July 17, 2018

Thousands of Miles From Putin, Trump Now Tries to Claim He Believes Russian Interference

“I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.'”

Nearly 4,000 miles away from Helsinki and out of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s company, President Donald Trump on Tuesday attempted to clarify his stunning remarks from the day before, in which he openly sided with Russia over the universal assessment of United States intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

“What’s the big deal?” Trump said he wondered when he returned from Helsinki and saw the swift and overwhelming criticism over his remarks. He then said he referred back to his controversial remarks and discovered the problem: “I realized there is need for some clarification. It should have been obvious. I thought it would be obvious, but I would like to clarify just in case it wasn’t.”

The president then carefully read from a prepared statement: “In a key sentence in my remarks, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t.’ The sentence should have been, ‘I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t or why it wouldn’t be Russia.'”

“So, just to repeat it, I said the word ‘would’ instead of ‘wouldn’t,” Trump added.

It’s unclear who crafted the president’s new explanation. The facts remain, however, that Trump on Monday accepted Putin’s denial of interference while attacking Hillary Clinton and the ongoing special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference.

 

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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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