everyone to know how much i appreciate the support i've received across the years from my supporters not only in my district, but across the country as well. the michigan democrat has represented detroit since 1965. you can read the entire story at politico.com. here is the official announcement on the house floor earlier today read by congresswoman sheila jackson-lee. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. a few minutes ago in detroit the dean of the united states congress offed his retirement -- offered hisng retirement immediately. he has asked me, a member of the judiciary committee, to offer his words to his colleagues and to, again, put this statement in the record that indicates that he's notified speaker ryan, leader pelosi and governor snyder of my retirement from the

united states house of representatives. it is important to note as i begin that there is no difference or no undermining of the rights of women and the abhorrence of sexual harassment and sexual assault. but this is a statement that i believe should t be read on behf of the dean of the united states congress, mr. john conyers. as a member of congress, i have known mr. conyers to not shy away from a legislative challenge. in addition to being the first member to introduce the martin luther king holiday bill, he was the first to hold hearings on police misconduct, theda first o examine the problem of solitary confinement, the first to offer racial profiling legislation, the first to introduce

legislation protecting against disenfranchisement of ex-felons and the first to pursue protecting black farmers against discrimination among other civil rights measures. in 2007 representative conyers stood up for the prerogatives of there house, representatives successfully brought a suit against former president bush's white house for failing to comply with subpoenas relating toey a u.s. attorney's investigation. he has been the chairman of the judiciary committee, and he will continue to in his life, as he has indicated, stand for what is right. it is now my privilege to realize this statement -- read this statement from mr. john conyers. i reiterate that he says that he notified speaker ryan, leader pelosi and governor snyder of his retirement from the united states house of representatives. it is his honor, these are his words and his privilege to serve the constituents of detroit,

michigan, as their united states congressman in the 13th and 14th congressional districts for 53 years. he came to congress, this is his statement again, i came to congress in 1964. since then i have devoted my entire career to improving the lives of my constituents in detroit on the behalf of justice everywhere. these years witnessed a profound evolution in civil rights led by millions in the streets who marched for justice and people of conscience in the congress. both democrats and republicans who heard them and enacted the civil rights act, the voting rights act and other land mark reforms. i've been at the forefront of the civil rights movement, i've been a champion of justice for the oppressed and disenfranchised. i never wavered in my commitment to justice and democracy. i am proud to have been part of that rich history. i have been privileged to be a founder of the congressional black caucus and to represent the united states congress by being dean. i passed, as indicated, the law

dealing with martin luther king jr. holiday, the violence against women act, the hate crimes act, the usa freedom and the extension of the voting rights act. i have led the fight against mandatory minimums hoping to reverse the devastating incars ration rates for trims and poor people. i've tried to pass a universal health care law, h.r. 676 every congress since is the 89, i have introduced h.r. 40 to study reparations for slavery, and i deeply appreciate the colleagues who have joined me. i'm proud that we have been able to bring hundreds of millions of dollars in critical grants and federal pulling for southeast michigan to revitalize our great city, attract rich talent and return to us prosperity. i recognize that in this present environment due i process will t be afforded to me. i was taught by my great woman, myy mother, to honor women. the first employee i ever hired

was mrs. rosa parks who worked in my office for 22 years. it has been my great ohioan to work b alongside some of the mot talentedos and honorable staff n capitol hill is and in detroit. i've stated my position on these allegations. i've worked with both women and men. given the totality of the circumstance of not being afforded the right of due process in conjunction with current health conditions and to preserve my legacy and good name, i am retiring. i hope that my retirement will be viewed in the larger perspective of my record of servicey as i enter a new chapter. i pledge to continue myi commitment to a progressive vision and a better future for this country that i love. i owe that to the legacy of my father, john conyers sr., who integrated labor j unions in ths country, to my brother nathan, he is my main man, and to my lovingov wife monica and to my n committed to being an advocate of fairness and justice for all and carl edward who

never leaves my side. i cannot allow the great work of this body to be distracted by their important work -- or from their important work or the goals of the democratic party to be distracted. it has been an honor and a privilege of my life to represent the people of michigan in the house of representatives, but that responsibility will now fall to my colleagues and my successor is. they have my deepest support and prayers. jobs, justice and peace. i yield back. >> and california congresswoman jackie speier, who has spoken out against sexual harassment on capitol hill and says she's a victim of it, reacted at a forum when she received the news of congressman conyers' rez its nation -- resignation from congress. >> as someone who's been in the news business for a long time, i love to say this just in. [laughter] if you have your phones on and you're following the twitter -- or as my mother calls it, the twitter --

[laughter] or facebook or instagram, you may know that congressman conyers, he was scheduled to have an announcement, and he announced that he is going to be retiring. he made that announcement ten minutes ago, excuse me. so just to keep our conversation current. your body language -- you're not saying anything, but your body language -- [laughter] is saying something. we'll return to the rest of the panel, but congressman, your reaction to that. >> i was anticipating that he was going to be resigning, and that's what should happen. now he's going to force the house to go through the process of investigating his conduct, and then the house is going to have to take action. it's not good enough to say in a year and a half or in a year i'm going to retire. a serial harasser -- >> [inaudible] >> is it effective immediately or -- [inaudible conversations] >> he's stepping down. >> today's his last day.

>> no, he's not resigning, he's going to retire at the end of his term. [inaudible conversations] , is that right? >> he's stepping down. >> is that right? [laughter] >> what is he doing? [laughter] [inaudible conversations] >> full retirement. >> yes. techive today. >> they said it's effective today. he stepped down today. [laughter] >> we'll clarify that. >> you can find the survey that is done from republicans and democrats from the pointer institute, just to present you a little bit from the survey from the opening paragraphs of it, it says this: the president has sparked unprecedented levels of polarization and views toward the media. democrats and republicans have never had such a disparate level of trust and confidence in the media. that's brendan -- [inaudible] a professor of political science at dartmouth, a co-author of the

study. another author of the study joining us on the phone, andrew guess, from princeton, university. professor, hello, good morning. >> guest: hi, good to be here. >> host: tell us a little bit more. we heard a little bit from your co-author there. what were you looking at when youat compiled this study? >> >> guest: well, we did a nationally-representative survey of over 2,000 americans, and we asked many questions about people's views of the press and their trust in media institutions as we could think of including many questions that have been asked before by other polling organizations so that we could compare trends over time. >> host: you focus on party in this particular one, so tell us a little bit about it. if i were a democrat participating in this survey, what is my view of the media? >> guest: well, in general these days democrats' views of media are more positive than for republicans. so, you know, while our kind of

top-line result is that almost about 50% of americans have a great deal or fair amount of can have in the media, there's a big partisan gap. so about 74% of democrats including leaners say that, you know, that they have a lot of confidence in the media, and for republicans that number is just 19%. >> host: what do youd attribute those differencesho to? >> guest: well, there's been a partisan gap this trust in the media for a long time, but that gap has been widening. and to us, the most plausible explanation is that there are differences in the elite rhetoric concerning the media between leaders in both parties. democrats have tended to be more supportive of the role of the free press, not always, but certainly in the past year or two. and among republicans, just attacks on the legitimates is city