June 22, 2017

Trump Denies “Taping” Comey

”I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings.”

Chris Kleponis/CNP/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump on Thursday said he did not create or possess any recordings of his private conversations with former FBI director James Comey.

The acknowledgment ends weeks of speculation, prompted by the president himself, that the White House may have recorded Trump’s conversations with Comey.

His tweets Thursday, however, left room for the possibility of potential recordings carried out by other sources.

In March, Trump accused the Obama administration, without evidence, of illegally tapping the phones at Trump Tower. The allegation was refuted by, among others, James Comey himself. 

If Trump is really concerned with third parties recording his White House conversations, he might want to stop letting mysterious Russian photographers into the Oval Office. 

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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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