Rep. Jamie Raskin recounts 'lifeline' he received after son's death and January 6 attack

Rep. Jamie Raskin said that becoming the lead House impeachment manager in former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial last year served as a "lifeline" in the aftermath of his son's death and the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

"I was completely shocked when Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi asked me to do it, because I was really a wreck. I mean, I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't eating. Everybody was telling me I was, you know, losing all of this weight. I looked gaunt, and so on. And the speaker called me and said, 'I'd like you to be on the team of impeachment managers.' And I said, of course I will. Of course I will do that," the Maryland Democrat told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files" podcast.

"And then she said, 'And I'd like you to be the lead impeachment manager,' and I also agreed to that immediately, but I realized soon thereafter, she had thrown me a lifeline, because I wasn't sure if I could ever do anything again. I mean, when the day we lost Tommy, I was essentially catatonic, sitting in a chair, just repeating over and over again, 'I've lost my son. I've lost my boy. My life is over.' For hours. So she threw me a lifeline because she said, 'We need you.' "