The Shape-Shifting Russia Saga, The Indiana Jones of the Art World, Resilience in the Motor City

Coming up on today’s show: 

• On Saturday, Congress came to an agreement on new sanctions against Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The sanctions are relatively straightforward, but the bill also constrains President Donald Trump’s executive powers. At the same time, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, is set to testify behind closed doors. And now, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak is out. Stephen Sestanovich, former U.S. ambassador-at-large for the former Soviet Union, discusses the latest on the Russia probe. 

• As the investigation into possible collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign heats up, several members of the president’s inner circle could end up facing criminal charges. Can Donald Trump pardon himself? Norm Eisen, the Obama Administration’s Ethics Czar from 2009 to 2011, explains the constitutionality of presidential pardons.

• Health care costs in Colorado are high. Consequently, so are health insurance plans. And uncertainty from Washington is destabilizing a market that is already struggling to keep costs affordable, according to Marguerite Salazar, the health care commissioner for The Centennial State.

• The controversy over the expansion of a U.S. Marine base in Okinawa has pitted locals, concerned about noise, the environment and crime, against U.S. officials who say the expansion is necessary for strategic defense. For details on this story, The Takeaway turns to Sonia Narang, who reported on this story for the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that focuses on American military life and veterans.

• Arthur Brand, often called the “Indiana Jones of the art world,” is a Dutch private art investigator who believes he has a lead into the 27-year-old heist of 13 paintings, worth about $500 million, from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. It’s the biggest art theft in history. Brand tells The Takeaway that it’s now or never for the recovery.

• Over the weekend in San Antonio, Texas, at least nine people died after being found inside a sweltering semi-trailer that was parked in a Walmart parking lot. Authorities say at least 30 others who were found in the truck and are being treated for heat exposure. Denise Brennen,chair of the Department of Anthropology at Georgetown University and author of “Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States,” looks at the crisis of human trafficking. 

• 50 years ago, tensions between Detroit’s black community and police officers overflowed into an uprising that lasted nearly a week. In the wake of these events, the organization New Detroit was formed to address social and community ills. Today, the group is led by Shirley Stancato,who, even as a little girl growing up in Detroit at the time of the rebellion, recognized the resilience that would come to define the city. 

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.