Skip to content

Jackie Speier Hears Uncovered Jonestown Tape For the First Time

By Thomas McKinless and Mark Stricherz

[jwp-video n=”1″]

Forty years ago Sunday, a young Jackie Speier was shot and left for dead on an airstrip in Guyana, after helping her boss — Rep. Leo Ryan — rescue 25 cult members from a deadly cult commune known as Jonestown. Ryan was shot and killed that day, shortly before more than 900 members of the commune died of a mass suicide and murder. Speier, who has been a member of Congress from California since 2008, joined Roll Call to listen to recently uncovered audio of an interview her former boss conducted with a cult escapee, just months before Ryan was killed in the so-called Jonestown massacre. .

Recent Stories

Seth Moulton pushes for ‘new generation’ of leaders but clock is ticking

At the Races: No breaks for Dems

After profane repost slamming GOP, Trump heads to Texas-sized fundraiser

Man arrested with guillotine near Capitol told officers it was ‘the real deal’

Cassidy says abortion pill makers turn blind eye to safety

Kids law needed beyond Meta settlement, backers say