I have been an organizer and then activist and a legislator, all of that. But then there's this big gap after I advanced in Congress and ended up as the ranking member of financial services committee. It took me into the financial services issues and Wall Street and Dodd Frank. And it took me away from the things that I did years ago.
I think Hillary and Bill are really liberals at heart. I think that, in addition to being liberals, they are very practical. They have made some decisions about what it takes to win.
Donald Trump has defined himself very well, not only in the primary election where he was absolutely disrespectful to his colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle and for Fiorina, who he basically said, 'Who would vote for you? Look at her face.'
Ben Carson was appointed to be the HUD secretary. He knows nothing about the mission of HUD. He doesn't care about people in public housing. He believes that if you are poor, it is your own fault. And he doesn't know the difference between an immigrant and a slave.
We know that when a woman speaks truth to power, there will be attempts to put her down... I'm not going to go anywhere.
I want to be the kind of elected official who not only pays attention but who acts on behalf of people - just average people. Fancy lobbyists get to tell their story, but the average person doesn't.
When I first experienced the millennial response to me, I had come out of a classified briefing, and I told the group of media individuals who were there that I didn't think James Comey had any credibility, and I threw up my hands and walked away - that went viral.
The women's movement was just coming into being, and I got involved with Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug and all these great women. We then got involved with Carter, who was running for president, and we created the first International Women's Conference or the National Women's Conference for Carter.
I am going to help show the American people that they too cannot trust him, that this is a man that does not live up to his promises, and this is a man who cheated students in the so-called Trump University.
A lot of young people don't have a lot of faith in politicians. You can't depend on what they say. They talk in circles. They don't speak the kind of language that has truth to them. I'm speaking differently.
Priebus has been trying to clean up for Donald Trump for far too long. When he was making outrageous statements, when he was basically lying.
Some people see me as someone who makes other people look bad... I often get a feeling most people don't know who I am, or have a clue, and I live with that. I don't try to prove anything by talking.
There's a history of enslaved African-Americans having to make their slave masters comfortable. This business of what we call skinning and grinning - that is something African-Americans are very much cognizant of.
As you know in this committee, we have all of HUD, and HUD is responsible for so many programs that determine the quality of life for women and families.
I don't have them down here asking me what my urban agenda is. I don't find them really doing in-depth stories on community-based organizations that have been struggling for a long time and who are out trying to get funds. They aren't interested in those stories.
Be who you are, do what you do and let us get on with discussing the real issues of this country.
I'd like to say to women everywhere: don't allow these right-wing talking heads, these dishonorable people, to intimidate you or scare you.
I don't think it works to just be mad at them - Maxine Waters out ranting and kicking down the doors. It would be so easy to dismiss you and marginalize you.
I have been working hard trying to implement Dodd-Frank reforms. We went through a terrible crisis in 2008. Many people lost their homes.
That's why investigations are so important, to drill down and to connect those dots and to get the facts. What we have is a lot of smoke that causes us to want to know more about what has happened.
