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VOL. CLXVIII ... No. 58,315 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2019 $3.00 NEWS ANALYSIS Under Fire, Barr Defends Pressure Rises Actions on Mueller Report After Failure In Venezuela Private Tussle About Will Skip Hearing in Inquiry’s Summary House After Fierce Questions for the U.S. Gets ‘a Bit Snitty’ Session in Senate as Maduro Hangs On

By MARK MAZZETTI By PETER BAKER By MARK LANDLER and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT WASHINGTON — Attorney and JULIAN E. BARNES WASHINGTON — When Attor- General William P. Barr defended WASHINGTON — Nobody ney General William P. Barr sum- himself on Wednesday against said regime change was going to marized the special counsel’s con- withering criticism of his handling be easy. clusions in a March letter, prompt- of the special counsel investiga- President Trump’s top advis- ing President Trump to crow that tion as Democrats accused of him ers woke up Tuesday believing he had been exonerated, the spe- of deceiving Congress and acting that a rebellion in the Venezuelan cial counsel’s prosecutors knew as a personal agent for President military that day would galva- immediately what the public Trump rather than a steward of nize a popular uprising and would learn weeks later: The let- justice. topple a leader they have de- ter was a sparse and occasionally At a contentious hearing scribed as a reviled despot who misleading representation of their marked by a deep partisan divide, must be replaced. But at day’s exhaustive findings. Mr. Barr denied misrepresenting end, President Nicolás Maduro What followed was a dayslong, the investigation’s conclusions de- was still in power and Mr. behind-the-scenes tussle over the spite a newly revealed letter by Trump’s advisers were left to first public presentation of one of the special counsel, Robert S. blame Cuba, Russia and three the most consequential govern- Mueller III, protesting the initial influential Venezuelan officials, ment investigations in American summary of its findings. Mr. Barr who failed to switch sides, for history. dismissed the letter as “a bit frustrating their plans. A richer picture of that battle snitty” and the controversy over it The decision of the Venezue- emerged on Wednesday — one of as “mind-bendingly bizarre.” lans to stand with Mr. Maduro — testy letters (Mr. Barr described But in a series of aggressive in- either because they were intimi- one as “snitty”) and at least one terrogations, Democrats on the dated, got cold feet or never tense phone call between the spe- Senate Judiciary Committee ex- planned to defect — raised ques- cial counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, pressed indignation and asserted tions about whether the United and Mr. Barr. The two were long- that the attorney general had States had faulty intelligence time friends who found them- been “purposely misleading,” en- about the ability of the opposition selves on opposite sides of an em- ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES gaged in “masterful hairsplitting” to peel away members of his battled president. government. Attorney General William P. Barr navigated aggressive questioning in the Senate on Wednesday. The growing evidence of a split and even “lied to Congress.” Sev- eral Democrats on the committee, It also raised questions about between them also brought fresh elsewhere in Congress and on the whether Mr. Trump’s aides had scrutiny on Mr. Barr, who on at fallen victim to a misreading of least three occasions in recent events on the ground, or whether weeks has seemed to try to out- Mr. Trump, who officials say has For Biden, a Ukraine Matter That Won’t Go Away maneuver Mr. Mueller. First, he sometimes outrun his aides in an released his four-page letter on enthusiasm for forcing out Mr. positive for cocaine. He would be March 24 outlining investigators’ Maduro, might lose faith in the By KENNETH P. VOGEL New Spotlight Falls on paid about $50,000 per month for findings; then he held an unusual effort as it wears on. and IULIIA MENDEL his work for the company, news conference on the day the Burisma Holdings. Mr. Maduro has been weak- WASHINGTON — It was a for- Son’s Employer in a Mueller report was released; and The broad outlines of how the ened at home and discredited eign policy role Joseph R. Biden on Tuesday night, the Justice De- Bidens’ roles intersected in abroad, but he remains a stub- Jr. enthusiastically embraced dur- Revived Inquiry partment put out a statement that Ukraine have been known for born rival unwilling to step aside ing his vice presidency: brow- significantly played down the con- some time. The former vice presi- for the opposition leader, Juan beating Ukraine’s notoriously cor- cerns among Mr. Mueller’s team. dent’s campaign said that he had In other words, Mr. Barr, who Guaidó, recognized by the United rupt government to clean up its out by the Ukrainian Parliament. States as the country’s de facto act. And one of his most memora- always acted to carry out United said at a Senate Judiciary Com- Among those who had a stake in States policy without regard to mittee hearing on Wednesday leader. While the administration ble performances came on a trip the outcome was Hunter Biden, ANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS got off to a sure-footed start on to Kiev in March 2016, when he any activities of his son, that he that “we have to stop using the Senator Mazie K. Hirono exco- Mr. Biden’s younger son, who at criminal justice system as a politi- Venezuela, rallying dozens of threatened to withhold $1 billion in had never discussed the matter the time was on the board of an en- cal weapon,” now stands accused riated the attorney general. countries against the Venezuelan United States loan guarantees if with Hunter Biden and that he ergy company owned by a Ukrain- of doing exactly that. president, critics said its re- Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss learned of his son’s role with the ian oligarch who had been in the The drama began around mid- presidential campaign trail called sponse had become haphazard the country’s top prosecutor, who Ukrainian energy company from sights of the fired prosecutor gen- day on March 22, when a security for Mr. Barr’s resignation or even and chaotic as the crisis has had been accused of turning a news reports. eral. officer working for Mr. Mueller ar- impeachment. dragged on. blind eye to corruption in his own But new details about Hunter Hunter Biden was a Yale-edu- rived at the fifth floor of the Jus- The conflict escalated after- Mr. Trump’s aides banked on office and among the political Biden’s involvement, and a deci- cated lawyer who had served on tice Department to deliver copies ward when Mr. Barr announced Mr. Guaidó’s call for mass pro- elite. sion this year by the current the boards of Amtrak and a num- of his highly anticipated report to that he would not show up for a tests and the defection of the The pressure campaign ber of nonprofit organizations and Ukrainian prosecutor general to Venezuelan officials on Tuesday reverse himself and reopen an in- the attorney general and his top parallel hearing on Thursday be- worked. The prosecutor general, think tanks, but lacked any expe- aides. fore the Democrat-controlled as a turning point in the three- long a target of criticism from rience in Ukraine and just months vestigation into Burisma, have month campaign to oust Mr. pushed the issue back into the Mr. Barr worked through that House Judiciary Committee. Mr. other Western nations and inter- earlier had been discharged from weekend reading the report, his Barr objected to the format of Continued on Page A7 national lenders, was soon voted the Navy Reserve after testing Continued on Page A10 aides in occasional contact with questioning, which would have in- members of Mr. Mueller’s team. cluded questioning by staff law- Two days later, hours before Mr. yers, not just lawmakers. Demo- Barr’s letter was sent to Congress, crats may now opt to subpoena Mr. Mueller’s investigators re- him, setting up a possible show- Sports Court Backs Distinct Gender Lines, in Defeat for Olympian minded Justice Department offi- down in court. cials about executive summaries “He is terrified of having to face they had written to be condensed, a skilled attorney,” said Repre- By JERÉ LONGMAN easily digestible versions of their sentative Jerrold Nadler of New and JULIET MACUR 448-page report. York, the committee’s chairman. Female track athletes with na- But Mr. Barr used almost none In just 11 weeks in office, Mr. turally elevated levels of testos- Continued on Page A15 Continued on Page A14 terone must decrease the hor- mone to participate in certain races at major competitions like the Olympics, the highest court in international sports said Wednes- How $11 Billion in Tax Breaks day in a landmark ruling amid the pitched debate over who can com- pete in women’s events. Has New Jersey in an Uproar The decision was a defeat for Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympic champion at 800 meters By NICK CORASANITI and MATTHEW HAAG from South Africa, who had chal- It was called the Economic Op- made by a real estate lawyer, Kev- lenged proposed limits placed on portunity Act, a measure intended in D. Sheehan, whose influential female athletes with naturally ele- to kick-start the sputtering post- law firm has close ties to Demo- vated levels of the muscle-build- recession economy in New Jersey, cratic politicians and legislative ing hormone testosterone. particularly in its struggling cit- leaders in New Jersey. At a time when the broader cul- ies. The state would award lucra- Mr. Sheehan was allowed by ture is moving toward an accept- tive tax breaks to businesses if lawmakers to edit drafts of the bill ance of gender fluidity, the ruling they moved to New Jersey or re- in ways that opened up sizable tax affirmed the sports world’s need mained in the state, creating and breaks to his firm’s clients, ac- for distinct gender lines, saying retaining jobs. cording to a marked up copy of the they were essential for the out- SAEED KHAN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES But before the bill was ap- legislation obtained by The Times, come of women’s events to be fair. Caster Semenya, who has naturally high levels of testosterone, in a 1,500-meter race last year. proved by the Legislature, a se- which identifies Mr. Sheehan’s “The gender studies folks have ries of changes were made to its changes. spent the last 20 years decon- language in June 2013 that were Nearly six years later, the fall- structing sex and all of a sudden Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a law on the podium more important?’” of racism. The issue of whether a intended to grant specific compa- out from the legislation has set off they’re facing an institution with professor at Duke and an elite Semenya’s biology has been un- rare biological trait was causing nies hundreds of millions of dol- an uproar in the State Capitol over an entirely opposite story,” said 800-meter runner in the 1980s der scrutiny for a decade, ever an unfair advantage for Semenya lars in additional tax breaks, with allegations that the state’s $11 bil- who served as an expert witness since she burst on the scene at the and a small subset of women no public disclosure, according to lion in economic development pro- for track and field’s world govern- 2009 world track and field cham- quickly morphed into a battle interviews and documents ob- grams have been poorly managed THE SCIENCE An issue raises hard ing body. “We have to ask, ‘Is re- pionships and was subjected to about privacy and human rights, tained by The New York Times. corporate giveaways that have questions about biology, fairness specting gender identity more im- sex tests after her victory. In and Semenya became its symbol. Many of the last-minute brought few benefits. and gender identity. PAGE B7 portant or is seeing female bodies South Africa, leaders complained Continued on Page A11 changes to drafts of the bill were Continued on Page A22

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