Inside Trump's Angry War on Inquiries Around

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Pressure Tactics Leave the President Exposed to Accusations of Obstruction

This article is by Mark Mazzetti, Trump rages almost daily to his 58 Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Fan- million Twitter followers that Mr. dos and Michael S. Schmidt. Mueller is on a “witch hunt” and WASHINGTON — As federal has adopted the language of Mafia prosecutors in Manhattan gath- bosses by calling those who co- ered evidence late last year about operate with the special counsel President Trump’s role in silenc- “rats.” His lawyer talks openly ing women with hush payments about a strategy to smear and dis- during the 2016 campaign, Mr. credit the special counsel investi- Trump called Matthew G. Whita- gation. The president’s allies in ker, his newly installed attorney Congress and the conservative general, with a question. He asked news media warn of an insidious whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the plot inside the Justice Depart- United States attorney for the ment and the F.B.I. to subvert a Southern District of New York and democratically elected president. a Trump ally, could be put in An examination by The New charge of the widening investiga- York Times reveals the extent of tion, according to several Ameri- an even more sustained, more se- can officials with direct knowl- cretive assault by Mr. Trump on edge of the call. the machinery of federal law en- Mr. Whitaker, who had pri- forcement. Interviews with doz- vately told associates that part of ens of current and former govern- his role at the Justice Department ment officials and others close to was to “jump on a grenade” for the Mr. Trump, as well as a review of president, knew he could not put confidential White House docu- Mr. Berman in charge because Mr. ments, reveal numerous unre- Berman had already recused him- ported episodes in a two-year IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES self from the investigation. The drama. A detention camp in Syria where at least two women who left North America to join the Islamic State are stuck without papers. president soon soured on Mr. White House lawyers wrote a Whitaker, as he often does with his confidential memo expressing aides, and complained about his concern about the president’s inability to pull levers at the Jus- staff peddling misleading infor- They Married Fighters for ISIS. Now They Want to Come Home. tice Department that could make mation in public about the firing of the president’s many legal prob- Michael T. Flynn, the Trump administration’s first national secu- Twitter showing her gloved hands how to have their passports reis- lems go away. Trying to install a perceived loy- rity adviser. Mr. Trump had pri- By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI holding her American passport. sued, and how to win the sympa- U.S. Citizens in Limbo alist atop a widening inquiry is a vate conversations with Republi- and CATHERINE PORTER “Bonfire soon,” she promised. thy of the two nations they That was more than four years Ask for Forgiveness scorned. familiar tactic for Mr. Trump, who can lawmakers about a campaign AL HAWL CAMP, Syria — She ago. Now, after being married to “I don’t have words for how has been struggling to beat back to attack the Mueller investiga- was a 20-year-old college student three Islamic State fighters and much regret I have,” said Ms. Pol- the investigations that have con- tion. And there was the episode in Alabama who had become con- witnessing executions like those man, who was born into a Re- sumed his presidency. His efforts when he asked his attorney gen- vinced of the righteousness of the she had once cheered on social by another woman, Kimberly formed Mennonite community in have exposed him to accusations eral about putting Mr. Berman in Islamic State. So she duped her media, Ms. Muthana says she is Gwen Polman, 46, who had stud- Hamilton, Ontario, to an Ameri- of obstruction of justice as Robert charge of the Manhattan investi- parents into thinking she was go- deeply sorry and wants to return ied legal administration in Canada can mother and Canadian father S. Mueller III, the special counsel, gation. ing on a college trip, and instead home to the United States. before joining the caliphate and and who has three adult children. finishes his work investigating Mr. Whitaker, who this month bought a plane ticket to Turkey She surrendered last month to who possesses dual United States Ms. Muthana, who attended Russian interference in the 2016 told a congressional committee with her tuition money. the coalition forces fighting ISIS, and Canadian citizenship. high school in Hoover, Ala., and election. that Mr. Trump had never pres- After being smuggled into the and now spends her days as a de- Both women, interviewed by the University of Alabama at Mr. Trump’s public war on the sured him over the various inves- caliphate, the student, Hoda tainee in a refugee camp in north- The New York Times at the camp, Birmingham, said she was first inquiry has gone on long enough tigations, is now under scrutiny Muthana, posted a photograph on eastern Syria. She is joined there said they were trying to figure out Continued on Page A10 that it is no longer shocking. Mr. Continued on Page A18

Joining Forces ‘He represents the soul of fashion.’ U.S. May Wrest ANNA WINTOUR, editor of American Vogue To Give Europe Billions for Rail Its Own Army From California

By KATRIN BENNHOLD By ANNIE KARNI LOHHEIDE, Germany — On a and JENNIFER MEDINA former Cold War base, German WASHINGTON — A day after TOM BRENNER/THE NEW YORK TIMES and Dutch soldiers, serving to- California filed a lawsuit challeng- Senator Bernie Sanders gether in one tank battalion, stood ing President Trump’s emergency to attention one recent morning declaration on the border, the and shouted their battle cry in Transportation Department said both languages. it was exploring legal options to “We fight —,” their commander claw back $2.5 billion in federal Once an Outlier, bellowed. funds it had already spent on the “— for Germany!” the battalion state’s high-speed rail network. Sanders Enters replied in unison. The Trump administration also “We fight —,” the commander said it was terminating a $929 mil- A Packed Race shouted. lion federal grant to the California “— for the Netherlands!” his High-Speed Rail Authority, ac- soldiers yelled back. cording to a letter the Transporta- By SYDNEY EMBER They are not shouting “for Eu- tion Department sent Tuesday. Senator Bernie Sanders, the rope.” Not yet. The $77 billion Los Angeles-to- Vermont independent and 2016 But the battalion — Europe’s San Francisco bullet train, which first made up of soldiers from two has been a goal of California trans- Democratic primary runner-up countries — is an important baby portation planners for decades, whose populist agenda has helped step toward deeper European mil- has long faced opposition from Mr. push the party to the left, em- itary cooperation. First floated af- Trump and other Republicans. barked on Tuesday on a second DANNY KIM FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES run for president, in a bid that will ter World War II, the idea of a Eu- Karl Lagerfeld and Rihanna in 2015. A longtime force at Chanel and Fendi, he was thought to be 85. But on Tuesday morning, the ropean army is as old as the Euro- president explicitly tied the rail test whether he retains his anti- pean Union itself, but has yet to line to efforts to stymie construc- establishment appeal or loses become a reality. tion of the Mexican border wall. ground to newer faces who have Now, though, the idea has taken “The failed Fast Train project in adopted many of his ideas. on new urgency because of the Karl Lagerfeld, Shape-Shifting Designer California, where the cost over- A professed democratic social- Trump administration’s threat to runs are becoming world record ist whose calls for “Medicare for withdraw the Continent’s security Invaluable to Lives of Luxury, Is Dead setting, is hundreds of times more all,” a $15 minimum wage and tu- guarantee if it does not spend expensive than the desperately ition-free public colleges have be- more on its defense. At a high-lev- itor of American Vogue, said of Mr. Lagerfeld when needed Wall!” Mr. Trump wrote come pillars of the party’s left el security conference last week- on Twitter. wing, Mr. Sanders joins the race at By VANESSA FRIEDMAN presenting him with the Outstanding Achievement end, the breach between the Award at the British Fashion Awards in 2015. Gov. Gavin Newsom of Califor- a time when Republicans are try- United States and Europe burst Karl Lagerfeld, the most prolific designer of the Creative director of Chanel since 1983 and Fendi nia, who announced last week that ing to define the Democratic field into the open, leaving many Euro- 20th and 21st centuries and a man whose career since 1965, and founder of his own line, Mr. Lagerfeld he was scaling back the project, and its ideas as out of the political pean officials feeling increasingly formed the prototype of the modern luxury fashion was the definition of a fashion polyglot, able to speak said the Transportation Depart- mainstream. In Mr. Sanders, who on their own. industry, died on Tuesday in Paris. the language of many different brands at the same ment’s move was retaliation for has not joined the Democratic “Everyone is talking about a Though his birth year was a matter of some dis- time (not to mention many languages themselves: the border wall lawsuit, filed on Party and has described himself European army,” Lt. Col. Marco pute, Mr. Lagerfeld, who lived in Paris, was generally He read in English, French, German and Italian). Monday with 15 other states. as a socialist, Republicans have an Niemeyer, the German command- thought to be 85. His death was announced by In his 80s, when most of his peers were retiring to “It’s no coincidence that the ad- easy target to try to make the face er of the battalion, said. “We are Chanel, with which he had long been associated. their yachts or country estates, he was designing an ministration’s threat comes 24 of the opposition. pioneers.” “More than anyone I know, he represents the soul average of 14 new collections a year, ranging from hours after California led 16 states But Mr. Sanders, 77, starts with Yet if some powerful European of fashion: restless, forward-looking and voraciously couture to the high street — and not counting col- in challenging the president’s far- stronger support from small- Continued on Page A9 attentive to our changing culture,” Anna Wintour, ed- Continued on Page A24 Continued on Page A17 Continued on Page A20

NATIONAL A14-20 NEW YORK A21-22 More Oversight for DeVos A Prime Advantage After two years of overhauling educa- Among candidates for public advocate, tion policy, Education Secretary Betsy Eric Ulrich was a lonely voice backing DeVos must now answer to Democrats the Amazon deal. Now that could give she’s clashed with or ignored. PAGE A15 the Republican a leg up. PAGE A21

BUSINESS B1-6 Uproar Over Backing of Klan SPORTSWEDNESDAY B10-14 ARTS C1-8 FOOD D1-8 An Alabama paper’s editor was widely Don’t Blame Housing Market condemned for an editorial calling for ‘So Wrong, in So Many Ways’ Suing Galleries, From A to Z A Dollar Won’t Cut It A housing decline has preceded nine of the K.K.K. “to ride again.” PAGE A17 The A.C.L.U. may sue a Wisconsin high Hundreds of businesses have been Looking for prestige, the masters of the the last 11 recessions. Here’s why history school where coaches gave out awards sued, sometimes in alphabetical order, $1 pizza slice have opened a shop, Up- may not repeat itself next time. PAGE B1 mocking cheerleaders’ bodies. PAGE B10 side Pizza, with offerings, above, that INTERNATIONAL A4-12 over whether their websites are acces- sible to the blind. PAGE C1 are fancier and more costly. PAGE D1 Tax the Rich? A Popular Idea Feeling Poor and Dumped On Barrier-Breaking Pitcher Dies Proposals to tax wealth and raise the Plans to ship Moscow’s trash to the Don Newcombe, an ace for the Brook- EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27 top rate on income find support across provinces are aggravating economic lyn Dodgers and the first black pitcher party lines in a voter survey. PAGE B1 unrest. PAGE A4 to star in the majors, was 92. PAGE B10 Frank Bruni PAGE A27 U(D54G1D)y+"!{!%!=!;