Angelina Jolie spent 48 hours in Washington, DC this week. She apparently made several visits to both the Biden White House and the Capitol. Her main purpose was to personally lobby congressmen, senators and the Biden administration to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. VAWA used to be reauthorized in a bipartisan fashion whenever it came up, but the law expired at the end of 2018, and wouldn’t you know, it was never a legislative priority for Senate Republicans or the Trump White House. VAWA was one of Joe Biden’s signature achievements as a senator, and the Biden White House needs zero lobbying on its reauthorization, they’re already all in. In fact, I suspect that people in the Biden White House were the ones to ask Jolie to come to DC to meet with Republican senators on the fence like Joni Ernst.
While she was on the Hill, Angelina made time to personally thank the police officers who fended off insurrectionists on January 6th. She even posed for a photo with Officer Harry Dunn, one of the heroes of the day. Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Ernst posted photos from Angelina’s visits to their offices (Schumer looked especially animated and pleased to see her). During Angelina’s stops to the Biden White House, she took meetings with Jen Psaki, communications director Kate Bedingfield and White House Gender Policy Council co-chair Jennifer Klein. She also stopped by the White House briefing room and spoke to reporters about why she was there, and she happily posed at the podium too. Here’s what Jolie said about why she’s lobbying for VAWA:
“It’s a health crisis, what is happening. And it’s going to be solved if we look at it as health and families and invest. … And there is the harm within the families, especially for the children and getting the care early, and the prevention.”
She said she had “good, bipartisan meetings” on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that she described as “encouraging.”
A spokesperson for Jolie told CNN: “UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie is in D.C. for a second day meeting with Senior White House and DOJ officials, and Senators to continue to advocate for the rights of women and children and health in families. In her meetings she will talk about the importance of VAWA reauthorization, FBI reforms, judicial training, and health equity including non-biased forensic evidence collection.”
[From CNN]
Coming on the heels of her Guardian Weekend interview, where she spoke with more detail about how much she feared for the safety of her children at Brad Pitt’s hands, it makes me wonder how quickly the Biden administration got in touch with her following that interview. It should also be noted that Jolie doesn’t cozy up to administrations or work on behalf of a political party – she is clearly there for VAWA, which should be a bipartisan issue.
Here are some tweets & photos of Jolie on the Hill and at the White House:
Met briefly this morning with the tireless and committed #AngelinaJolie this morning to talk about the importance of reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act and the importance of continuing to fight for women, children and families around the world
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) September 15, 2021
As a survivor of sexual assault & domestic violence, I’m grateful for today’s important conversation with @UNHCRUSA Special Envoy Angelina Jolie about #VAWA. pic.twitter.com/BxPr9B3paA
— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) September 15, 2021
Thank you to Angelina Jolie for coming in today to talk about the fight to reauthorize VAWA in the Senate and how we can help support research on diagnosing injuries from domestic violence and child abuse to help survivors. pic.twitter.com/PeYvmzbVVl
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) September 14, 2021
Angelina Jolie greeted several officers who defended the Capitol on January 6, including Harry Dunn. She thanked him for his service. https://t.co/H1ED0Mp2Et pic.twitter.com/NtLMKkvIdY
— Julie Tsirkin (@JulieNBCNews) September 14, 2021
Angelina Jolie visits the White House Briefing Room, ahead of a meeting at the Justice Department to discuss reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act. pic.twitter.com/ymp2JDuI8H
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) September 15, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
And this is why I admire her so 😍
Whatever is going on in her personal life, Jolie is an impressive human being, using her powers for good.
VAWA should have never expired. I don’t understand why reauthorizing it was ever an issue in the first place. Reason 5073 why I don’t vote Republican. I’m glad she’s shining a light on this. I also read somewhere she’s hoping to lobby for more protection of children’s rights under the Act as well.
Very sweet of her to thank the Capitol Police (looking at you Kevin McCarthy and the rest of your traitorous ilk). In the past, she’s visited the U.S. troops in Iraq and was very sweet and complimentary to the NYPD when filming Salt in NYC. She also met with the U.S. women’s gymnastics team, I heard. And on a superficial note, she’s so cute standing at the podium.
The fact that it isn’t some kind of law and continually has to be renewed is very puzzling.
The fact VAW is viewed as a somewhat partisan issue makes me so incredibly sad. Hats off to her for trying to bridge the gap.
This is why I love this woman. Once she learns of a problem, she tries to solve it as much as she can.
After what she and her children went through with Brad, she learned first hand how terrible the family court is in US. She started working with district attorneys to get protection law passed for both abused children and women.
Now she is lobbying republicans to ensure VAWA gets reinstated.
I saw few Brad supporters on Twitter getting really aggressive because they know Angelina is working towards this. They know once the laws are approved, abusers like Brad will never be able to misuse the court again.
Really appreciate her support for women and children. It was very thoughtful of her to meet with Capitol Police officers. It’s got to be so hard to be used as a pawn in political games by the people they protect.
She looks great in business wear when she’s normally in sack dresses. She looks to be a healthy weight when during the Pitt years we were always worried about how thin and frail she looked.
How is the VAW not a top Republican priority since getting rapists off the street is a cornerstone to their end abortions strategy (sarcasm).
I admire her so much.
Admire her
Angelina is slowly but surely getting her MOJO back. I’m so glad to see her follow through on her commitments and looking lovely in the bargain.
Either she’s even tinier than I thought, or that police officer is really tall.
Good for her, and I hope this gets reinstated, without an expiration this time.
i thought the same thing!
I think that officer is 6”4. Angie is 5”7
I just love her. Pitt was a waste of her time. She did get 3 beautiful kids as a trade off.
In another life, she would have made a wonderful stateswoman or diplomat. She looks to be in her element.
She can still do that in this life.
Angelina is wow. She’s bad ass all the way and in a good way. I hope she and Harry met. That would be a killer, those 3.
I would love to see Ang team up with the Sussexes on something. They are running a parallel brand strategy and it would be explosive for their powers to intersect.
She looks so pretty. Finally she is not scary skinny and looks healthy.