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

Democratic and GOP women announce ‘partnership’ to address sexual misconduct 

Senators on path to forfeit paychecks during shutdowns

‘Screw this, I’m out’: Why members of Congress are retiring 

What can we learn from House Republican polling?

Warsh confirmed to lead Federal Reserve

Capitol Lens | ‘Higher’ ground