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An abrupt welcome back to winter Trump allies call Ryan’s bill ‘a trap’
A WARNING TO SCRAP GOP HEALTH-CARE PLAN Conservative populists say reelection would be at risk
BY ROBERT COSTA MORE COVERAGE AND PHILIP RUCKER New entry ban to face challenge A simmering rebellion of con- Lawyers and volunteers are servative populists loyal to Presi- mounting a campaign. A3 dent Trump is further endanger- ing the GOP health-care push, U.N. funding: The White House with a chorus of influential voices wants to reduce U.S. payments. A5 suspicious of the proposal warn- D.C. economy: Trump’s proposed ing the president to abandon it. budget cuts spook the region. A16 From headlines at Breitbart to chatter on Fox News Channel and right-wing talk radio, as well as ing on federal aid. among friends who have Trump’s Vice President Pence and ad- ear, the message has been blunt: ministration officials scrambled The plan being advanced by con- Tuesday to salvage the plan amid gressional Republican leaders is widespread dissatisfaction in deeply flawed — and, at worst, a both the Senate and House over political trap. the Congressional Budget Office’s Trump’s allies worry that he is estimate that 24 million fewer jeopardizing his presidency by people would be insured in a promoting the bill spearheaded decade under the Ryan proposal, by House Speaker Paul D. Ryan titled the American Health Care (Wis.), arguing that it would frac- Act. ture Trump’s coalition of work- Trump — who has not yet fully ing- and middle-class voters, used the bully pulpit of the presi- KATHERINE FREY/THE WASHINGTON POST many of them older and subsist- RYAN CONTINUED ON A6 Danielle Disney, who flew back from a Caribbean vacation just as the storm hit, shovels her neighbor’s steps as Miles Penn, 2½, and Patti Hanan watch her from their windows in Frederick, Md. The D.C. area was blanketed in snow but avoided the walloping the Northeast received. Story, B1. To view a gallery of photos, go to wapo.st/winterstorm. Sen. Inhofe’s influence over the EPA snowballs
Sen. James Retired admiral is charged in Navy bribery probe Ex-aides in position Inhofe (R- Okla.) has said to reshape agency that human- the “Fat Leonard” bribery case, of lavish gifts, prostitutes and uments, Francis also frequently he’s long condemned perpetuated 5 other former high-level escalating an epic scandal that luxury hotel stays courtesy of sponsored wild sex parties for global has dogged the Navy for four Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” many officers assigned to the USS warming is a officers are arrested years. Francis, a Singapore-based de- Blue Ridge, the flagship of the “hoax.” in ‘Fat Leonard’ case Among those charged were fense contractor who has pleaded Navy’s 7th Fleet, and other war- BY JULIET EILPERIN Rear Adm. Bruce Loveless, a sen- guilty to defrauding the Navy of ships. AND BRADY DENNIS unprecedented opportunity to ior Navy intelligence officer who tens of millions of dollars. During a port visit by the Blue shape the nation’s energy and recently retired from a key job at The indictment lists page after Ridge to Manila in May 2008, for For more than a decade, Sen. environmental policies. And he BY CRAIG WHITLOCK the Pentagon, as well as four page of bribes allegedly provided example, five of the Navy officers James M. Inhofe has raged against has helped populate the upper retired Navy captains and a re- to the defendants including attended a “raging multi-day par- the scientific consensus that hu- ranks of the agency he has derided The Justice Department un- tired Marine colonel. The charges $25,000 watches, $2,000 boxes of ty, with a rotating carousel of mans are fueling climate change, with several of his closest confi- sealed a fresh indictment Tues- cover a period of eight years, Cohiba cigars, $2,000 bottles of prostitutes,” at the Shangri-La calling it “the greatest hoax” ever dants. day charging eight Navy officials from 2006 through 2014. cognac and $600-per-night hotel Hotel, according to the indict- perpetrated on Americans. The At least half a dozen former — including an admiral — with The Navy personnel are ac- rooms. ment. The group allegedly drank Oklahoma Republican has blasted aides to Inhofe — and counting — corruption and other crimes in cused of taking bribes in the form According to the charging doc- NAVY CONTINUED ON A2 the Environmental Protection have been hired into top positions Agency as an “activist organiza- at the EPA and the White House. tion” that has unfairly burdened The chief of staff and deputy chief everyone from farmers to fossil- of staff to EPA Administrator Scott fuel companies. Pruitt, a fellow Oklahoman and Burgers with a side of division Now the man critics once dis- longtime friend of Inhofe, spent missed as a political outlier has an EPA CONTINUED ON A4 In Germany, a Trump supporter’s restaurant is shunned by the left, then embraced by the right
BY ANTHONY FAIOLA Trump paid $38 million berlin — In Germany, he was a California boy made good — a 29-year-old from Fresno in taxes in ’05, filing says whose thriving burger joint in the western city of Essen served up towering plates of greasy American goodness. BY PHILIP RUCKER paid $36.5 million in income tax, Then Nicholas Smith came out on na- AND DREW HARWELL of which about $31 million was in tional television as a Trump fan. the form of an “alternative mini- What followed — a de facto boycott of his President Trump paid $38 mil- mum tax,” a supplemental tax restaurant, followed by its surprise rescue lion in federal taxes in 2005 on designed to cut down on filers by the German right — suggests how the income of $153 million and re- with excessive deductions. He polarization of the Trump era has gone ported a $105 million write-down also paid about $1.5 million in global. in business losses, according to a Medicare and Social Security tax- “I was trying to make a business work,” copy of his tax return first re- es. Smith said. “But then it became just about vealed Tuesday night on MSNBC. The document offers a rare my politics.” Trump paid an effective tax snapshot of Trump’s personal fi- Far beyond the United States, President rate of 25 percent and saved mil- nances, considering he has re- Trump is emerging as a symbol of ideologi- lions of dollars in additional taxes fused to disclose his tax returns to cal division. In international right-wing by claiming the losses, according the public. The White House is- circles, he is becoming as worthy an idol as to the document, the first two sued a statement chastising Russian President Vladimir Putin. pages of which were obtained by MSNBC for reporting on Trump’s But particularly in places like Europe, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist taxes — “totally illegal,” read the where a certain brand of anti-Americanism David Cay Johnston and first statement — but also confirming often lingers just below the surface, Trump’s ALEXANDRA ROTH shared on “The Rachel Maddow top-line numbers from the return rise has also stirred deep animosity along Nicholas Smith owns Gringo’s California Kitchen in Essen, Germany. “I was trying Show.” and defending Trump. GERMANY CONTINUED ON A16 to make a business work,” he said. “But then it became just about my politics.” The return shows that Trump TAXES CONTINUED ON A7
IN THE NEWS companies make head tion over a $500 mail lines for giving parents box mandate says his Inside extended time off. A12 $35 mailbox was van THE NATION The European Court of dalized. B4 FOOD Al Gore said “there is a Justice ruled that em THE REGION The University of the Souper-duper realistic chance” that ployers can prohibit the Metro’s poor planning District of Columbia is Making real chicken soup President Trump won’t Muslim headscarf in the of its SafeTrack mainte falling behind on its takes less time than you bail on the Paris climate workplace. A10 nance surge added to plan to overhaul course might think. E1 agreement. A16 Aid deliveries have all the surge’s cost and to offerings, the Office of commuters’ headaches, STYLE THE WORLD but stopped for hundreds the D.C. Auditor said. B6 a federal report said. B1 François Fillon, the of thousands of Syrians A new Glenn Beck Washington’s cherry OBITUARIES leading French con living under siege, a The former tea party blossoms survived a Richard H. Solomon, servative candidate for medical group said. A10 leader tells his fans to frigid weekend and a a top U.S. diplomat who president, was formally reach out to liberals. C1 THE ECONOMY snowfall, but can they helped end a bloody placed under investiga The Federal Reserve is weather the remaining conflict in Cambodia tion on suspicion of em expected to set a faster BUSINESS NEWS ...... A11 DYLAN MARTINEZ/REUTERS cold spell? B2 and was an authority on bezzling and misusing pace of interest rate in COMICS...... C7 White nationalist China, died at 79. B6 OPINION PAGES ...... A14 Last-minute decisions Just before voters went public funds. A8 DAILY CODE, DETAILS, B2 creases that may test Richard Spencer’s non LOTTERIES...... B3 to the polls in the Netherlands, as many as Ukraine said it may bar President Trump’s eco STYLE OBITUARIES...... B6 profit group has lost its TELEVISION...... C5 6504 Russia’s contestant from 40 percent of them were still undecided. A8 nomic agenda. A11 taxexempt status for President Trump’s WORLD NEWS...... A8 the Eurovision Song CONTENT © 2017 New mothers aren’t not filing financial re budget is expected to cut Contest on the grounds getting any more paid The Washington Post / Year 140, No. 100 Trade secret? The FDA won’t specify where a turns for three years. B3 public broadcasting that she illegally toured product linked to an E. coli outbreak was sold parental leave than they A Maryland man who funding, but PBS and Crimea after Russia an did 10 years ago, data NPR have seen similar successfully fought his Printed using recycled fiber because of its reading of an obscure rule. A11 nexed it in 2014. A9 shows, even as some homeowner’s associa threats in the past. C1