Money Transfers Bolstered Belief in Russian Scheme

C M Y K Yxxx,2020-07-01,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

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Intercepted Data Links Intelligence Unit to Afghans Who Killed U.S. Troops

This article is by Charlie Savage, House officials’ claim that the in- Mujib Mashal, Rukmini Callimachi, telligence was too uncertain to Eric Schmitt and Adam Goldman. brief President Trump. In fact, the American officials intercepted information was provided to him electronic data showing large fi- in his daily written brief in late nancial transfers from a bank ac- February, two officials have said. count controlled by Russia’s mili- Afghan officials this week de- tary intelligence agency to a Tal- scribed a sequence of events that iban-linked account, evidence dovetailed with the account of the that supported their conclusion intelligence. They said that sev- that Russia covertly offered boun- eral businessmen who transfer ties for killing U.S. and coalition money through the informal troops in Afghanistan, according “hawala” system were arrested in to three officials familiar with the Afghanistan over the last six intelligence. months and were suspected of be- Though the United States has ing part of a ring of middlemen accused Russia of providing gen- who operated between the Rus- eral support to the Taliban before, sian intelligence agency, known analysts concluded from other in- as the G.R.U., and Taliban-linked telligence that the transfers were militants. The businessmen were most likely part of a bounty pro- arrested in what the officials de- gram that detainees described scribed as sweeping raids in the during interrogations. north of Afghanistan as well as in Investigators also identified by Kabul. name numerous Afghans in a net- A half-million dollars was work linked to the suspected Rus- seized from the home of one of the PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRISTOPHER GREGORY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES sian operation, the officials said — men, added a provincial official. including, two of them added, a The New York Times had previ- Reminders of Loss man believed to have served as an ously reported that the recovery of an unusually large amount of Rafael Eli, 68, died in April in Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. For weeks, his belongings were in limbo. Figuring out intermediary for distributing some of the funds and who is now cash in a raid was an early piece in what to do with thousands of personal items left behind by the victims of the coronavirus is a delicate problem. Page A6. thought to be in Russia. the puzzle that investigators put The intercepts bolstered the together. findings gleaned from the interro- The three American officials gations, helping reduce an earlier who described and confirmed de- disagreement among intelligence tails about the basis for the intelli- No Region Safe Family That Lost 5 to Virus Finds Focus: A Cure analysts and agencies over the re- gence assessment spoke on the condition of anonymity amid At least 19 other family mem- liability of the detainees. The dis- As Cases Soar, closures further undercut White Continued on Page A13 By TRACEY TULLY ‘Whatever Will Help bers contracted the virus, and those who survived Covid-19 did FREEHOLD, N.J. — Each not emerge unscathed. Fauci Cautions morning they awake with fingers This World Is All curled inward, stiffened like Joe Fusco, 49, lost 55 pounds claws. I Care About’ and spent 30 days on a ventilator. Court Permits By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Their schedules are dictated by His sister, Maria Reid, 44, cannot and NOAH WEILAND doctors’ appointments, physical shake the memory of the dis- therapy sessions and bouts of ex- the conversation repeatedly veers jointed hallucinations that dogged Aid to Schools WASHINGTON — The govern- her during the 19 or 20 days she ment’s top infectious disease ex- haustion. After weeks on ventila- away from the chaos and pain of was unconscious, or the terror of pert said on Tuesday that the rate tors, two siblings remain too weak the last three months. Based on Faith waking up convinced that her 10- of new coronavirus infections to work even as their medical bills They do not avoid talk of their year-old daughter was dead. could more than double to 100,000 mount. family’s devastating collective “This ain’t over,” Mr. Fusco said a day if current outbreaks were But at a table filled with several loss. But they also speak of a new By ADAM LIPTAK of the pandemic on a recent after- not contained, warning that the vi- members of a tight-knit New Jer- focus: finding a remedy for the WASHINGTON — The Su- noon in the backyard of his home rus’s march across the South and sey family, the Fuscos, who lost disease that killed their mother, preme Court ruled on Tuesday the West “puts the entire country five relatives to the coronavirus, three siblings and an aunt. Continued on Page A7 that states must allow religious at risk.” schools to participate in programs ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the direc- that provide scholarships to stu- Chief Justice John G. Roberts tor of the National Institute of Al- dents attending private schools, a lergy and Infectious Diseases, of- decision that opened the door to Jr. is now at the court’s center. fered the grim prediction while more public funding of religious testifying on Capitol Hill, telling education. senators that no region of the Education Secretary Betsy De- country is safe from the virus’s re- Vos, who has proposed a tax-cred- A Chief Justice surgence. The number of new it program to help parents pay for cases in the United States has shot private schools, called the deci- With the Power up by 80 percent in the past two sion “a historic victory” that weeks, according to a New York meant “families can use taxpayer Times database, with new hot funds to choose schools that Of a Swing Vote spots flaring far from the Sun Belt match their values and educa- epicenters. tional goals, including faith-based “I can’t make an accurate pre- schools.” By ADAM LIPTAK diction, but it is going to be very The court’s 5-to-4 decision, with WASHINGTON — In a series of disturbing, I will guarantee you the more conservative members stunning decisions over the past that,” Dr. Fauci said, “because in the majority, did not directly af- two weeks, Chief Justice John G. when you have an outbreak in one fect public schools, but their sup- Roberts Jr. has voted to expand part of the country, even though in porters said they feared it would L.G.B.T.Q. rights, protect the other parts of the country they are help divert resources from public young immigrants known as doing well, they are vulnerable.” to private education. Dissenting Dreamers and strike down a Loui- New flash points have weighed justices said the decision dam- siana abortion law. In all three de- down talk of a resumption of nor- aged the separation of church and cisions, he voted with the court’s mal life and a quick economic re- state. four-member liberal wing. bound. The chairman of the Fed- The Supreme Court has long On Tuesday, he joined his usual eral Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, held that states may choose to conservative allies in a 5-to-4 rul- issued his own gloomy assess- provide aid to religious schools ing that bolstered religious ment, cautioning lawmakers on CBS, VIA GETTY IMAGES along with other private schools. schools. Tuesday of an “extraordinarily CARL REINER, 1922-2020 The question in the case brought The decisions may be hard to uncertain” moment facing the by three mothers with children at reconcile as a matter of brute poli- Continued on Page A9 Mr. Reiner, a comedic giant both on and off camera, influenced generations of stars. Page A22. Stillwater Christian School, in tics. But they underscored the Kalispell, Mont., was the opposite larger truth about Chief Justice one: May states refuse to provide Roberts: 15 years into his tenure, such aid if it is made available to he now wields a level of influence other private schools? that has sent experts hunting for As Beijing Tightens Its Grip, Cash in Hong Kong Keeps Flowing Montana’s Constitution, like historical comparisons. those of many other states, re- “Roberts is not only the most Beijing twisted some arms to pervade many layers of Hong stricts government aid to reli- powerful player on the court,” said Kong’s society. By ALEXANDRA STEVENSON win that support, hinting that it City’s Tycoons Embrace gious groups. Those provisions, Lee Epstein, a law professor and could use its huge clout to punish The law, which took effect im- often called Blaine amendments, political scientist at Washington HONG KONG — The business any global company or local ty- China’s New Law mediately, lays out crimes for sub- were initially adopted in the 19th University in St. Louis. “He’s also world has largely fallen in line be- coon who crosses it. China has verting the government or “col- century and often had the goal of the most powerful chief justice hind China’s campaign to tighten also won over some business luding” with foreign governments restricting funding for Catholic since at least 1937.” its grip on Hong Kong, including hearts and minds — and a big new or “external forces” to spy on or schools. An incrementalist and an insti- its support for a new national se- inflow of Chinese money into the tional security law, a far-reaching gravely harm China. Hong Kong’s The three mothers in Kalispell tutionalist, the chief justice gener- curity law that many residents territory has helped it make its blueprint for the authorities and top official will be given the power wanted to participate in a state ally nudges the court to the right fear will hurt the former British case. the courts to suppress the city’s to appoint judges to hear certain program enacted in 2015 “to pro- in small steps, with one eye on its colony’s status as a laissez-faire, On Tuesday, Beijing made good protest movement and for China’s security-related cases, raising vide parental and student choice prestige and legitimacy. He is im- freethinking city. on its promise and passed the na- national security apparatus to Continued on Page A11 Continued on Page A16 Continued on Page A16

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