January 26, 2019

Nancy Pelosi Leans Into Collusion After Roger Stone Indictment

“What does Putin have on the President, politically, personally or financially?”

Tom Williams/ZUMA

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Fresh off her decisive victory over President Donald Trump in the fight to end the longest government shutdown in US history, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a scathing statement on the other damning news of the day: the arrest of the president’s longtime adviser Roger Stone.

“The indictment of Roger Stone makes clear that there was a deliberate, coordinated attempt by top Trump campaign officials to influence the 2016 election and subvert the will of the American people,” Pelosi said in a statement late Friday.

“It is staggering that the President has chosen to surround himself with people who violated the integrity of our democracy and lied to the FBI and Congress about it.”

Pelosi cited Trump’s ongoing efforts to thwart the special counsel’s investigation, actions the top Democrat said forced the question of what damaging or compromising information Russian President Vladimir Putin may have against the president. “What does Putin have on the President, politically, personally or financially?” Pelosi continued. “Why has the Trump Administration continued to discuss pulling the U.S. out of NATO, which would be a massive victory for Putin?”

The statement marked some of the strongest language Pelosi has used against Trump in regards to the Russia investigation, as the special counsel continues to indict more of the president’s associates. 

On Saturday, Trump commented on Stone’s arrest by taking aim at his usual targets: James Comey and Hillary Clinton.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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