My colleagues on both sides of the aisle look at the issue a little differently. I think the biggest difference yes, all thes different people that are trying to reduce gun violence in this country came together with one voice. I think that is the most important thing. I tried to do that years ago but cannot get everybody together. Between this job and trying to of supporterss together was extremely difficult. I am going to say mayor bloomberg made a big difference. Those that have been trying to change the gun safety laws we never had any money. Here you had mayor bloomberg saying he will support us to come together. That is what we are seeing now. We still have a long way to go as far as im concerned on the federal level. I happen to believe we should be working on the state level as we saw Washington State and colorado in this last election passing laws. If we can make the members here comfortable they are petrified of the nra. Please dont think that when the nra says something, they listen. We have to change that attitude. That there any other lobby has as much influence on other side of the aisle as the nra . Not really. I worked with the nra. We did get a bill passed. We Work Together to get it passed. That is through funding. They get more funding through the courts to upgrade their computer systems. Then there was some other gun groups out there that were going after the nra. They became very, very militant with their message again. They were scared. People thatot of earn a lot of money at the top of the nra. They get their money from the gun manufacturers. I dont understand what the government is not with us because gun safety should be one of their priorities. This was a signature issue for you but not the only issue you worked on during your time in congress. On the one hand, was a difficult reputationrough the of being an advocate for this to accomplish other goals you wanted to do . Actually not. Mainly because i know i keep going back to my nursing but my s alwaysan chairman respected a lot of the amendments that i was able to get through on the different committees. They saw me as an who i was. Yes, this is my issue and a lot of them probably wouldve liked to vote with me on reducing gun violence but that is not what they came here for. Reelection, my opponents would always say she is only a one issue candidate. I have always been proud to say that is absolutely right but at least i have an issue. Inont know any other woman his earth that only has one issue. When you look at the bills that did get past, they usually have to do with children. I chose to be on the Education Committee because i felt if i could work with Young Children in my district and across the country if there was a way of getting them not to go into s, most of these were underserved communities. I kept reminding my communities that mass killings were in the midwest where there was no minorities at all. My job was also to save the children and hopefully they grew up in other best opportunities in life. Among those pieces of legislation you sponsored, which are you most proud of . Gosh. Getting the bill passed with president bush signing it. That had to be one of my proudest moments because it was only bill passed in 14 years. The other bills had to do with the children and nutrition. I had a nutrition bill in education for years. It cannot get any traction. Mrs. Obama came and made that her main focus. With that being said, a number that schools got programs was like when i was a child. The mothers and grandmothers went into the kitchen and made fresh fruit for the children. It worked out terrific. The program took a year. To have that bill signed, working with the late senator kennedy, i was like, wow. You can accomplish a lot. Im sure even the majority of my constituents have no idea how many bills i got passed. Biggest flaws probably you do something, you get it passed and you moved on. People ask what bills i got past and i would have to stop and think because i was already working on something else. Again, that is just the way i am. What would your message be to incoming members of congress about ways to be effective and getting legislation passed . Really get to know your colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Even if someone is totally against why you came in and what you were trying to do with your key piece of legislation. Find other ways. I can name a couple of my colleagues that nobody would ever think you could work with them. Its not true. Please, go ahead. Fox. I happen to like her. She was a head of a committee college. I had great inches with that because it had to do with education. We tried to Work Together with legislation and financial services. Things i believe in. Crash,ly after the great as i call it, we voted for tarp. There were some pieces of the legislation that needed to be fixed. Republicans and myself worked together to fix them. Dontter how you see, judge someone just because on the floor they are yelling and screaming. Find out what their interest is and work with them. I think that would make us a better congress. We are sitting in your office in what is going to be your last really few days here. The walls are getting pretty empty. Where is all your stuff going . Tulsa university. One of the universities in garden city approached me when i was announcing my retirement. I have worked with a Delphi University for many years. Getting them grants. Said theydown and would like to do in exhibit next spring. I am going, why . Really, why . They just about took everything. A lot of things will only be on loan to them. There are things i want to keep not for myself but hopefully for my grandchildren to look back and say wow, look at all the stuff she has. All of the photos. You can see all the holes covere d. Each one reminds you of the opportunities i had to travel overseas. I was part of nato. I had a love of history. Politicians know politicians all over europe and come back to educate my constituents on why we had to do something. There are things down here they took away was basically traveling. We have a lot of members that said they were so proud they did not have passports. If you look at what we do basis, members should get to know why they are voting for something. Membership knows the money that we spend, especially in third world countries, how that helps them to grow and be lifted up to be selfsustaining. We have seen that. The rolled bank or the International Policy fund you give 100 to a woman to open up her own business to become selfsustaining. That is wonderful. I am so proud to see something that has grown over the years because we were part of it. The United States of america was part of it. I know my constituents why are we giving all this money away . It is not like we are giving it away. We are trying to make those countrys selfsustaining so we would not have to give them so much money in the future. That has happened. Elections for the leadership for the new congress. Questions asked of mrs. P and the the press freshman of the Leadership Team whether you need to do be younger voices or a group of leaders. How we wereng thinking about the institution you are leaving behind and the Leadership Team. Are they equipped for it . I think they are but i also think we have a lot of talented younger members. It is not just, by the way, mrs. Pelosi. I think she has been a great leader and is really good at raising money. That is not one of my fortes. But, they need to start training younger people into the caucus to become hopefully the future leaders. That ithe things certainly believe with all my heart and soul you have to know when to leave. Nancy obviously does not feel this is the time to leave. Many thought she might stay for maybe this coming year. Hopefully, turn the reins over to somebody else. When i look around, is anybody really ready to replace her . It is a hard job. I give her a lot of credit for what she is been able to do. But, i think it is time the leaders start looking at who is going to fill my spot . We are all replaceable. There might be some bumps in the road but i always believe it is time to see younger people take our spots with fresh ideas. I see nothing wrong with that. That is a normal progression. Saying that your family want you back home what are your own intentions about what your life will be . Do you intend to stay involved in the elective politics or helping the party in any way . I dont know if i will stay in the politics of it. Which im hoping to do am making plans to do is to go into some of the colleges and educate. I think i can give a great voice to those who are taking political science. What they read about in the books is not real. We get interns here from all the local universities. After they are here for three weeks, they say this is nothing like what we are learning in school. Interns ask the young if they are republican or democrat. I dont even ask my staff. Because i think they need to learn that whether it is republican issue or democratic issues, what is best. I look to give them the knowledge i have learned all of these years. I am probably going to dip my hand a little bit into nursing and teaching nursing. Teach nursing. I dont want to say teach nursing. I want to say with all the technology that is out there that is terrific for the patients, you still have to go back to holding that patients hand. You have to go back and educate the family if it is all right to touch the patient or hold them, work with them. That makes the patient heal so much faster. I know i keep going back to it but that is what i do here with my colleagues. They always said if you want a friend, get a dog when you work down here. I did not find that at all. Republicans and democrats would call me. They would send me cards, flowers. I am a gardener. I loved it. But, i can say that you have to reach out if you want friendship down here. I know everybody gets tied up with going to the receptions in the evening. You have to do some of that stuff. Take time out to thank you for your patience. I have a statement at the very beginning and then i will be happy to answer some questions. I would likeemost, to extend my deepest symbol these to the family of Michael Brown. As i have said in the past, i know that regardless of the circumstances here, they lost a loved one to violence. I know the pain that accompanies such a loss knows no bounds. On august 9, Michael Brown was shot and killed by Police OfficerDarren Wilson. Within minutes, various accounts of the incident began appearing on social media. The town was filled with speculation and little if any solid accurate information. Anger beganiately, brewing because of the various descriptions of what had happened and because of the underlying tensions between the Police Department and a significant part of the neighborhood. The st. Louis county Police Conducted an extensive investigation of the crime scene. Under varying trying circumstances and erupted very at least once by gunfire. Continuing after that, they along with the agents of the fbi at the direction of attorney general eric holder, located numerous individuals and gathered additional evidence and information. Fully aware of the unfounded but growing concern in some parts of our community that the investigation and review of this tragic death might not be fair, i decided immediately that all of the physical evidence gathered, all people claiming to have witnessed any part or all of the shooting, and any and all other related matters would be presented to the grand jury. Community of this selected by a judge in may of this year long before the shooting occurred. I would like to briefly expand upon the unprecedented cooperation of the local and federal authorities. When attorney general holder first announced the investigation just days after the shooting, he pledged that federal investigators would be working with local authorities as closely as possible at every step of the way and would follow the facts wherever it may take us. We both pledged are separate investigations will follow the trail of facts with no preconceived notion of where that journey would take us. The only goal was that our investigation would be thorough and complete to give the grand jury, the department of justice and ultimately, the public all Available Evidence to make an informed decision. All evidence obtained by federal authorities was immediately shared with st. Louis county investigators. All evidence gathered by st. Louis county police was immediately shared by the federal investigators. Additionally, the department of justice conducted its own examination of evidence and performed its own autopsy. Atther autopsy was performed request of the brown family and his information was also shared. Just as importantly, all testimony before the st. Louis county grand jury was immediately provided to the department of justice. Although the investigations are separate, both of the local and federal government have all of the same information and evidence. Our investigation and presentation of the evidence of the grand jury and st. Louis county has been completed. The most significant challenge encountered in this investigation has been the 24hour news cycle and the sensational appetite for something to talk about. Following closely behind with the rumors on social media. I recognize the lack of accurate detail surrounding the shooting frustrates the media and the general public and helps breed suspicion among those already stressed out by the system. The close regarded details gives Law Enforcement yardstick to measure the truthfulness. Eyewitness accounts must always be challenged and compared against the physical evidence. Many witnesses to the shooting of Michael Brown made statements inconsistent with other statements they made and also conflicted with the physical evidence. Some were completely refuted by the physical evidence. An example before the result of an autopsy was released, witnesses claim they saw officer wilson stand over Michael Brown and fire many rounds into his back. Others claim that officer wilson shot mr. Brown in the back as mr. Brown was running away. However, once the autopsy findings were released showing Michael Brown had not sustained any wounds to the back of his body, no additional witnesses made such a claim. Several witnesses adjusted their stories in their subsequent statements. Some even admitted they did not witness the event at all but merely repeated what they heard in the neighborhood or assumed. Fortunately for the integrity of our investigation, almost all of initial witness interviews, including those of opposite wilson were recorded. The statements in the testimony of most of the witnesses were presented to the grand jury before the autopsy results were released by the media and before several Media Outlets publish information from reports they receive from a d. C. Government official. Priorrors were therefore to the release of the information being public and what followed in the new cycle the jurors were able to assess the credibility of the witnesses, including those witnesses who statements and testimony remained consistent throughout every interview and were consistent with the physical evidence. My assistants begin presented to the grand jury on august 23 the evidence was presented in organized an orderly manner. The jurors gave us a schedule of when they could make. Presenturors were for every session and heard every word of testimony and examined every item of evidence. Beginning august 20 and continuing until today, the grand jury worked tirelessly to examine and reexamine all of the testimony of the witnesses and all of the physical evidence. They were extremely engaged in the process asking questions of every witness, requesting specific witnesses, requesting specific information and asking for certain physical evidence. They met on 25 separate days in the last three months, heard more than 70 hours of testimony from about 60 witnesses and reviewed hours and hours of recordings of media and Law Enforcement interviews by many of the witnesses who testified. They heard from the three medical examiners and experts on blood, dna, toxicology, firearms and drug analysis. The examined hundreds of photographs, some of which they asked to be taken. The examined various pieces of physical evidence. They were presented with five indictments ranging from murder in the first degree to involuntary manslaughter. Their burden was determined based upon all of the evidence androbable cause existed that Darren Wilson was the person to commit the crime. There is no question that Darren Wilson caused the death of Michael Brown by shooting him but the inquiry does not end there. The loft arises a Law Enforcement officer used deadly force in certain situations. To use allows all people deadly force to defend themselves in certain situations. The grand jury considered whether wilson was the initial aggressor. In this case are whether there was probable cause to believe that Darren Wilson was often arise as a Law Enforcement officer to use deadly force in this situation or if he acted in selfdefense. I detail this for two reasons. First, so that everybody will know that as promised by me and attorney general holder, there was a full presentation of all evidence an appropriate instruction to the grand jury. Second, as a caution to those in and out of the media who will pounce on a single sense or witness and decide what should have happened in this case based on that tiny bit of information, the duty of the grand jury is to separate fact from fiction. After a full and impartial examination of all the evidence involved and decided that evidence supported the filing of any criminal charges against aaron wilson, they accepted the responsibility. It is important to note and say again that they are the only who havehe only people heard and examined every witness and every piece of evidence. Debated theed and evidence among themselves before arriving at their collective decision. After their exhaustive review, the grand jury deliberated and made their final decision. No probablened that cause exists to file any charges against officer wilson and return a no true