Valerie Jarrett Says Laquan Video Was 'Like A Hot Poker In My Stomach'

By Mae Rice in News on Jan 11, 2016 5:37PM

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 03: White House Senior Advisor to President Obama Valerie Jarrett (right) embraces U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Longtime presidential advisor and influential Chicagoan Valerie Jarrett sat down with Buzzfeed’s Another Round podcast, where she shared her take on Chicago's current political messes.

On Monday’s episode, Another Round continued its conversational, miraculously un-douchey political reporting by interviewing Jarrett, who is now President Barack Obama’s senior advisor.

Jarrett's connections to both the Obamas and Chicago are numerous; she was Obama's campaign advisor and once served as the commissioner of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development, the chair of the Chicago Transit Authority board and director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

During the episode, Jarrett discusses current Chicago politics, which host Tracy Clayton aptly describes as “a hot mess.” Jarrett starts by discussing the Laquan McDonald video, of which she says:

That video, I have to tell you. I had to sit my self down and give myself a real talking to before I looked it. Because I just, as a mom I wasn’t sure I could watch it, and I thought to myself, “I owe it to him to look at it.” [...] And the first time I looked at it, I said this before, it was like a hot poker in my stomach. And each time I’ve seen it, it’s been the exact same feeling. And I just think about ...you know, how could that happen to a young, young man? Boy! He’s not even an adult yet. He’s 17 years old. Kid!

Jarrett was also asked whether she thinks Mayor Rahm Emanuel should resign—a question she couldn’t really answer. Still, her dodge was interesting:

As you know, Loretta Lynch, the attorney general, has announced that she’s taking a look into the situations in Chicago. So I really shouldn’t comment on Chicago in particular, because it’s under that investigation of hers, so I know that doesn’t satisfy you. But I think the good news is that she’s looking at the practices that are going on there, to try to figure out what should happen. The good thing about the Justice Department is they can go in, and if they see a trend for example, they can require the local city government to enter into a consent decree with them to make changes. And without those changes, there can be other consequences. That’s the advantage of having a Justice Department that’s able to say, ‘We’re here to ensure that the liberties and freedoms of average citizens are protected.’”

The whole episode is worth listening to; the discussion of Chicago politics starts at roughly the 23-minute mark.