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VOL. CLXVIII ... No. 58,183+ © 2018 Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2018 $3.00

‘You have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours’ MATTIS RESIGNS AFTER TRUMP’S PULLOUT Clash of Views Led to a Split That Stunned a Government in Turmoil

By HELENE COOPER — Defense turning to , he asked Secretary , whose ex- aides to print out 50 copies of his perience and stability were widely resignation letter and distribute seen as a balance to an unpredict- them around the building. able president, resigned Thurs- “My views on treating allies day in protest of President with respect and also being clear- Trump’s decision to withdraw eyed about both malign actors and American forces from Syria and strategic competitors are strongly his rejection of international alli- held,” Mr. Mattis wrote. “Because ances. you have the right to have a Secre- Mr. Mattis had repeatedly told tary of Defense whose views are friends and aides over recent better aligned with yours on these months that he viewed his respon- and other subjects, I believe it is sibility to protect the United right for me to step down from my States’ 1.3 million active-duty position.” troops as worth the concessions His resignation came as Con- necessary as defense secretary to gress appeared to be hurtling to- a mercurial president. But on ward a government shutdown and Thursday, in an extraordinary re- as a deep market slump became buke of the president, he decided even worse over fears of continu- that Mr. Trump’s decision to with- ing government turmoil. draw roughly 2,000 American With the ousting this month of troops from Syria was a step too John F. Kelly as White House chief far. of staff, Mr. Mattis was the last of Officials said Mr. Mattis went to Mr. Trump’s old-guard national the White House with his resigna- security team — leaving policy in tion letter already written, but the hands of , the nonetheless made a last attempt president’s second secretary of

TOM BRENNER FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES at persuading the president to re- state, and John R. Bolton, the third Defense Secretary Jim Mattis with President Trump on Dec. 8. The men have disagreed on several issues, including NATO policy. verse his decision about Syria, White House national security ad- which Mr. Trump announced on viser. Wednesday over the objections of Mr. Trump said that Mr. Mattis, his senior advisers. 68, will leave at the end of Febru- Mr. Mattis, a retired four-star ary, and that Mr. Mattis “was a PRESIDENT BALKS An Exit, a Leader Unbound and a Jittery Capital Marine , was rebuffed. Re- Continued on Page A10 And it all played out at a mo- NEWS ANALYSIS By MARK LANDLER ment Mr. Trump is awash in AT SPENDING DEAL investigations of possible collu- WASHINGTON — For most of Federal Reserve for raising sion between and his In Abrupt Shift, Trump Halves his tumultuous 23 months in interest rates, and announced campaign, inquiries into his Shutdown Looms as Wall office, President Trump has tried that the United States would pull business and his family founda- Size of U.S. Force in Afghanistan to shake off anyone who would 2,000 troops out of Syria, without tion, and allegations that he Funding Poisons Bill restrain his insurgent style of consulting allies or warning directed his former lawyer to pay leadership. With the resignation Congress. hush money to two women with By THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFF of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, That last decision prompted whom he is alleged to have had and MUJIB MASHAL Mr. Trump is at last a president By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS Mr. Mattis to quit after he could affairs. unbound. not persuade Mr. Trump to re- WASHINGTON — The Trump and EMILY COCHRANE If there was a common thread Even for some Republicans, verse course, and the defense administration has ordered the in Mr. Trump’s actions, it was his WASHINGTON — President this was a deeply unsettling secretary left little doubt in his military to start withdrawing unswerving conviction that his Trump on Thursday torpedoed a prospect, especially after a week resignation letter that he viewed roughly 7,000 troops from Afghan- spending deal and sent the gov- in which Mr. Trump rejected a the president as a threat to the political survival depends on istan in the coming months, two ernment careening toward a deal to keep the government world order the United States securing his conservative base. defense officials said Thursday, an Christmastime shutdown over his running, openly criticized the helped construct. Continued on Page A10 abrupt shift in the 17-year-old war demand of $5 billion for a wall on there and a decision that stunned the southwestern border, refusing Afghan officials, who said they ANDREW RENNEISEN/GETTY IMAGES to sign a stopgap measure to keep had not been briefed on the plans. The United States has about funds flowing past midnight Fri- President Trump made the de- 14,000 troops in Afghanistan. day. They Help the Pregnant. No One Helped Them. cision to pull the troops — about With Mr. Trump unwilling to ad- half the number the United States ruary after disagreeing with the mit defeat on his signature cam- has in Afghanistan now — at the president over his approach to paign promise despite a clear lack same time he decided to pull policy in the Middle East. The of votes to get it through Con- By NATALIE KITROEFF and JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG American forces out of Syria, one Wall Street Journal was the first to gress, House Republican leaders report the decision to pull troops As a medical assistant at official said. scrambled for a way out of the The announcement came hours from Afghanistan. year-end morass. On a dizzying Planned Parenthood, Ta’Lisa after Jim Mattis, the secretary of The whirlwind of troop with- day in the Capitol, House Republi- Hairston urged pregnant women defense, said that he would resign drawals and the resignation of Mr. cans pushed through legislation to to take rest breaks at work, stay from his position at the end of Feb- add $5.7 billion for the wall to a hydrated and, please, eat regular Continued on Page A12 measure to extend government meals. funding into February, making a Then she got pregnant and last stand in the final hours of their couldn’t follow her own advice. majority to back the president’s Last winter, Ms. Hairston told hard-line immigration promises. the human-resources department At a Busy Airport in Britain, The bill is almost certain to die for Planned Parenthood’s clinic in in the Senate, where it would need White Plains that her high blood bipartisan support. Senator Mitch pressure was threatening her Only Pesky Drones Are Flying McConnell of Kentucky, the ma- pregnancy. She sent the depart- jority leader, told senators scat- ment multiple notes from her tered around the country to return nurse recommending that she By BENJAMIN MUELLER and AMIE TSANG Friday for another vote. The take frequent breaks. — It is one of the “This hasn’t happened any- House approved it on a nearly Managers ignored the notes. busiest airports in Europe. It sur- where in the world before,” said party-line vote of 217 to 185. They rarely gave her time to rest vived World War II, when it Richard Gill, the founder and chief As uncertainty reigned, stock or to take a lunch break, Ms. served as a base for R.A.F. night executive of Drone Defence, prices tumbled, economic worries Hairston said. fighters flying missions against which helps institutions guard rose, and to cap off the chaos, the “I had to hold back tears talking Nazi Germany. It has just been their perimeters against drones. secretary of defense, Jim Mattis, to pregnant women, telling them brought to a standstill by the hum- The Gatwick shutdown scram- resigned in protest of the presi- to take care of their pregnancies ble drone. bled hundreds of flights, stranded dent’s policies. when I couldn’t take care of mine,” Gatwick Airport was closed to tens of thousands of passengers “It is a shame that this presi- she said. “It made me jealous.” air traffic for more than 24 hours and reduced the British govern- dent, who is plunging the nation Discrimination against preg- — at the peak of the holiday sea- ment to playing cat-and-mouse into chaos, is throwing another nant women and new mothers re- son, no less — amid repeated in- with the drones. Controlled, per- temper tantrum and going to hurt mains widespread in the Ameri- cursions by flying gizmos of the haps, by little more than an iPad, lots of innocent people,” Senator can workplace. It is so pervasive CAITLIN OCHS FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES sort that might be found in a box in they were repeatedly sent over Continued on Page A16 Continued on Page A19 Ta’Lisa Hairston says Planned Parenthood denied work breaks. a hobbyist shop. Continued on Page A7

NATIONAL A13-19 NEW YORK A20-25 SPORTSFRIDAY B7-10 Mueller Inquiry’s New Threats After Abuse Cases, Priest Stays Soccer Club Squeezed Out A memo by William P. Barr, the presi- The Archdiocese of New York paid two Queen’s Park, an amateur team that has dent’s pick for attorney general, and a sexual abuse settlements against the shaped Scottish soccer, is being forced decision by Matthew G. Whitaker, the Rev. Donald G. Timone. The priest to leave the stadium it has called home acting attorney general, pose new risks continues to work. PAGE A21 for over 100 years. On Soccer. PAGE B7 to the investigation. PAGE A15

BUSINESS DAY B1-6 Ghosn Staying Behind Bars The former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn was rearrested Friday on charges of breach of trust, making it increasingly unlikely that he would soon be freed from a Tokyo jail. PAGE B6 WEEKEND ARTS C1-24 A Step Closer to Arctic Drilling Tobacco Giant Gets Juul Stake A Marine Mythologist The Interior Department put forth four possible plans toward allowing oil and Altria is paying $12.8 billion to acquire a Even Jason Momoa, above, can’t save gas drilling in the Arctic National Wild- 35 percent stake of the popular vaping the lackluster “Aquaman” from sinking, life Refuge, above. PAGE A13 start-up. Public health advocates criti- Wesley Morris says. PAGE C1 cized the union. PAGE B1 EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27 INTERNATIONAL A4-12 David Brooks PAGE A27 Asylum Seekers, Wait Outside The Trump administration said asylum seekers must wait in Mexico while their cases are considered in a court in the U(D54G1D)y+\!#!,!=!: United States. PAGE A9