YouSaid · the spoken record

Abigail Spanberger

lines on the record: 90
first: 2020-03-09
most recent: 2020-03-09
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“There were moments when I thought I would never want my child to be doing this. I don't want my children to grow up and think this is a good idea. And so I don't know if that means that, you know, even I was on empty metros. I was on, you know, walking streets in foreign cities at very inopportune hours of the day in areas of town that no one would ever go to. So, you know, even if it's, you know, did I ever have a gun to my head? Absolutely not.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think anybody knows what they're signing up for when they marry someone who's choosing this life. We both joke that it's really excellent compartmentalization is key to it. I think it took its toll or certainly weight on him. But I think we both saw it as an adventure. I believe very deeply in what I was doing. Were there moments?”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is a great spot. And I have gotten legally my employment declassified. I have a cleared resume, so I know the general parameters of what I'm allowed to talk about. And so I would go out to meet foreign nationals who were providing information to the U.S. government. And there's a whole host of reasons why someone might choose to give information. There's a whole host of individuals that I was meeting with. I focused for a number of years on issues related to counterterrorism, nuclear proliferation, drug trafficking, particularly throughout Central America and Mexico, and then basic understanding for the leadership of foreign countries. And so I would at times, and when you would leave to go to one of these meetings, you would disconnect from any technology that could be used to track you. So I would always leave when I would go on trips, I would leave train schedules for my husband and say, okay, well, this is the train schedule. This is when I think I'll be home. If I get delayed here or there, this is when I'll be home. This is when you should probably wait up.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In kind of mid career 30s, and so I think I used to say that they took priority and I would drop to the bottom of the pile.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and there's also There's an age limit too. You can't join CIA, at least into the Director of Operations after 37. And so in this post 9 11 era, there were a lot of career changers, people coming.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The So I applied, I guess it was September. I guess it would have been 2002, and I had my job offer, my conditional offer December of 2002, and then ultimately it took until 2006 for my background check. So the conditional offer is conditional on your PsycheVal and your medical eval and your background check. And so I kind of hurtled through the first portions of that pretty quickly. And then my background check took forever. I had spent time overseas, but so do most CIA officers. I think if I am honest about it, it said I was very young. Person at the time, comparatively. This is post 9 11 surge hiring. And I spoke Romance languages in German. So I used to joke with them that I know that when they were sort of stacking all the papers, I'd say, oh, yeah, she's got time and would drop me to the bottom.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, so I applied across the board. And I went through the process for State Department, for Foreign Service. I went through the process with an SA, I went through the process with National Geospatial, and I really wanted to be a case officer. And I didn't necessarily know what that was, you know, from movies. You've got movies about being a case officer. I think for me, it was, that was the where I thought all of the things that I wanted to do would come together. And indeed, I was right. I mean, I don't know what the other alternatives would have been like, but it was certainly the right place for me.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because it's the best. I mean, spoken like a true CIA person. Yes. I don't know. And objectively, you know, I didn't know much about any of the agencies. Did they recover?”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's right. I moved to Germany and I spent a summer teaching English in Germany and then I entered a graduate program and got my MBA in a dual degree German program between a German institution and at the time it was a dual degree program with Purdue University's Cranard School of Management. And I was going to go through that program, work in Germany for a number of years. That was the plan. Perfect my German, use my business skills, and then go back home and be this great candidate for CIA with all this international experience. And then I was in grad school on 9-11. And I had the thought of, well, if this is what I want to be doing in five years, if I want to be serving my country in this way, in five years, I should be doing it now. And so instead of staying in Germany after I graduated, I moved to DC.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I applied right out of grad school, and then I had planned to right after what my goal had been was I was going to graduate undergrad, which I did. I moved to Germany, which I did.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, because for me, the privacy aspect of it, I wasn't, so I didn't find the element of being a public figure to be something that I thought would be suitable for what I like. Across that Rubicon, my friend. No, yeah. And so, I mean, I think it's...”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I guess it's one of those things you know what's out there based on what you see. My parents both were focused on service. My mother as a nurse and I had zero interest in going into the medical profession. My father was a public servant and believed very deeply in it. And I think for me, working for the government serving the country was something that I literally have a letter that my parents sent me for the new year, a letter they sent to my sisters and me that literally says the word there's no higher calling than service to country. Like it is literally something that they instilled in us very, very distinctly throughout my entire life.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But the means, well, there might be space for me to expand the means, at least for me to think through the means. And that's important. And I think that ultimately being able to talk to people you disagree with really at times very emotional, very important things is the skill set that brings value to our ability to make good legislation.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One, you have to build some level of a coalition, and certainly I have many colleagues who are never going to join me in my efforts on a particular piece of legislation. But it is super helpful to understand why they might disagree with me. Because if I can understand why somebody who's ideologically on the opposite side of the spectrum, what that person's problem is with something I'm proposing or a priority. Now, if they just totally disagree with the objective, that's good to know. But if they, in principle, think, okay, I don't think you're wrong about the objective, but.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would agree with you. I think the basic inability, or even you spoke to people sort of getting in trouble for having cross-political trouble. Yeah, political trouble. I think it's really unfortunate because I have very firmly held beliefs and I have things that I'm working for. But you have to build.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I remember his office being one of the most magical places because there were just books everywhere and things hanging on the walls everywhere. And Senator Thurman actually used to bring us chocolates from the members' dining room.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes. Yes. And even with us as teenagers, we were always captivated. And you knew the story was always going to get back to like, invest in your home, invest in America. But it would be like a mouse.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, but there was always a theme. So he would say, oh, you know, I've got stories. And he would tell us these incredibly elaborate stories. And at the end of the story, it always had the same theme, which is, the grass is not greener, this is your home, you build it, you make it stronger. And so, you know, but he was a fantastic storyteller because he would, as I remember it, speak slowly and proudly and calmly. Yeah.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia. He used to always tell us stories. And so he would, when he was walking either on or off the floor. Stories from”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Perhaps, yes. But I think that's an interesting thing because you see someone who's this larger than life character, and then they do something as human as doodling. Which is interesting.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Don't want to answer that. Well, some of the things that struck me at the time, like Ted Kennedy used to doodle all the time. And in the back off the Senate floor where we would wait when we weren't on the floor, we would take turns on the floor or off in this hallway. And he, you know, this is before cell phones. So people would take phone calls at these desks. And so I remember that we would just be. So awe struck that there would be Senator Kennedy who had this booming voice and he would be on the phone talking about whatever he was talking about, but when he would get up, he'd walk away and there'd be this piece of paper that had just doodles everywhere. And so it's interesting because that's...”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Print Clips of newspaper, which in the age of the internet probably isn't nearly as necessary. So we'd deliver the dailies and we'd run paper and it's interesting because from a child's perspective, I had the ability or teenagers perspective. Yeah, so a teenager's perspective, I had the ability to see all these people that I had seen on television and then engaging with them in a really were there people who...”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was really interesting. So you spend a semester of school living on Capitol Hill. You go to school very early in the morning, and it's an abbreviated study day. I think it's about two hours worth of classes, and you get your core English. It's about as much as I used to spend in a full day. But anyway. And then you over to the Senate and you sit on the Senate floor, literally sit on the Senate floor, and you learn everybody's water preferences, because indeed we spend a lot of our time getting the senator's water, at least at that time. And we would run around the Senate office buildings delivering the dailies. And I don't know if they still do this, but it was the written.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I was a child, and I don't remember ever being really worried because my mother was so forceful in her opinion that this is the right thing to do. And if you do the right thing. Full That's it.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, yes, my parents were, both my parents were always very strong Democrats, but politics centered more into the space with my mother. She had done a lot of work. Again, she worked in free clinics. She was always very focused on healthcare issues for a time when she, at the very early stages of the AIDS epidemic, would go see and chose to and would see the majority of the AIDS patients. And sometimes that was when not every healthcare provider understood the disease and felt more concerned. My mother felt it was her duty to be as engaged with A sick patient who needs her as any other patient. And she didn't, the lack of understanding that it existed around that virus at the time, I remember her saying it's my duty. They need me just as much as possible. Were you worried about it?”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, in fairness, they reciprocate. And so this young teenager had been a Senate page for Senator Moynihan, and he had pondered with my grandfather talking about this incredible experience. And my grandfather said, you have to figure out how to do this. Go talk to that boy over there. Learn all about his experience. I did. And so I thought it was super fascinating. And I got back home to Virginia and I wrote letters to at the time we had Senator Robb and Senator Sean Warner. And I also wrote letters to Senator Daschel because at the time Daschel was the Democratic leader and had the ability to kind of fill extra spots. So as I understood it at the time, Rob didn't have a consistent ability to appoint a page that was done by seniority, but I think I hounded enough of the enough U.S. senators that finally they gave Rob the spot.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I was a Senate page for Chuck Rob, and the way that I found out about that program is I was visiting my grandparents, who at the time had retired to upstate New York. And my grandfather, not the one who worked in the paint factory, my maternal grandfather, was always focused on world events. And so he always wanted to talk to me about world events, even when I was a very, very small child. He would give me reading lists, take out a pen and paper. I'm going to give you your reading list. So I take my reading list from my grandfather and usually, you know, make it through one or two books. But he had a neighbor where they retired in upstate New York. He had a neighbor who had been who had just returned from being a Senate page. I don't remember the senator at the time. He was in this teenager.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But my father is Davis and Hemhauser and my mother's family, they were brown, but originally bronze. So we have quite a few Germans in the family.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, Spanburgers may married name. That's my husband's name. Oh, I see, yeah. And yes. But his family's, it's a German name, but his family emigrated from Hungary.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They would speak, Dusty had some Spanish knowledge, but they would speak this whole conversation, and it wasn't something that I could understand. And then when I got a little bit older, there was an after school in Richmond in German. And so I forced my middle sister to take it with me. And so we had German names and I was Heidi and she was Giesela. And so we learned German songs. And I remember one time being in a hotel checking in. We were on vacation with my parents. And I said to Hillary, let's pretend we're German kids and we don't know our parents. Which I was clearly an aggravating child. And so we were sitting there and we were standing off in the corner of the hotel singing the song in German. And when our parents would come over, we're like, oh, yeah, nine. I mean, because we had very basic hello.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And I remember wanting so badly to be able to speak with Yolanda, so I got a book out of the library. And I remember at my own home and my parents speak English, you know, talking to my mother and saying, Comida. Agua and thinking I was so kind of worldly as I was attempting to learn these Spanish words. And then it went on from there. You know, I saw that they have this.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think this is the cause of it. I had a neighbor who lived behind us when we were kids, and Yolanda was she lived behind us and she would babysit us some afternoons. And her grandchildren, her grandchildren were about our ages. And so we would play with her grandkids. And she was just this warm, beautiful woman. But she didn't speak very much English. And so she would always talk to her grandkids. And the one who was my age was Dusty. So she would always speak to Dusty in Spanish. And I thought it was so amazing that there was this whole other way of communicating that I didn't know anything about.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Especially because a lot of the diary talked about my next door neighbor's little brother and my fourth grade crusher, whatnot. So that was unfortunate.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, well, this is the difference, sister. Oh, I see my baby sister, Meredith, is the one that I accidentally poisoned with food poisoning and shrimp. But it's my other sister, Hillary, who, you know, she's a problem solver herself. When we were kids, she found my diary. She couldn't yet read, so she thought it would be a great idea to take it next door and have our next-door neighbor read it and decipher it for her.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And my mom wasn't home, and they always talked about, my parents were always very clear that other people sometimes needed them more than we did. And then for a time, my mom volunteered at a series of free clinics that exist in the Richmond area. She also did home infusion work. And so there's a number of holidays one day, which is an infamous story. My mother got called away. A patient wasn't doing well. It was Christmas Eve, and our Christmas Eve tradition used to always be to have shrimp. And so my mother got called away. A patient needed her. And they would say, you know, they need her more than we do. And then it was my duty to put the shrimp out. Well, allegedly I didn't do it correctly and food poisoned my sister who's ten years younger.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And we play this funny game where we say, Oh, it's purple grandpa, and he'd tell us whatever the sort of paint name was. And I remember it being really funny when he would, you know, oh no, it's indigo nighttime or, you know, something. And so those are some of my fondest, fondest memories.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Mom, she was a nurse, and she worked in various different capacities as a nurse. She worked as a NER nurse for many, many years. And so when I was a little kid, she would work every Friday night. She'd work the night shift. And my grandfather, who spent his career, he worked in a paint factory. He would come over on Friday nights and my dad and my grandfather would spend the evening. I have two younger sisters, one of whom wasn't born at this time. And so my middle sister and I would play games and we'd put on dance shows. And my grandfather, we used to play this game with him because he worked in a paint factory. And so he always had flecks of paint on his ears. And so no matter how much he tidy up and VO5 his hair and dress up, he would always have little flecks of paint behind his ears. And my sister, Hilary and I, used to always sit in his lap and guess all the paint that he had mixed that week because there'd be flecks of purple.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, it's a certain type of personality to spend your career doing really cool work and then having no one ever know what your job is because it has a name that doesn't really firmly connect with complex fraud cases, as my dad predominantly worked. And he worked in New York for years and he worked in Philadelphia for a time and up in Bangor, Maine as well. And, you know, I remember my dad would get up when we lived in New Jersey and he worked in New York City. He would leave the house at five in the morning and he would take the bus into New York and then he'd take the bus into New York and then he would go out and work, take the bus in and then he would take the subway out because he worked in Brooklyn for a time and he worked, I think, from Long Island for a time. And then he would get home late, late at night. But my dad was always happy and he always loved his job. And so he always very openly spoke about the value of service to country.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So my parents are wonderful people. My dad is calm and low blood pressure and unflappable and just a really Silent but strong, strong person with a good sense of humor that you one rarely sees unless you know him well. And when I was growing up, he was always”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's right. So with my dad's job, we moved every couple years. And when I was finishing up middle school, we got transferred to Virginia. And my dad's job got transferred to Virginia. So we moved to Virginia. And that's actually where my family stayed. My dad decided to finish his career there and stay there for the entirety of his career until he retired. And so Virginia has been home for me for many decades at this point.”
2020-03-09 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 374 — Rep. Abigail Spanberger · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source