Impeachment: American Crime Story - Who is Ann Coulter, Cobie Smulders’s character?

Conservative pundit is portrayed by Cobie Smulders

Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator, is portrayed by Cobie Smulders in Impeachment: American Crime Story.

Smulders took over the role from Betty Gilpin, after the GLOW star had to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts caused by the pandemic.

Gilpin told Jimmy Kimmel in June that “the big disappointment” in having to leave the role was that she had “spent a year listening to Ann Coulter audiobooks” in preparation for the role, in order to nail her imitation of the pundit’s voice.

Smulders is featured in a trailer for American Crime Story asserting as Coulter: “This isn’t about justice.” When someone asks, “Then what is it about?”, her version of Coulter replies: “Impeachment”.

A native of New York City, Coulter graduated from Cornell University in 1984, then earned a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1988. After working at a law firm for a few years, Coulter became involved in politics, working for Republican Senator Spencer Abraham of Michigan.

Ann Coulter speaks on stage at the 2019 Politicon at Music City Center on 26 October 2019 in Nashville, Tennessee (Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Politicon)

Coulter first became a commentator on MSNBC in 1996. Her incendiary tone and often outrageous remarks secured her additional spots as a political pundit on television, and she also became a newspaper columnist.

Coulter was involved in the case of Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state clerk who sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994.

As The Washington Post wrote in 1998: “Coulter does more than play a conservative on television. She advised Paula Jones’s lawyers in their suit against Clinton and helped Jones find new attorneys when the first pair quit.”

Coulter, The Washington Post wrote, also “referred [whistleblower and Monica Lewinsky’s confidant] Linda Tripp to her attorney friend Jim Moody”. Tripp’s secret recordings of her phone conversations with Lewinsky played a key part in Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s report and Clinton’s eventual impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Coulter, a conservative, eventually wrote a book about the 42nd US president titled High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton. She has since published 11 more volumes.

Impeachment: American Crime Story started airing on 7 September in the US on FX and on 19 October on BBC Two in the UK, with new episodes being unveiled weekly.