We have one hour together with susan rice. That will include 50 minutes for questions and answers so you have 45 minutes to think of killer questions and i am looking forward to hearing them. You all know ambassador rice. She served as president obamas u. N. Advisor and the National Security advisor. Previously, as the assistant cemetery of state for African Affairs under the bill Clinton Administration you also may know she has a book coming out soon. my story oflove things we are fighting for. It is not out for another week you can get it today and they will be signing copies of it after we are done here. That is at the festival of at 800 congress. They asked me to let you know. Book, because none of you have read it yet, let me give you a preview. It is a book in three parts. It is a book about ambassador rices personal story of family life. It is a book about her experience in government. And that is a book about the Obama Administration and her policies. Her excavations and thoughts in the Rearview Mirror about some of those thoughts. To me, one of my favorite parts about this book was the personal chapters and i want to spend some time talking about that. Friday and at is historic newsweek, i want to talk about the developments this week with the ukraine and the houses actions on opening impeachment inquiries. Then give us some time to talk about the book. Have closely followed everything that has happened this week. The transcript and the whistleblower complaints. I guess im curious to space on the information that is not publicly available. What would your next set of questions be . What do you want to know that we dont know yet . Susan thank you for doing this. Good afternoon, everybody. I am delighted to come back to the texas festival. And thank you for that very generous introduction. What a week and what a set of revelations. I think the most striking thing from my Vantage Point is that this is yet another particularly stark indication that we have a president who cares nothing for the National Interest and is all about his personal, political, and financial interests. It is there in black and white and that remarkable transcript. In that remarkable transcript. To put this in context, as you know im a ukraine has, for five years, been suffering from an invasion and occupation by russia. That war is still going on. There are ukrainian soldiers being killed every week. And the United States, as the and as anthe west adversary of russia at this stage by choice of putin, frankly, has been supporting ukraine economically, politically, and militarily with assistance to help it combat this russian aggression. What President Trump did, it appears, is to withhold congressionally appropriated , almost 400 million worth of military assistance of the ukrainians desperately need in order to come it seems, to extort information for a bogus that he could use against his political opponents domestically. It is an extraordinary interference in our democratic process. Sponsored by committee encouraged by, solicited by the president of the United States. And nowhere in that phone call does he talk to the new ukrainian president about the issues that have long concern the United States, russian aggression, sanctions, how to support the ukrainian government. None of that. What the president of ukraine can do to help donald trump advance his partisan political objectives. Do you believe it is within a president s purview to use military assistance as a lever to prod policy action . If it is policy action in service of u. S. National policy interest and goals. The United States has leverage. We employ sanctions we get aid, we dont. But we dont do it to advance the president s personal political interest. And we dont hide it. We do it openly and transparently and communicate to the world and the governments in question why we may be providing or withholding assistance. What is so striking about this is that it was not utilized to advance our National Interest. It was utilized to advance his personal political interests. And frankly, this is part of a pattern. It makes you have to go back and review very carefully what we learned about 2016. It makes you wonder about all of these other interactions that have seemed somewhat dubious. Whether it is within with mohammad bin salman of saudi arabia are any number of leaders. From kim jongun to other adversaries that he has praised and wonder what is underneath all of this. There are internal transcripts or notes from us all of those calls were meeting, if not all of them. As a former National Security im assuming you have always advocated the importance of the president or other foreign leaders having a modicum of privacy in their conversations. They are not to be made fully public so that there can be room for actual conversations. How do you balance those two interests . And the need for president s for leaders to have internal deliberations that are not entirely shared with the public versus what you are talking about here. Are you advocating for the transcripts or notes of President Trumps calls with mbs . To all be, with cc released to congressional investigators . Susan obviously, in normal times, there is utility in the communications between foreign leaders having a measure of confidentiality. These are not normal times. What is unprecedented is the president of the United States abusing his office. That is what is unprecedented. I care about all of these things you mentioned, but i care more about what we dont yet know about what the president of the that states has done behind closed doors that runs counter to u. S. National interest. This ukraine example is the perfect case. And recall the other problem. The other problem is, according to the whistleblower report, that instead of this transcript, which by the way we have not seen. Normally, there is a full, verbatim transcript. What they did instead of storing it in the normal system, which is protected and classified, even though there was no classified substance in the discussion. Instead of putting it where it normally resides, they hit it hid it on a highly sensitive and compartmented server that very few people in the u. S. Government have access to. In order to bear it bury it. Not have put it there unless they were legitimately and their contents classified. [inaudible] susan of course not. But it is rare that a normal conversation would be classified to the highest level. Is not impossible, but very rare. Even when two leaders are discussing classified information. Here is a case with there was nothing classified and it was moved to the most secure, sensitive server. The contents of those notes would never have been moved to the classified service system. Ok. I want to ask you another question for we get out of this before we get out of this. War there ever concerns about Vice President bidens dealings in ukraine . President trump has now raised issues. Was that ever an issue or serious concern inside the administration . Susan know, and let me explain why no, and let me explain why. There is an extreme distraction play here, to try and conflate hamas n did at the at obamas behest for transparent policy objectives, pushing back on corruption in a country with United States and allies were providing millions of dollars of economic assistance and trying to bolster this nascent democracy in ukraine. Vice President Biden made phone calls and took trips in support of that u. S. Policy objective. It was transparent, it was stated openly. It was backed by our western partners in the imf. There was no secrecy about it. They were not hiding the records and transcripts. It was all the basic work of diplomacy. To suggest that there is some equivalence between the president of the United States, this president , extorting a foreign leader to advance his andisan, personal interests the Vice President or president of the United States in biden or obama pursuing a policy that is open and transparent and backed that was pursuant to our interests is completely apples and oranges. Week,ore this past speaking about the book, i had asked you if you would take a sinceexcerpt to read nobody in the audience has had the chance to read the book yet. That kind of sets is in the mood for your experience and the story you wanted to tell the public. Would you do us the honor . Susan thank you, i would be delighted. Let me explain what this is. As margaret pointed out, the book is it has really got for parts. Four parts. Upbringing, my child history growing up in washington dc in the 60s and 70s and the story of my parents and grandparents on one side. The descendents of slaves in south carolina. On the other side, immigrants from jamaica coming to Portland Maine in 1912. And what they shared in common was this extraordinary commitment to education, to the american dream, arising and each generation bettering the next. That is the foundation in which. Was raised that it continues with a pretty bald discussion of my parents painful divorce your divorce. The second part is after my education. That is the section from which im going to draw an excerpt to read from you. Is about myd part time as National Security advisor, which often includes stories of bouncing motherhood. Read is the like to is a small story that occurred when i was assistant secretary of state for African Affairs. We are in 1998. I was a very young assistant secretary of state. I took the job at age 32. Most of my colleagues, the ambassadors who reported to me were 2030 years my seniors i was a brandnew, breastfeeding mother. Blush, not a particularly expectant leader of the zero bureau. We are on a trip in africa, small planes with three of my colleagues. Africaflying from south to angola. From victorino to rwanda, angola. Here. Take it from intent ps were intense and exhausting as we hopped on small, private planes. Commercial Airline Connections in africa were scarce, unreliable, and often dangerous. As an assistant secretary rather than a cabinet officials, i did not rate a dedicated military plane. We often least four or 60 seatller planes 6 propeller planes which were vulnerable to whether and mechanical challenges. It was a particularly memorable leg from Victoria South africa to rwanda and rwanda, angola. It required a refueling stop in rural namibia. We left early in the morning to arrive in angola by midday and go straight into meetings with senior officials. Along the way, we plotted our message to the angolans. The four of us sat close, almost toto. Toe to toe. John howard faced us, flying backwards on our tiny plan. It made for convenient conversation, but soon was to intimate. Too intimate. One hour into the flight, i felt clammy and weak. As my perspiration increased, my stomach turned over, signaling it was quite a discontent. I announced to my colleagues i was not feeling well. I reached for the airsickness bag, which thankfully was handy. With muffled apologies, i opened the bag. Apologies to you all is well. [laughter] and throughout the luminously. Up voluminously. To my horror, i felt my lap growing warm and wet. Bottom had a hole in the and i was covered in puke. My lightweight dress with polka dots, once ready for a meeting with the president of angola, was ruined. And i would have no time to change before our meeting. John,lash icon howard and ught howard anda john, standing there slackjawed. To withdrawough their shoes from the vomit pooling beneath us on the floor. As soon as i finished being sick and realize the gravity of the situation, there was only one thing i could do. Laugh hysterically. Kindly as friends, they all join me in howling at the insanity of the moment. But we still have the problem of the dress. And the leader of our delegation being a smelly, on presentable mess. We landed on a dirt patch in nowhere, namibia to refuel as planned. Pump, as a single gas waterhole with hose, and some rudimentary bathrooms. The men gave us some privacy as gail turned the hose on me and my dress. Sprang me down until i was thoroughly drenched in the desert. Into the then went bathroom to strip down and ensure we had washed away all signs of vomit. Confident we had succeeded, all that remained was for me to air dry over the ensuing couple hours. [laughter] [applause] welcome to high style diplomacy. Susan sounds fun working at the white house. Vomit on yourself, get hosed down and back to work. Died. F your parents you were some questions werent able to ask your parents anymore when you came up from the government. For father was an airman, your mother was a pell grant. How hard was it to find out that stuff and why did he want to share that stuff with the public . Experience, your experience both going through the tragedy of benghazi as a Public Servant and also your experience with how that played in the media and how Many Americans know your name now was part of your motivation to write the book and introduce yourself to the public. But why did you want to share your personal story with the public . And what did you learn that you did not know about your parents . Susan let me begin by sharing what i did this. , with this unusual background that i come from and the extraordinary privilege i have had to serve two president s and our country into different contacts and to represent the United States in the world and to keep us safe. I feel like i have learned some things along the way. From my family, from my upbringing, from my service that i want to share. That i think are valuable broadly to people who are trying to compete and thrive in unforgiving environments. And if they have been knocked down, to get back up. Forpersonally i felt that the years between benghazi in 2012, when i was characterized by the right as a villain and by the left as a victim, that i was really unable, until i left government, to do anything other than speak for the United States and the president. I did not have the ability to speak in my own voice until the story. Way,rubbed me the wrong because as he might discuss some of the critical lessons we learned from our parents is not to let anybody to find me for me. Advocated to be my own , my own champion, and my own spokesperson. And that overlays with some lessons on race, which we can potentially come back to. So if i was going to tell my own story, and i wanted to, i had to be honest. Book forot a selfpromotion, running for office some other kind of thing. But i have surely written an unorthodox book. Storyas a book to tell my in all of its dimensions. And that require talking about the painful stuff, but also enabled me to go back and spend time dissecting. An excavating some of these chapters in my life going back to my childhood and my parents divorce in particular. That i had just rushed through to keep trying to strive with excel, and do my best. And excel and do my best. It was a painful divorce, violent and terrifying. It shaped me in many ways because i was a little sevenyearold trying to mediate between my parents and protect my little brother. And i had wonderful parents, highly accomplished, brilliant, devoted, who gave me and my brother everything we could hope for but they had no business being married to each other. They broke up in a bitter way and put us through that experience in a very bitter, public custody battle and out of that, not only did i learn, for better or for worse, a Little Something about mediation and conflict resolution, but i learned that, you know, i could take a hit and keep going. I wouldnt let something that painful that early get me down. That was very valuable also down the road. You asked what i learned that i didnt know. Its interesting. I had a childs perspective on my parents breakup. With the process of writing this book, i actually saw the documentary records. I found my deceased fathers papers, legal depositions my parents had to provide in the course of their battle. And nobody should ever read the legal depositions of their divorced parents, its not pretty. But it was enlightening. Because i came to understand both their perspectives much more clearly and could digest them from the Vantage Point of a grownup who is married myself and has children. There was a lot that i learned. And im glad i had the opportunity to do it. Margaret your parents divorce was a foundational experience. You had another difficult experience, the you didnt know about it until later, i hope its ok for me to share this, its in the book, you actually would have been a twin. You had a brother and he was stillborn. And you learned about that many years later. Susan my mom and dad, as i said , one of the early indications they had no business being married was that my mother wanted kids and my father thought he didnt want kids and my mother got pregnant and my father blamed her for tricking him. And i was the product of that first trick, so to speak. It wasnt a trick. And it turned out that my parents learned that my mother was in fact bearing twins. And they had been living in nigeria when i was conceived, long story, i wont go there yet. And they were making their way back to the United States from west africa, flying thru paris. And they were on a plane crash, the plane took off, t. W. A. Aircraft took off and instead of lifting off it crashed nose down into the ground in, i guess, may of 1964. None of the passengers were killed. They all evacuated safely, including my parents, but it was a traumatic, emotional and physical experience for my mother. When they got back to the United States, she was on bedrest for much of the rest of her pregnancy. And when she came to deliver, my baby brother was stillborn and i survived. And i didnt know about that until i was 12. My parents i think had wanted to keep that from me until they thought i was old enough to appreciate it. But in the context of a heated fight that i was having with my mother as a 12yearo