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Sen. Tammy Duckworth on watching rioters wave the American flag while attacking the Capitol

By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
and
Kristen Bellstrom
Kristen Bellstrom
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By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
and
Kristen Bellstrom
Kristen Bellstrom
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 14, 2021, 8:57 AM ET
VetsAid Charity Benefit Concert
FAIRFAX, VA - SEPTEMBER 20: U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth speaks at the VetsAid Charity Benefit Concert at Eagle Bank Arena on September 20, 2017 in Fairfax, Virginia. VetsAid is a foundation created by rock legend Joe Walsh to support veterans and their families. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images)Paul Morigi—Getty Images

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Jane Fraser makes her mark on Citigroup, the House impeaches President Trump, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth tells us what it was like to be in the Capitol as the pro-Trump mob broke down the doors. Have a great Thursday.

– Inside the attack on the Capitol. History was made last night when the House of Representatives voted 232 to 197 to impeach Donald Trump—making him the only U.S. president to be impeached twice.

The charge is “incitement of insurrection,” a reaction to last week’s attack on the Capitol, when a mob of the President’s supporters violently stormed into the building in an attempt to derail the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

One of the lawmakers at the Capitol that day was Senator Tammy Duckworth, who spoke to Emma about what that unimaginable experience was like. Duckworth said she was not on the Senate floor when the building was breeched—she’d been in the underground tunnels on her way there to speak when Capitol Police informed her of what happening above ground. She rerouted to a secure location, where she rode out the attack.

Duckworth is an Army veteran who served in the Iraq war, where she was injured in an attack on a helicopter she was piloting, losing both her legs. Her experience both as a soldier and as someone who uses a wheelchair are evident in how she reacted to the danger of the moment. She tells Emma that she, “always know[s] where the back way out of a room is….And I knew that I could take care of myself.”

From her preparation (“I always carry provisions in my backpack—water, aspirin, Tylenol, power bars”), to her presence of mind (“I knew the best thing we could do was to stay out of [the Capitol Police’s] way—to be one less factor for them to worry about”), to her calm consideration of how to face such a situation in a wheelchair (“There are multiple doors into the floor of the Senate chambers, but I can only really go in and out of the doors behind the dais. I can only use the elevators”), it’s hard to imagine anyone handling a crisis with more grace.

Duckworth’s military background also brought a special sting to the moment. She says:

“…it was really frustrating to me to see people carrying the American flag—the same flag I wore on my uniform when I went into combat— but they were carrying the flag to attack our Capitol and to try to basically overthrow the Constitution.”

The senator tells Emma that she believes the insurrectionists should face consequences for their actions—as should the President. And now that the House has had its say, Duckworth will likely have a chance to cast her vote on that subject later this month, when the Senate is expected to begin its impeachment trial.

Kristen Bellstrom
kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com
@kayelbee

Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe. 

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Making her mark. At Citigroup, incoming CEO Jane Fraser is restructuring the bank's wealth management offerings. Citi will combine into one unit its "high-end private bank for the ultrarich" and its wealth-management offerings for less affluent clients. The strategy allows the bank to "get clients earlier and keep them as they grow richer." Wall Street Journal

- Mentorship for mentors. In her Fortune column "Smarter Working," S. Mitra Kalita writes about the future of work. In this edition, Kalita offers seven ways to improve as a mentor, from helping mentees with "issues of chemistry" to making sure to uplift Black and brown talent. Fortune

- Listen up. Today's episode of the Fortune Brainstorm podcast features Cisco chief people officer Fran Katsoudas discussing employee mental health. Listen to learn about how companies' thinking on this issue is changing as startups, simultaneously, are trying to disrupt mental health care. Fortune

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: BlackRock cofounder Barbara Novick will retire as vice chair and become senior adviser, a year after she first tried to retire but stayed on because of the coronavirus pandemic. Stripe hired former LinkedIn CMO Shannon Brayton as global head of communications. NFL chief administrative officer Dasha Smith joins the Beautycounter board; Unilever vet Gina Boswell will become the board's chair. Vertical farming company Plenty promoted Megan Gillespie to VP of farm operations. Anne Swan, former senior creative executive of Dear Future joined Prosek Partners as chief creative officer. Former Axiom CEO Elena Donio joins the board of Databricks. Graph database company Neo4j hired Publicis Groupe's Kristin Thornby as VP of people. Northpond Ventures promoted Andrea Jackson to director and hired Lily Li as principal and Saramaya Penacho as director of PR & communications.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Abortion decision. A Supreme Court decision on Tuesday will again require women seeking medication abortions to pick up prescriptions in person—a requirement that had been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. The three liberal justices all dissented. Guardian

- Ireland apologizes. Ireland is reckoning with its treatment of unmarried women and their children in the 20th century. Prime Minister Micheál Martin apologized for the country's "profound failure of empathy, understanding and basic humanity" at "mother and baby homes" run by the state and the Catholic Church, where infant mortality was double the national average. Washington Post

- Pros and cons. Many women, unemployed during the pandemic, have turned to the platform OnlyFans, where they post nude photos and videos in an attempt to earn income. Some creators on the platform earn thousands of dollars a month, while others say they've only made a few hundred—and are worried about the potential for the photos to follow them to future jobs. New York Times

ON MY RADAR

Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment dress makes a dramatic return The Daily Beast

Why is celebrity weight loss so complicated? BuzzFeed

Period tracking app Flo settles FTC data sharing allegations Bloomberg

A bitter pill Marie Claire

PARTING WORDS

"I never want to be that girl again, and I don’t want anybody to experience that."

-R&B artist Jazmine Sullivan on being in an abusive relationship—and what inspired her to make her album

About the Authors
Emma Hinchliffe
By Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

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Kristen Bellstrom
By Kristen Bellstrom
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