd of crowds, knowing at first the author who led the research.
“We ended up having so many very intense discussions, the nine of us, all of us being lawyers, and I almost got the same feeling I had in law school,” said Del. Stacey Plaskett, Virgin Islands, another impeachment manager – who was also one of the Raskin’s students at law school. “He is able to really pull people’s thoughts out, contextualize them, summarize them, put them back in the group and see what their thoughts are.”
Plaskett said that Raskin is one of the reasons she is on the Chamber’s impeachment team: he played a significant role in her decision, after leaving law school, to become a prosecutor instead of taking a better-paid job, that took her to Congress.
In the days following Tommy’s death, colleagues say they made it clear to Raskin that at any time, if he feels overwhelmed by the task ahead, they are ready to intervene.
“What worries me is that beneath all that courage, strength and intellect he is a man who has lost his son,” said Cicilline, adding that she personally told Raskin to visit him if and when he needed a moment to breathe. Before his testimony before the House Rules Committee last week, Raskin accepted Cicilline’s offer, asking him to speak.
“I felt very honored,” said Cicilline. “I care about him as a friend.”