Senate Democrats press inspectors general to probe Trump’s resistance to Russia sanctions

The top Senate Democrats on the Foreign Relations, Intelligence and Banking committees asked the inspectors general of three federal agencies Friday to launch formal probes into why President Trump has not fully implemented congressionally mandated sanctions against Russia. “We are concerned about whether the sanctions implementation process within the administration is fulfilling CAATSA’s mandate and intent,” Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) wrote in a letter to the inspectors general for the State and Treasury departments and the intelligence community. The “CAATSA” acronym refers to a law Congress passed last August mandating sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea. In the time since, the Trump administration has designated entities to be hit with the new sanctions only once, the senators stressed — despite having taken other steps to identify entities engaging in activities that the law made sanctionable. The senators challenged the inspectors general to determine whether Trump himself was the reason certain entities had avoided being designated for sanctions. “It seems clear that several weeks ago, the administration had identified specific Russian entities that had played a role in supplying or otherwise supporting the government of Syria’s chemical weapons program, had prepared a list of such entities for sanctions designation, and Ambassador Nikki Haley publicly announced their imminent designation,” the senators wrote. “But then the administration did not designate them, reportedly at the direction of the President.” It is not the first time that lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have questioned Trump’s motives regarding Russia, even as his administration has taken certain steps to rebuke Russia for its aggressive activities, including expelling dozens of Russian officers from the United States this spring. Much of that criticism has focused on the sanctions measures that became law last August, as the law carried a late January deadline for implementation, which the administration has missed. But concerns about fully implementing Russia-related sanctions also have come from other corners of the Trump administration. Last month, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned the Senate Armed Services Committee that the United States’s ability to counter Russian military aggression would be compromised if there were no waivers to allow engagement with countries that had been historically dependent on Russian systems. The three top Democrats also asked the inspectors general to examine “the internal processes by which your respective agencies have contributed to the creation of Russia sanctions designation packages,” as well as whether


Pink Starbursts and brownie edges: How our quirky preferences are driving the future of snacking

over a cheeseburger than saying “I should eat that salad because it’s healthier than the cheeseburger.” “In some ways, you very, very literally define yourself based on your preferences,” says Elliot Berkman, an associate professor at the University of Oregon’s department of psychology and the paper’s lead author. We also want to share them: In additional research cited in the paper, individuals showed increased activity in the same brain region as above when disclosing information about themselves to others. Online, this plays out via BuzzFeed quizzes, which tell us what it means to prefer the wiggly breadstick in Chex Mix (“you’re always wearing your best clothes, even if you’re home alone”) to Twitter threads proselytizing the superiority of folded potato chips (known, in Canada, as “wish chips”). Combine this with brands increasingly eager to stand out both online and on store shelves, and it might explain why our eating particularities are being increasingly packaged up and sold right back to us. Today, fans of sticky-bun middles can head to their local mall for a “center of the roll” from Cinnabon. Edge-fetishists can bake crisp-cornered brownies in zigzagged pans from Baker’s Edge and snack on Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle, from a Florida-based baker who parlayed a predilection into a multimillion-dollar business. Those who rummage around for the popcorn kernels that don’t quite fully explode can now add dill pickle-flavored “partially popped popcorn” to their cart on web retailer Brandless. It’s happening in restaurants, too: At Osteria Francescana, the Michelin-starred Modenese restaurant made famous on “Chef’s Table,” chef Massimo Bottura designed a dish called “The Crunchy Part of the Lasagne,” boiled and baked pasta triangles layered with ragu and bechamel — “an entire dish made from the best part of the lasagne,” he writes in his book “Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef.” This February, on the other side of the dining spectrum, Olive Garden debuted a dish of fried pasta “chips” doused with meat sauce and an Alfredo “drizzle.” But the most prominent manifestation of the trend is the pink Starburst. Last spring, the company’s limited-edition packs of “All Pink” Starbursts were so successful that in April, the brand coupled a relaunch with a full line of merchandise, including pink jackets, sweatshirts and patterned scarves. Designed by “Project Runway” winner Erin Robertson, the Pepto-hued garb is branded with the slogan “You Are a Pink Starburst.” Who is a pink Starburst, exactly?


with edge-focused brownie pans sold in stores such as Bed Bath & Beyond and Sur la Table. In social psychology, the theory of optimal distinctiveness identifies an inherent push-pull between a sense of self and the desire to be part of a group. “We want to use products that allow us to be unique, but there is social utility to use products other people do as well,” says Americus Reed, a professor in the marketing department of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School whose work focuses on the intersection between social identity and buying decisions. Being a pink Starburst person theoretically nails that sweet spot between finding your people and feeling unique. But what happens when you realize your “uniqueness” is joined by enough people to make you an ideal consumer for a whole new product line? During our conversation, Zhadkevich recalled a middle-school girlfriend who knew he loved the pink Starbursts best, so she collected them from multiple packs and created a special package just for him — the mix-tape analogue to All Pink’s Spotify Radio. It’s hard to imagine that handing someone a bag of All Pinks would have the same emotional resonance, but brands are hoping it will. “The question of the brand is now of customizing an experience to create the highest optimized level of delight,” Reed says. “The delight becomes part of the brand concept.” The article my sister shared called those pre-marked brownies a “genius” idea because the curation had been done for the customer. But “if you don’t have to scavenge for them,” I had texted my sister back, “are they as delicious?” She responded, “It’s basically the same fundamental philosophical question of, ‘Can you have happiness without sadness?’ ” When you optimize a moment of delight, there’s a risk of eroding part of what made it pleasurable in the first place. Put another way, from a Reddit user in a thread discussing the merits of Gardetto’s Special Request Garlic Rye Chips, “It seems like cheating. There’s no thrill of the hunt.” I asked Griffin whether the corners of the brownie could be seen as more satisfying when there are only four available in the pan, that the rarity and the contrast could be seen as part of the appeal. “What you are saying is really wrong,” he replied. “Too much of a good thing is not too much of a good thing.” I


Pruitt moves to rescind regulations inspired by West, Tex., chemical explosion that killed 15

Sometime before 7:30 p.m. on April 17, 2013, in the small town of West, Tex., a fire broke out at the West Fertilizer Company plant. Thirty volunteers made up the town’s fire department. They heard the beep on their pagers, said goodbye to their families and headed to the source of the menacing black smoke. Some of them, 12 of them, wouldn’t come back. Twenty minutes after the fire started, the plant exploded — so powerfully that it registered as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale. A total of 15 people died in the blast, including the 12 volunteer first responders. Two hundred sixty people were injured, and 150 buildings in the vicinity were damaged. Half of them, including two schools, had to be demolished. Arson caused the fire, federal investigators concluded three years later. But 80,000 to 100,000 pounds of unsafely stored fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate was the source of the disastrous explosion. The fatal blast prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to make serious changes to regulations about how companies store dangerous flammable chemicals and how they develop risk-management plans. The new rules were set to take effect in June 2017, but they were held up by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt after he took office. Now Pruitt wants to rescind most of the safety regulations, saying that a lot of them imposed “unnecessary regulatory burdens” on the chemical industry. Pruitt’s proposed changes, signed Thursday, are subject to public comment. “Accident prevention is a top priority at EPA, and this proposed rule will ensure proper emergency planning and continue the trend of fewer significant accidents involving chemicals,” Pruitt said in a statement. “The rule proposes to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens, address the concerns of stakeholders and emergency responders on the ground, and save Americans roughly $88 million a year.” The bulk of the claimed savings would come from getting rid of a rule requiring owners of a chemical plant to evaluate options for safer technology and procedures that would mitigate hazards, according to an EPA report. He also seeks to rescind rules requiring companies to conduct a “root-cause analysis” after a “catastrophic” chemical release or an incident that might have caused one and to perform a third-party compliance audit after an accident at a plant or when conditions are discovered that could lead to an accidental release of chemicals. Pruitt’s move to dismantle these regulations is part of a broader


The Energy 202: Why climate scientists want to be thought of as the real ’climate skeptics’

stylebook on “climate skeptic” or any of its cousins. But the stylebook for the Associated Press does, and among its recommendations is perhaps the best bet for a busy journalist: Describe what the subject believes with a phrase like "those who reject mainstream climate science," rather than just a one- or two-word label. That is likely what I will do going forward. Though that is not the easiest to do in a headline. — "Soil or rock or whatever": “What about erosion?” Brooks said. “Every single year that we’re on Earth, you have huge tons of silt deposited by the Mississippi River, by the Amazon River, by the Nile, by every major river system — and for that matter, creek, all the way down to the smallest systems. And every time you have that soil or rock, whatever it is, that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise. Because now you’ve got less space in those oceans because the bottom is moving up.” “I’m pretty sure that on human time scales,” Philip Duffy, president of Woods Hole Research Center, told Brooks. “Those are minuscule effects.” The truth: As The Post’s Philip Bump explains, “to make the oceans rise 3.3 millimeters” — which is an estimated annual average — “we would need to displace that 1.2 trillion cubic meters of water upward by dropping in 1.2 trillion cubic meters of dirt or stone or whatever. How much is that? It’s a sphere of earth a bit over 8 miles in diameter. “ — "We human beings are contributing to it in a major way": “I don’t deny that consensus that the climate is changing,” Bridenstine said, per the Atlantic. “In fact, I fully believe and know that the climate is changing. I also know that we human beings are contributing to it in a major way. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. We’re putting it into the atmosphere in volumes that we haven’t seen, and that greenhouse gas is warming the planet. That is absolutely happening, and we are responsible for it.” Context: “As far as my position on climate change and how it’s evolved,” Bridenstine said this week, “I’ll be very open.” — USDA pilots planned inspections: — Another day, another rollback: — This may not surprise you, but during disasters, Twitter is full of false information — Man, it’s a hot one: — “A


Five myths about spring allergies

— don’t have showy blooms. Their impact is significant because they produce a lot of pollen, which is designed to be wind-borne and can travel miles. Trees with pretty flowers, such as dogwoods or cherries; planted bulbs like tulips; and flowering bushes such as hydrangeas, roses and azaleas attract insects for pollination. So their pollen is rarely airborne and doesn’t lead to allergies, though it could be an irritant if someone gets too close. Myth No. 3 A cold winter and a late spring mean allergies won't be so bad. This year, as late as mid-April, when allergy season is usually well underway, much of the United States was still tackling winter colds, viruses, even flu. This may have led many to believe that spring allergies wouldn’t be too bad. Local news reports from Wisconsin to Rhode Island declared that tree allergy season was “delayed” or “stalled” by the lingering winter. In fact, spring allergies start well before spring. The plant life cycle begins in winter, with snow and rain providing moisture essential for growth. Rising temperatures and longer days with more sunlight trigger pollination; by February and early March, U.S. cities are already recording pollen in the air, especially in the South. Studies show that warmer temperatures and higher CO2 levels associated with climate change are contributing to earlier, more robust plant growth and pollination. As a result, one 2013 study at Rutgers University found, allergy season has been increasing in length by about half a day for the past 20 years. A “late” start to spring doesn’t mean much when the Earth is generally warmer, the seasons are longer and pollen exposure is more intense. Myth No. 4 Allergies aren't a problem until pollen is everywhere. This time of the season is the busiest for allergists’ offices, with people tending to wait until allergies truly peak — and they feel truly miserable — to seek help. A 2015 study in the journal Environmental Health found that over-the-counter allergy medication sales correlated with the peak dates of spring allergy season. But if you see a dusting of yellow pollen everywhere, it may be too late to treat allergies effectively. Most allergists recommend that their patients start treatment at least two weeks before the season begins. The end of winter means the miserable cycle of symptoms we typically associate with spring is already underway. When temperatures first begin to warm,


The Kremlin revives a Soviet-style law against dissent

deputy speaker of the State Duma from Putin’s United Russia party, who specifically cited my work in support of targeted Western sanctions on Russian human rights abusers. “I am warning him,” the lawmaker went on to say. “If the bill is passed and becomes law, such activities will be considered a crime.” The official justification behind the measure is that participation in the imposition of such restrictions is directed “against Russia.” Of course, it is not. There can be nothing more pro-Russian than to bring much-needed accountability to those who violate the rights of Russian citizens and steal the money of Russian taxpayers — and continue to spend that money, buy real estate and park their families in the West. That is precisely what the Magnitsky legislation, now adopted in six Western countries, does, by prohibiting individuals responsible for human rights abuses and corruption from receiving visas or holding assets in their territories. Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov called it “the most pro-Russian law in the history of any foreign parliament.” Nemtsov played an instrumental role in making it a reality. “Without Boris Nemtsov, we would not have had the Magnitsky Act,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the act’s chief proponents, in a remarkable statement from a United States senator about a foreign politician. It was Nemtsov’s effectiveness as an international campaigner, not just his ability to win elections and organize mass protests, that made him such a dangerous adversary for Putin’s regime. He would have been the first to be indicted under this new article. But he will not be; he was killed on a bridge near the Kremlin in February 2015. The Magnitsky legislation is a pale substitute for justice. The penalty for torture, murder, wrongful imprisonment or grand corruption should not be canceled vacations in Miami Beach or on the Côte d’Azur but a real trial in a real court of law. One day, this will be possible in Russia. For now, it is not, and targeted sanctions from Western democracies serve as the only mechanism of accountability for corrupt Kremlin officials and human rights abusers. I will continue this work, as I know will many of my colleagues, regardless of any legislative novelties from the Russian government. As was often the case in Soviet times, humor is an important asset in facing political repression. The first thought that came to my mind when I


In his mother’s arms, National Zoo’s baby gorilla is ‘very content’

Moke, the National Zoo’s western lowland gorilla, turned 1 month old this week and is reportedly doing well. The infant gorilla “remains bright and alert,” according to a zoo blog post by primate keepers Alex Reddy and Matt Spence. Moke was born April 15 to his mother, Calaya, and his father, a hulking silverback gorilla named Baraka. They became a couple three years ago, when she arrived at the zoo. She became pregnant in August. The National Zoo had six gorillas before Moke’s birth, but he is special because he is the first lowland gorilla born there in nine years. His name (pronounced Mo-KEY), means “junior” or “little one” in the Lingala language of Africa. Moke has yet to develop the trademark silver fur of his father, but he does have black stripes on his feet and the palms of his hands, making it look as if he has been doing some finger — and toe — painting. These stripes will expand, and his hands and feet will eventually turn all black, according to the zoo’s animal keeper Melba Brown. Moke is doing well, zookeepers said, and is also getting stronger. Zoo keepers said Calaya “no longer needs to cradle him all the time.” That doesn’t mean he’s being left behind. “He is able to hang on tight to his mom’s chest while she knuckle-walks throughout the habit,” keepers said. Moke, like the other gorillas at the facility, is being trained to respond to keepers’ voices so he can be checked. During his sessions, he looks around to see where the voices are coming from and “will make eye contact,” the zoo said. “Sometimes, we will even hear [Moke] emit a pleasure rumble vocalization or two! That lets us know that he is very content.” The keepers say Baraka keeps a close watch over his son and Calaya, the zoo said, “just as a silverback who is protecting his troop should.” And just like a good parent, when Baraka “interacts with Moke, he does so in a gentle way.” Moke has even started to interact with other members of the troop: He and his mother were seen with two other gorillas, Kibibi and Mandara, in the outdoor yard of their enclosure. The zoo officials predict they’ll be “great playmates for Moke when he is a bit older and more independent from Mom.”


We are disarming America’s future

York subway system that can’t find the resources to repair and modernize. In some places, it’s taken decades to build a single bridge. The country’s only high-speed rail project remains stalled in the station after decades of fits and starts. The United States doesn’t exist in a geopolitical vacuum — a rising power on the other side of the Pacific is challenging its global leadership. In the time it took California to build a bridge and a few miles of overpasses and other structures for high-speed rail tracks in the Central Valley, China has built thousands of bridges and 18,000 miles of high-speed rail with operating trains connecting all the major cities in its vast nation of 1.4 billion people. China’s present prosperity, like that of other Asian outposts like Singapore, is built upon the millennia-old belief that government is a “necessary good” for society that provides essential services and complements private economic activity. The state invests heavily in infrastructure and education. Since the “reform and opening up” period after the Cultural Revolution, China has also unchained a vibrant private sector, resulting in commercial giants like Alibaba and Tencent. Working together, the state and the private sector have raised hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and created what Chinese leaders call a “moderately prosperous society.” And they are aiming higher, planning to conquer new technologies from robotics to artificial intelligence, which they see as the motor of the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” President Donald Trump is not wrong to challenge China on impeded access to its markets. But no matter how many trade barriers come down, unless the United States achieves a similar balance of public investment and private wealth creation, we can’t compete. America, of course, exists in a totally different cultural and civilizational universe from China. Adopting China’s system is neither viable nor desirable. But China’s success signals that we should strive, at the very least, for minimal recognition that government is a necessary evil — if not just plain necessary. We might look instead at what is happening in France today under the post-ideological policies of President Emmanuel Macron. As he heads in the American direction of opening up the dynamism of the private sector from what has been a “dirigiste” state, the United States should head in the direction of the kind of public investment that has sustained France. Its primary education


Congratulations, America, indeed

and arranged a meeting to obtain it that included Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and son- in-law, Jared Kushner. When Mueller was named, we had some scattered knowledge of contacts between Trump campaign aides and Russians, most prominently the meetings between then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and the phone conversations between Kislyak and incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn. Yet we had no inkling of how many Trump associates and campaign aides had dealings with Russian officials and operatives — at least 75 contacts and 22 meetings between Trump’s team and individuals linked to Russia, according to the Moscow Project, an initiative of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. We did not know that, during the campaign, Manafort was meeting with a person with ties to Russian intelligence and, through him, offering to brief a Vladimir Putin ally, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. We did not know that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and business associate Felix Sater were pushing construction of Trump Tower Moscow during the campaign — indeed, Trump assured the public he had no business there — or that their emails on the subject included this assurance from Sater: “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected.” We did not know that a professor with links to Russia had offered campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos “thousands of emails” with “dirt” on Clinton. And on obstruction, we knew the essence of the possible case: that Trump asked FBI Director James B. Comey to “let this go” on Flynn and fired Comey, he said, to relieve the pressure of “this Russia thing.” But we did not know that Trump had ordered his White House counsel, Donald McGahn, to instruct the attorney general not to recuse himself in the probe. That Trump ordered Mueller’s firing and backed off only after McGahn threatened to quit. That Trump himself was involved in drafting a misleading statement describing his son’s Trump Tower meeting as “primarily . . . about the adoption of Russian children.” A year in, Mueller has under his belt the indictments of 19 individuals and three companies. He has amassed five guilty pleas, including from Flynn, Papadopoulos and Manafort deputy Rick Gates. What Trump rails against as a witch hunt is bagging flesh-and-blood villains and uncovering real villainy at the heart of our system — which may be why the


Maryland begins program to replenish freshwater mussels

the Eastern Elliptio to survive are beginning to make a comeback there, said James McCann, a zoologist with Maryland’s Wildlife and Heritage Service. The work to reintroduce the mussels is being paid for with the help of federal funds administered through the wildlife agency. All but two of the river’s 12 dams that kept fish species from migrating have been removed. American eels, which had been missing from the river for at least 50 years and perhaps as long as a century, are now beginning to travel it. American shad and hickory shad, two other migratory species, are also present, McCann said. “As the mussel population recovers, we think the Patapsco River will be a little cleaner,” he said. The federal and state governments, as well as nonprofit groups, have been working to restore the Patapsco for 12 years, said Serena McClain, director of river restorations for American Rivers, a conservation organization. The river, which flows 39 miles from its origins in Carroll and Howard counties down into Baltimore to form the city’s harbor, was targeted because three of its dams could be removed easily, she said. Taking out the dams opens historic migratory corridors for such fish as American eel, hickory shad and alewife, among others, and will help increase their populations in the Chesapeake Bay eventually, she said. By this time next year, fisheries scientists think they will have been able to place thousands of penny-size mussels in the Patapsco. Ashton isn’t exactly sure where they will be placed, but it will be upstream of the Daniels Dam north of Ellicott City. The mussels grow slowly, but once established can live for 20 to 30 years. After a couple of years, the scientists hope they will have a population large enough to reproduce and sustain itself. In five years, they hope to have created several self-sustaining populations. With an increase in mussels, other species that feed on them also could grow, including great blue herons, mink and catfish, the fisheries biologists said. There are 300 species of freshwater mussels in the United States, but 30 are now extinct. Two thirds of the remainder are endangered or declining, McCann said. Maryland has 16 native species, said McCann, 14 of them uncommon, threatened, rare or endangered. “What this speaks to is the state of our streams and rivers,” he said. “They are telling us something is amiss.” — Baltimore Sun


Dolphins now are appearing by the hundreds in the Chesapeake Bay

Eight people estimated that they saw swarms of more than 100 dolphins. Then, defying the researchers’ expectations, sightings continued into the fall, in decent numbers into November. A few were sighted over the winter. And reports have picked up, even as the weather was slow to warm this spring. One morning last month, someone spotted a few dolphins off Solomons Island in Calvert County, Md. An hour later, there was a report of five or 10 in Annapolis Harbor. And then there were dozens — maybe more than 100 — seen at the mouth of the Severn River nearby. The scientists say it is hard to draw conclusions yet. They noted that the data is biased because more sightings occur in the places people gather most frequently for recreation or commerce. Researchers are surveying in some parts of the bay using underwater microphones designed to detect the clicks and squeals dolphins use to communicate with one another. But they said it’s safe to guess there are probably thousands of dolphins in the Chesapeake during the warmest months. Using photos and video of dolphin fins, Mann and colleagues have analyzed scarring and other markings to identify 500 individuals. Using that data, and perhaps sound records, researchers hope to get a better estimate of the population as well as a sense of how often individual dolphins are venturing into the bay and how long they stay. Any input from the public helps, they said, as long as people are observing them responsibly. They ask people to watch from a safe distance and not to touch or feed the dolphins — or swim with them. They tell boaters to maintain their speed and direction if the curious creatures approach, as they often do. The dolphins have built up a reputation among those who frequent the bay and its rivers. Pasadena waterman C.J. Canby said friends have told him about pods of as many as 50 dolphins swimming around the Bay Bridge or in the lower bay off Calvert County. Canby was disappointed that, in 16 years of crabbing, he had never seen one himself — until July, when he was near the mouth of the Patapsco River and Bodkin Creek. “It had to be at least six or eight of them. They went right past us as we were working,” he said. “To see them this far north is pretty crazy.” Baltimore Sun


Chinese spies promised to take care of ex-CIA officer for life, prosecutors say

import cigarettes to China, but the business foundered, and by the end of 2011 he had sold his stake in the company. It was in 2010, when Lee’s firm was struggling, that prosecutors say the former spy was approached by two Chinese intelligence operatives in Shenzhen. Chinese intelligence officials promised to take care of Lee for life, according to his indictment, starting with a gift of $100,000. Lee met with a CIA officer soon after and reported the approach — but not the financial offer. Soon, prosecutors allege, Lee began getting assignments from the Chinese spies through a business associate, asking for sensitive CIA and national defense information. Some of the envelopes contained gifts, according to the indictment. There is no claim in the indictment that Lee was caught handing over information in return. Prosecutors instead point to his behavior and interactions as what they say is evidence of a conspiracy. Emails show ongoing contact between Lee and his “friends in China” through at least 2011, according to the court filings. Meanwhile, Lee began depositing what ultimately grew to hundreds of thousands of dollars into his bank account. A former CIA employee told the FBI that in 2013 she was approached by Chinese intelligence officials who asked about places she had worked and assets she had handled — information Lee had access to and that the Chinese had asked about. FBI agents say they also recovered a thumb drive that included a document that answered some of the Chinese spies’ questions. That thumb drive was found when the FBI lured Lee back to the United States in 2012 with a fake offer for a new job at the CIA. His luggage was searched at two different hotels, and, along with the drive, agents said in filings that they found notebooks in which he had written down top-secret information as well as a note with a phone number and email address given to him by the Chinese operatives. In 2013, an email was sent from that account, asking about “Christina’s grade book.” “We have not seen her recent grade book for a few months, maybe little girl always like changing her mind,” it read. In interviews for the new job, Lee lied and said he had not been to China in about two years, prosecutors say, and offered false bank statements making his company appear more profitable than it was. rachel.weiner@washpost.com


How an Irish-American woman’s legal case helped spur Ireland’s abortion referendum

similar experiences came to her home, where they spoke for hours in her sunroom. That was the beginning of Termination for Medical Reasons, a support group and campaign organization that now includes upward of 50 women, as well as their partners, who lobby politicians, speak at events and canvass neighborhoods. Amy Callahan crossed the Irish Sea last year after she had learned her baby would be born without a major portion of her brain, skull and scalp. “I could’t talk to anybody else who would tell me we could keep going and wait till the baby died,” said Callahan, a 35-year-old psychologist, explaining why she had turned to Mellet’s support group. Mellet recalled one male member of Parliament telling her in a meeting that he was not comfortable discussing women’s issues. And after her fledgling group sent 160 letters to obstetricians and gynecologists, begging them to speak out in defense of termination for medical reasons, they received only six replies. But with the help of Irish gender equity and human rights groups, she connected with the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which offered to bring her case to the United Nations. The center filed on behalf of three women. Mellet v. Ireland was the first to be decided. “I think Irish society got a reality check, you know?” Mellet said. She noted that before, “people would express sympathy, but behind closed doors. Now they know their career won’t be over if they support us publicly. So that kind of barrier, that silence — that has ended.” Mellet is reluctant to take much credit for transforming social attitudes — and perhaps national law. “Any of the women that I met could have taken a case, do you know?” she said. “It’s still happening.” The number of Irish women seeking abortions overseas has declined in recent years, because of the online availability of abortion pills, said Niall Behan, chief executive of the Irish Family Planning Association. But more than 3,000 of them traveled to England and Wales to terminate pregnancies in 2016. If the eighth amendment is repealed, Mellet said, “I’ll feel happy that I’ve contributed to that change.” But her mind is mostly elsewhere. May marks the first birthday of her daughter, Ella, born more than five years after her first pregnancy ended in heartbreak. She anticipates one day telling Ella about what happened to their family. “I’ll tell her


For Irish women, more than just abortion rights are on the ballot this week

It’s tough to be a woman in Ireland. This week, Irish voters will go to the polls to decide the fate of their constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which gives pregnant women and fetuses the same rights, creating an extra barrier to the legalization of abortion in the country. That vote will happen against the backdrop of the CervicalCheck scandal, in which terminally ill women and the families of women who have already died have discovered that the HSE (Ireland’s Health Service Executive, the national health-care provider) received and then concealed inaccurate medical records and screening histories, depriving these women of much-needed care. As one satirical news site, referencing a television show that portrays a dystopian future in which women are stripped of all power, put it: “Women of Ireland to Watch The Handmaid’s Tale to Escape Grim Reality.” The referendum and the health scandals highlight the ways that the female body, much more so than the male, remains both a mystery and a nuisance, subject to the intervention of state and society. Within these debates, women’s bodies appear to present authorities — mostly male — with issues they struggle to comprehend. More than that, they underscore how much the female body itself continues to be seen as a problem to be solved. These beliefs about women’s bodies are embedded deep within the institutional and intellectual history of medicine. Since the time of Hippocrates (around 400 BCE), Western medical knowledge has been created by men and has been used to advance assumptions about male superiority and female inferiority. Those gendered beliefs are most clearly evident in the humoral system, an idea that Hippocrates’s son-in-law Polybus originated in the fourth century BC. The humoral system contended that the humors — black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood — needed to exist in equilibrium lest they trigger illness and malaise in both body and mind. The popular remedy of bleeding allowed the medical practitioner to, theoretically, restore balance (though in a risky fashion). But not all bodies were considered equal. Men and women were classified as possessing different measures of each humor, corresponding to their physical and emotional characteristics. Men were hot and dry — which explained why men went bald; heat left through their heads — and women possessed the less positive attributes of cold and wet. Imbalances in the female humors — like excesses of black bile, or melan chole — were


Michael Cohen payments put spotlight on New York investment firm linked to Russian billionaire

a state-owned oil firm for just $810 million during the post-Soviet privatization wave. Later, after they had acquired the entire company, BP paid them $7.8 billion for half the enterprise. The company then became TNK-BP, a lucrative joint venture that threw off massive dividends. Renova’s share came to $4.5 billion by 2008 — equal to $75 million a month at that time. After the marriage of the Russian partners and BP turned rancorous, the Russian state oil company Rosneft paid $55 billion to acquire all of TNK-BP in 2013; Renova’s share amounted to roughly $7 billion. Among Vekselberg’s main assets now are two Swiss-based firms: Sulzer, a maker of pumps, and Oerlikon, a maker of high-tech products and components. In April, Vekselberg was one of seven Russian business executives who was sanctioned by the U.S. government after the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the U.K. that Western intelligence officials have blamed on Russia. “Russian oligarchs and elites who profit from this corrupt system will no longer be insulated from the consequences of their government’s destabilizing activities,” the Treasury Department said in a statement at the time. The move surprised Vekselberg. “He is not part of Putin’s inner circle. That’s why when he was sanctioned he was shocked,” said Vekselberg’s colleague, who has spoken to him recently. Some Russia experts in the United States were also taken aback by Vekselberg’s inclusion on the list, noting that he has demonstrated an interest in building ties between the United States and Russia. “I was shocked when I saw his name there,” said Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Moscow under President Barack Obama. “I think generally sanctions are the right thing to do. But I know lots of people who work with him. He would not make my top 10, top 20 or top 30.” The Treasury Department declined to comment. Associates of Vekselberg’s in Russia said he is probably displeased by the new wave of attention triggered by the news about Columbus Nova’s relationship with Cohen. “Vekselberg is not very public; he does not like to be on TV, or give interviews, or speeches at events,” said Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy finance minister and former deputy chairman of Russia’s Central Bank. “Like all Russian oligarchs, he needs to keep good relations with Putin and the government. He’s not crazy — he is very cautious.” rosalind.helderman@washpost.com michael.kranish@washpost.com steven.mufson@washpost.com


36 local candidates have been assassinated in Mexico. And the election is still 2 months away.

MEXICO CITY — This election season has been the most violent in Mexico’s recent history, with 36 candidates killed since September, and dozens of other politicians and campaign officials slaughtered. That macabre statistic has created a fresh challenge for the country’s political parties: They are now trying to fill dozens of candidacies left open by the assassinations. “There are some positions that no one wants to contest right now,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a security expert at Lantia Consultores in Mexico City. “It’s something that we’re seeing in several states in the country.” Earlier this month, the body of Abel Montufar, a candidate for congress from the state of Guerrero, was found in his truck. He had been shot several times. After Montufar’s funeral, members of his party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), began what has become a familiar search. “We are looking for someone to take over his candidacy,” said Heriberto Vazquez, the president of the PRI’s steering committee in Guerrero, in an interview. “We are looking for someone without fear.” Vazquez explained the precautions the party is taking as it attempts to recruit replacements. Party officials have drawn up a map of towns and cities so dangerous that candidates are advised to not to campaign there. But because parts of Guerrero are so violent, it’s impossible to tell which of the candidates who became victims were targeted, and which were simply caught up in random crime. So far, roughly 8,000 people have been killed in Mexico this year, a continuation of the horrific violence of 2017, when about 23,000 people were slain, a record. With presidential, parliamentary and local elections scheduled for July 1, the violence has crept into the country’s political class. Mexican newspapers have begun publishing lists of the candidates slain across the country. Political killings have tripled from the 2015 elections, according to research from Lantia Consultores. Criminal groups are using violence to try to influence candidates, analysts say, and establish their power over local and state politics. In some cases, they might be targeting politicians who have refused to show them deference or pay them off. In other cases, candidates might have formed alliances with one criminal group, and later been targeted by a rival group. “The old model was that criminal organizations had to pay rent to politicians for protection from government authorities,” said Chris Kyle, an anthropologist and expert on Guerrero at the


Microsoft makes inroads with U.S. spy agencies as tech giants face off over cloud contract

of a routine contract renewal between the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and computer provider Dell, which subcontracts government work to Microsoft. Microsoft has for years provided basic computer programs to the intelligence community under contract with Dell, some of which make use of cloud-based technology. But U.S. intelligence officials have not previously had access to the full suite of Microsoft Azure Government cloud services. A release published by the company said the cloud stores government data itself in eight geographically distributed data center regions that include no commercial data. Barnes also said the platform has been designed to support different levels of classified data, echoing a cloud storage service released by Amazon last year that is meant to serve a similar purpose. The opportunity could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars as the 17 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community see more choices for data storage and analysis, though the exact amount will depend on how many orders are placed by government contracting officers. Microsoft executives said the update could also strengthen the company’s bid for a coming Pentagon cloud computing award. Called the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), the contract has sparked a competitive frenzy that has attracted West Coast tech companies and Beltway government contractors. “From a Microsoft perspective, this shows that the intelligence community has trust in our cloud,” Barnes said. “If the intelligence community can trust our cloud, then the federal government can, the Defense Department can.” The contract is expected to grow to billions of dollars, officials said in a March 7 conference call. It is also seen as a foothold for future business with the Defense Department, which received more funding than any other agency by far under the president’s 2019 budget. The opportunity has attracted the interest of large tech firms including Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, IBM and the IT services unit of General Dynamics. Amazon Web Services is seen as a front-runner for the contract given its past work with the CIA. The Pentagon said in early March that it plans to pick a single winner for the JEDI award, which is expected to be the largest Defense Department cloud-computing effort to date. Amazon’s competitors, including Microsoft, have sharply criticized the Defense Department for its decision to turn to one company for the effort, saying the government would miss out on innovation elsewhere if it uses a


This bizarre, backward asteroid might be a visitor from another star

did not form in isolation,” Namouni said. It's a provocative conclusion — reached by process of elimination and without demonstrating how 2015 BZ509 could have been captured from another star, outside researchers noted. “It's feasible what they're saying, but there are other possibilities,” said Elisa Quintana, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center who was not involved in the new study. “We live in such a dynamical universe, it's hard to rule out just pure chaos and collisions.” Last year, Quintana was part of a team of NASA researchers who analyzed 'Oumuamua — the first interstellar solar system visitor scientists have ever seen. That cigar-shaped space rock is tumbling past us at such high speeds it could only have originated elsewhere, researchers said, and it's already on its way back out into space. It will pass Neptune's orbit in 2022 and eventually leave the solar system en route to the constellation Pegasus, according to NASA. By comparison, 2015 BZ509 — known to those who research it closely as “Bee Zed” — appears to be here for the long haul. The asteroid's orbit immediately made it an outlier when it was discovered in 2014. Because basically everything in the solar system was born from the same spinning cloud of dust and gas that circled the infant sun, it takes extraordinary circumstances to knock an object into a “retrograde,” or backward, orbit. Just 95 of the nearly 800,000 known asteroids behave in this manner. Even among that select group, Bee Zed stands out. Whereas most retrograde asteroids are thought to be unstable, a 2017 study found Bee Zed has inhabited its current position for at least a million years. It seems to be held in place by its unique relationship with Jupiter. As the three-kilometer space rock passes the gas giant — twice during every 12-year-orbit of the sun — the gravitational interactions balance each other in what's known as an “orbital resonance.” (This same phenomenon keeps Neptune and Pluto from crashing into each other, even though their orbits cross.) Namouni and Morais sought to push this back even further in time, building a computer simulation of our solar system and populating it with a million digital “clones” of Bee Zed. Each followed slightly different orbital parameters based on astronomers' limited knowledge of Bee Zed's behavior. Of the scenarios that were stable over the lifetime of the solar system (the only


State regulators unveil nationwide crackdown on suspicious cryptocurrency investment schemes

complying with securities laws," said Joseph Borg, president of NASAA and the director of the Alabama Securities Commission. Not every ICO or cryptocurrency investment product is fraudulent, Borg added. But consumers face higher risks of being misled at a time when the intense demand for bitcoin has prompted many retail investors to take extreme steps to gain exposure to the currency, such as taking out a bigger mortgage. Posing as members of the public, investigators discovered roughly 30,000 cryptocurrency-related domain names in recent weeks, most of which were registered in the past year as the price of bitcoin soared past $19,000. Many of the alleged scams use fake addresses, slick marketing materials and promises of over 4 percent daily interest, regulators said. A few have even used unauthorized photos of high-profile individuals, such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to portray themselves as aboveboard. Other sites have used images of Prince Charles and actor Jennifer Aniston, but identified them under different names, to provide testimonials, the regulators said. "It's royal wedding fever that's a part of this operation," said Joseph Rotunda, director of enforcement at the Texas State Securities Board. After receiving the cease-and-desist letters warning of illegal activity, the targets of the investigations typically have up to a month to file a response, depending on the jurisdiction, Borg said. Some states allow for a hearing before the state securities commission, and an appeal to a court or administrative law judge. Regulators could also take the schemes to court. But regulators expect many sites to shut down voluntarily or amend their practices to comply with securities laws. In one recent case, regulators sent a warning letter this month to a U.K.-based cryptocurrency scheme known as BTCrush alleging that it was violating state laws by selling securities to Texas residents without registration and by using misleading marketing. BTCrush claimed to run three bitcoin mining farms — one hidden away in a World War II-era bunker — and served up videos on its site to support the claim. But regulators found that the shots of the mining farms turned out to be publicly available stock footage. BTCrush was also allegedly recruiting Texas investors as sales agents, promising them even more money if they promoted the company. As a result, Rotunda said, any Texas resident who agreed to participate was at risk of violating state securities laws themselves. Confronted with the allegations


Congress is about to loosen the reins on the banking industry. Here’s why.

Congress will soon send a bill to President Trump to pare several restrictions that were part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank bill, imposed on U.S. banks and other institutions after the global financial crisis. The new bill has several controversial provisions. Among them: it would relax rules on regional and community banks; free some large banks from the reach of “too big to fail” regulations that placed especially large banks under tighter government supervision; and raise the threshold where banks need to report potentially risky mortgage-lending activity to regulators. In the Senate, Republicans unanimously supported the measure, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155); 16 Senate Democrats and Angus King (I-Maine) crossed the aisle to support the GOP push to deregulate. A related bill passed the House almost entirely along party lines, with no Democrats supporting the measure and only one Republican opposing it, and the House is expected to pass the Senate bill along similar lines on Tuesday. Why is Congress unraveling crisis-era reforms so soon? Although the crisis ended less than a decade ago, rolling back tough rules after a crisis is par for the course, here and abroad. Financial crises follow recurring patterns International financial crises occur on approximately 10- to 15-year cycles, as tight regulations put in place in the aftermath of crisis are typically rolled back or eroded by financial innovations. For a brief time after a crisis, public attention and concern about preventing the next crisis creates a push for increased regulation. But as the crisis fades into memory, so does public fear. Advocates for deregulation make their arguments again, their cause aided by the public’s lack of interest and confusion about complex regulatory rules. This can lead to an under-regulated financial system, resulting in a new crisis and a new public push for greater regulation. Policy complexity helps drive cycles of reform and repeal Financial regulation only captures the public’s attention in times of crisis. As political scientist Pepper Culpepper argues, some important policy areas often escape public scrutiny because they are so complex. Well-functioning financial markets are obviously of great importance to the economy. But debates over financial policy are often highly technical; how they affect people’s lives can be hard to see. As a result, the public usually pays less attention to debates about the banking system and financial regulatory policy than do bankers and other financial actors


The Finance 202: Trump has blinked on China

years. It’s a climb that’s rippling through markets, buffeting stocks and helping fuel a surprise rally in the dollar as higher rates attract yield-seeking investors to the currency. Analysts said the rise in yields in part reflects optimism about the U.S. economy and expectations for a pickup in inflation... The climb also shows the impact of the recent tax cut package and a surge in government spending.” Goldman Sachs raises the alarm about the deficit. — Futures jump on Mnuchin's trade comments. Reuters's Hideyuki Sano: “Stocks rose on Monday as... Mnuchin declared the U.S. trade war with China “on hold” following an agreement to drop their tariff threats that had roiled global markets this year... ‘The weekend talk appears to have made progress. While they still need to work out details of a wider trade deal, it is positive for markets that they struck a truce,’ said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.” TRADE FLY-AROUND: — Japan pushes back against tariffs. NYT's Motoko Rich: “After months of taking hits from the United States over North Korea policy and trade, Japan has decided that it will only be pushed so far, and is threatening to punch back. On Friday, Japan notified the World Trade Organization that it was reserving the right to impose retaliatory tariffs against the United States in response to tariffs on steel and aluminum imports proposed by President Trump. Japan has not yet filed a formal complaint with the W.T.O., but is signaling that it could impose the retaliatory measures if it does not gain tariff exemptions that it has been seeking from Washington.” — Mnuchin deemphasizes NAFTA deadline. Bloomberg's Josh Wingrove and Andrew Mayeda: “The U.S. is still far apart from Mexico and Canada on a revised Nafta accord, and... Trump is more focused on reaching a good deal than an immediate one... Mnuchin said. ‘So whether we pass it in this Congress or we pass it in the new Congress, the president is determined that we renegotiate Nafta,’ Mnuchin said in an interview on ‘Fox News Sunday.’ ’That’s something we’re doing.’ Mnuchin’s comments are the latest to suggest the door has opened for talks to stretch past Mexican elections on July 1, though he raised the prospect of unspecified alternatives the president could take. Trump has regularly threatened to quit the current Nafta pact if a deal can’t be reached to update it.” —


A look inside Starbucks’s plan to conquer China

establish a whole new footprint,” Runnels said. It’s that grip that positions Starbucks to help foster China’s growing coffee culture, said Michael Schaefer, global lead for food and beverage at Euromonitor International. Schaefer said Starbucks can use its familiarity to encourage China’s still-nascent coffee culture. 2. Starbucks’s deal with Nestlé came at the right time Earlier this month, Nestlé, which owns Nescafé and Nespresso, announced it was paying more than $7 billion for the rights to sell Starbucks coffee and tea in grocery stores around the world. At Starbucks’s China conference, executives lauded the “global coffee alliance” that would open the door for boosted sales in consumer packaged goods. “This global license agreement with Nestlé allows us to continue to control our brand, and at the same time, Nestlé will leverage their massive scale and capabilities for global distribution,” Johnson said. According to data compiled by Euromonitor International, Nestlé’s market share of the coffee industry in mainland China was nearly 70 percent in 2017. And in a report this week, Morningstar wrote that the Starbucks-Nestlé partnership should be essential in boosting growth in consumer packaged goods. Nestlé has a distribution presence in almost 190 markets globally, the report said, compared with Starbucks’s 76 retail markets and 28 wholesale markets. 3. China’s middle class will be key to Starbucks’s success “No Western company or brand is better positioned to evolve with the rapidly expanding Chinese middle class,” Johnson said in a news release from the conference. A report published this week by Wells Fargo said Starbucks is poised to benefit from a boom among China’s middle class. The report noted “eye-watering increases” in those with discretionary income — up 35 percent between 2013 and 2017 — and the potential for a doubling of the middle-class consumer base by 2022. Morningstar’s report said that Starbucks was among the leading consumer brands for China’s 450 million millennials — an important demographic given their disposable income, mobile phone use and influence. 4. Starbucks is a powerful, trendsetting brand in China Runnels, who also spends summers teaching in China, said Starbucks is a popular chain and status symbol among millennials and middle-class consumers. Runnels joked that even among shoppers with flashy possessions, such as a luxury car with tinted windows, there’s a point to be made about rolling those darkened windows down to show off “holding your Starbucks coffee.” “You can see how individuals express


Drugs in the workplace are at their highest levels in a decade

A new study by research and diagnostic testing firm Quest Diagnostics has revealed a disturbing trend: More employees are testing positive for drugs in their system. But first, the good news: The rate in 2017 of drug positivity results — where Quest looked at more than ten million lab tests — was mostly the same as a similar study the company conducted in 2016. Also, prescription opiate positivity rates declined “dramatically” on a national basis. Unfortunately, the good news stops there. That’s because the study showed a dramatic increase of other drugs found in the blood and urine of subjects and this led to an overall positivity rate of 4.2 percent of employees, which is the highest since the 3.6 percent rate recorded in 2008. The top rate ever recorded was 13.6 percent in 1988, the first year of the study. The lowest rate ever recorded by the study was 3.5 percent in 2012. “It’s unfortunate that we mark 30 years of the Drug-Free Workplace Act with clear evidence that drugs continue to invade the country’s workplaces,” a researcher from the company noted. “These changing patterns and geographical variations may challenge the ability of employers to anticipate the “drug of choice” for their workforce or where to best focus their drug prevention efforts to ensure a safe and healthy work environment.” The study suggests that more people are using cocaine in some areas of the country, with rates of use rising significantly for the fifth year. Double-digit year-over-year increases in at least four of the five past years were seen in the states of Nebraska (91 percent increase between 2016 and 2017), Idaho (88 percent increase), Washington (31 percent), Nevada (25 percent), Maryland (22 percent increase), and Wisconsin (13 percent). There were also large increases of methamphetamine use across the country. Not surprisingly, states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use have also seen increases in positivity rates of up to 43 percent. But more of a concern is that certain states (Nevada, Massachusetts and California) have seen significant increases in marijuana positivity in federally mandated, safety sensitive workers, which include pilots, rail, bus and truck drivers, and workers in nuclear power plants.


The Banana States of America

bank asked clients to pay $150,000 to attend a fundraiser with Trump. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatens to impose the “strongest sanctions in history” on Iran. The French economy minister proposes that Europe fight the U.S. sanctions by compensating European businesses hurt by the sanctions. Trump, only days after saying “everyone” thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his North Korea negotiations, receives a message from Pyongyang saying it would not give up its nuclear weapons and citing national security adviser John Bolton’s “repugnance.” The latest school shooting, this one in Texas, claims 10 lives. Incoming National Rifle Association president Oliver North blames Ritalin. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) blames abortion. Longtime presidential confidant Roger Stone says he’s prepared to be indicted for some conjured-up “extraneous crime” as part of a special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe. Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee observe May 17, the 64th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision banning segregated schools, by debating the judicial nomination of Wendy Vitter, who refused to say whether Brown was properly decided. Donald Trump Jr., the New York Times reports, met three months before the election with a representative of wealthy princes from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates who wanted to help his father’s campaign. Newly appointed presidential lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani, who previously disclosed that the president paid hush money to silence a porn actress alleging an affair with him, calls her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, a “pimp.” Avenatti tweets a video of Giuliani in drag. And now we see our national legislature setting a new standard for inoperability. Republicans point out that the tally of “closed” rules has been inflated by Democrats refusing to offer amendments in a number of cases. They also point out that when they do open up bills for amendments, they take a lot: More than 1,000 so far, more than Democrats allowed when they were last in charge. Regardless, the closing of debates means no chance to pass legislation that has the broad support of the American public — and, if given a vote, broad support from their representatives. And it’s not as if the Republican majority has been able to come up with an agenda of its own: Of the 172 bills signed into law so far, 142 are noncontroversial “suspension” bills such as post-office namings. Democracy is indeed under threat –


Large numbers of loan applications get denied. But for blacks, Hispanics and Asians, the rejection rate is even higher.

For millions of Americans hoping to buy or refinance a home, it’s a crucial make-or-break question: Will the lender say yes to our mortgage application, turn it down or charge us a higher interest rate than we need? Surprisingly, large numbers of loan applications don’t make it. About 1 of every 9 loan applications (10.8 percent) to purchase a home — and more than 1 in 4 applications (26.4 percent) for a refinancing — were denied in 2017, according to a new analysis of lender data nationwide conducted by the federal Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. But these numbers look dramatically different when you dig down and check out the race and ethnicity of borrowers: ●Black applicants were rejected at more than double the rate of non-Hispanic white applicants on all types of loans, including conventional mortgages originated for bank portfolios or for investors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and government loans (Federal Housing Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and rural housing). The overall rate of denials of mortgage applications from blacks was 18.4 percent last year, with 13.5 percent for Hispanics and 10.6 percent for Asians. For non-Hispanic whites, it was 8.8 percent. ●On conventional home-purchase loans, the turndown differentials were starker: Black applicants received denials 19.3 percent of the time, while the rate for non-Hispanic whites was 7.9 percent. The overall rate of rejections for all groups on conventional loans was 9.6 percent. In the FHA/VA market, the turndown disparity was narrower: Blacks’ applications were rejected at a 17.9 percent rate compared with non-Hispanic whites’ rate of 10.6 percent. ●Similar racial and ethnic differentials emerged in the refinancing market, but with far higher rejection rates. Blacks were rejected on 39 percent of their applications, Hispanic whites on 30.2 percent, Asians on 24.8 percent and non-Hispanic whites on 22.9 percent. ●Black and Hispanic applicants not only were rejected at higher rates than others but were also charged higher interest rates more often. Nearly 1 in 5 home-purchase loans to blacks (17.9 percent) and Hispanics (19.3 percent) were “higher priced” as defined by the government, compared with 6.7 percent of loans to non-Hispanic whites and 4.2 percent to Asians. Higher priced means they carried annual percentage rates (APRs) that were at least 1.5 percentage points above the “average prime offer rate” for loans of a similar type. Dramatic as these differences appear, lenders insist they are not evidence of illegal


Fed surveys show continued economic optimism, although some still face hardship

ECONOMY Fed surveys show economic optimism U.S. households are feeling more stable, small businesses are making money, and many expect to expand and hire in the coming year, signs of continued optimism in two key parts of the economy, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday in a pair of annual surveys. Among more than 8,000 small businesses and more than 12,000 households covered in separate surveys late last year by the Fed and its 12 regional banks, the message was similar: Economic conditions have been getting better, and the expectation is for the good times to continue. Among households, 74 percent of U.S. adults said they were financially comfortable or at least okay in 2017, 4 percentage points higher than in 2016. Improvement was strongest in lower-income households. However, based on answers to questions, about 2 in 5 adults faced what the Fed judged to be a “high likelihood of material hardship,” such as an inability to afford sufficient food, medical treatment, housing or utilities. About 4 in 10 said they could not meet an unexpected expense of $400 without carrying a credit card balance or borrowing money from a friend. — Reuters Also in Business Chief executive officers Consumer Reports J.C. Penney's Coming today Before market opens: 10 a.m.: — From news services


Congress passes rollback of banking rules put in place after financial crisis, sending bill to Trump to sign

The House voted to exempt small and regional banks from some of the most stringent rules put in place after the financial crisis, while also loosening some of the rules aimed at keeping the biggest banks from failing. The measure does not repeal the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, as some in the GOP had hoped, but it does represent the most significant scaling back of the rules to date. Supporters say the rollback frees banks from needlessly onerous rules and will boost economic growth, while critics say it exposes the economy to unnecessary risks at a time when banks are posting record profits. The bill is near certain to become law. It is backed by the White House and was passed by the Senate in March.This is a developing story. It will be updated.


Get to know Elliott Broidy, the next major Trump scandal figure

Like any good drama, the Trump omni-scandal, a story of corruption and greed that crosses years and continents, has a collection of colorful supporting players. It can be hard to keep up with them all — you surely know Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, but only true aficionados are aware of the details about Felix Sater or Oleg Deripaska or other minor figures. But today, we turn our attention to one Elliott Broidy, who may well be moving into the first tier of Trump scandal players. His is a tale of government influence, foreign machinations, piles of money, and even a Playboy model mistress. A new article And as the Daily Beast reports, after years of trying with almost no success to obtain federal military contracts, in 2017, Broidy’s company, Circinus LLC, received millions of dollars in defense work. The Trump presidency has been very good to Broidy, and he may have also been very good to President Trump himself. But let’s back up. The first time most of us heard Elliott Broidy’s name was when Michael Cohen’s home and office were raided by federal prosecutors. In the ensuing legal proceedings, Cohen told the court that he had three legal clients: Trump, Sean Hannity and Broidy, a major Republican donor who had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to GOP candidates and who had held finance positions in the party. Cohen represented Broidy in an arrangement with a former Playboy model named Shera Bechard, who was paid $1.6 million to keep quiet about an affair she supposedly had with Broidy, which resulted in a pregnancy that she aborted. From the start, many parts of this story didn’t quite add up. Broidy is a very rich man, but not necessarily someone who has occasion to hang out with Playboy models, unlike some people you might be familiar with. And he was not a public figure, which makes the $1.6 million payoff seem wildly excessive. To put it bluntly, $1.6 million is “Keep this out of the papers because it’ll be a huge story” money, not “Don’t tell my wife” money. And why would Broidy, who has access to the most high-priced and discreet legal talent in the country, retain someone like Cohen to take care of this delicate matter for him? All of which leads to the theory that Broidy was acting as a cut-out for the person who really had


Trump’s next round of trade limits could hurt the U.S. tech industry he wants to help

businesses such as dental offices. The company has about 400 employees and plans to increase the workforce by 60 percent this year. For Formlabs, China is a source of potential competitors as well as customers. Lobovsky found a visit last fall to drone producer DJI in Shenzhen “inspiring and a little scary,” he said, evidence that China is no longer content to cede the most advanced industries to the United States. “There’s going to be more of them, and they’re going to come in industries like that . . . new industries,” he said. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese imports to pressure Beijing to abandon its campaign to acquire U.S. technology. The Treasury Department had been expected Monday to issue recommendations on restricting future Chinese investment, but a department official said only that Mnuchin updated Trump on its progress and “discussed options for the president’s consideration on the matter.” Meanwhile, lawmakers are considering proposals that would enable a Treasury Department-led interagency committee to veto minority investments and other deals involving foreign investors that have escaped review in the past. The U.S. venture capital industry — which funnels money and expertise into start-ups in hopes of a big payday when they go public — has objected, fearing that the legislation would require even “passive,” or purely financial, investors to seek government approval. “It will hurt start-ups dramatically. It will slow down innovation in companies,” said Weijie Yun, founder and managing partner of Tyche Partners, which led Formlabs’s recent investment round. U.S. officials say that the Chinese government is determined to dominate technologies that will be essential to future economic and military prowess, including artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum computing and 3-D printing. Under the Made in China 2025 program, the government is spending $300 billion in subsidies to supplant foreign technology suppliers with homegrown alternatives. “A core part of the Chinese Made in China 2025 plan is acquiring intellectual property from U.S. technology companies, and increasingly they’re trying to do that through venture capital,” said Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Shenzhen Capital said the government program is “irrelevant” to its investment decisions. “In my discussions, the China 2025 was never mentioned, not even once,” said Yun, a Shanghai-born U.S. citizen. “. . . From my engagement with them, they are purely financially driven.” Lobovsky said that concerns that Chinese investors are


A photographer hung out with vigilantes in Mexico’s most dangerous state. Here’s what she saw.

News of violence and corruption emanating from Mexico is nothing new. And there is possibly nowhere more violent and corrupt than the state of Guerrero. Not only are there rival drug gangs vying over territory used to make heroin, but police are often seen as corrupt, too. According to Reuters, Police were accused of participating in the disappearance of 43 teachers college students in Guerrero in 2014. Indeed, violence and corruption are so bad that, according to Reuters, “it is not uncommon for state, federal and military forces to replace local security forces suspected of corruption and ties to Mexico’s powerful gangs.” Upset with all of this violence and corruption, some people in Guerrero have banded together to form “citizen police” groups to protect their communities. Mark Stevenson of the Associated Press describes these groups as being “vigilante outfits with no allegiance — and often outright hostility — to elected authorities. They are grass-roots attempts by locals to rein in lawlessness in some of the areas most racked by killings, kidnappings, extortion and other malfeasance.” Not surprisingly, the job can be dangerous, even fatal, but not only for the vigilantes; ordinary civilians have also been killed. For example, Stevenson notes, “Alexis Estrada Asencio, a 17-year-old bull-riding enthusiast, and five other citizens were killed in La Concepcion on Jan. 7 in a confused gunfight between vigilante forces and other townsfolk over a dispute of a proposed hydroelectric dam near Acapulco.” Associated Press photographer Rebecca Blackwell went to Guerrero to document how some of these vigilante groups operate. Here’s what she encountered: [Editor’s note: This post previously named Mark Blackwell as an Associated Press reporter. HIs correct name is Mark Stevenson and the post has been updated to correct that error.] In Sight is The Washington Post’s photography blog for visual narrative. This platform showcases compelling and diverse imagery from staff and freelance photographers, news agencies and archives. If you are interested in submitting a story to In Sight, please complete this form. More on In Sight: Once popular Mexican towns deteriorate as warring drug cartels provoke killings, drug addiction and violence Portraits of the ‘fading American dream’ A correction officer’s view inside New York’s Rikers Island


Consumer Reports: Tesla’s Model 3 has ‘big flaws’

own tests have yielded far better results. “Tesla’s own testing has found braking distances with an average of 133 feet when conducting the 60-0 mph stops using the 18” Michelin all season tire and as low as 126 feet with all tires currently available,” Tesla said. “Stopping distance results are affected by variables such as road surface, weather conditions, tire temperature, brake conditioning, outside temperature, and past driving behavior that may have affected the brake system.” “Unlike other vehicles, Tesla is uniquely positioned to address more corner cases over time through over-the-air software updates, and it continually does so to improve factors such as stopping distance,” Tesla added. In response to Consumer Reports, Musk called the results of the publication’s test “very strange” on Twitter and promised to resolve any braking issues the Model 3 exhibits. Within hours, Consumer Reports released a statement applauding Musk’s reaction and pledging to re-test the Model 3 once the vehicle’s braking system has been updated. Consumer Reports was also sharply critical of an element of the Model 3’s cabin that has previously received rave reviews: its controls. Those controls are embedded in the vehicle’s touch-screen, which many reviewers have lauded for its sleek design and convenience. Consumer Reports, meanwhile, argued that the screen makes it more difficult for riders to accomplish “simple tasks,” such as adjusting the air conditioning and the car’s mirrors. “These types of complex interactions with a touch screen can cause driver distraction because each act forces drivers to take their eyes off the road and a hand off the steering wheel,” Consumer Reports states. The publication’s review wasn’t all bad, however. Consumer Reports labels the Model 3 an “impressive performance sedan” and notes that the car went from zero to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds and offers drivers handling that is “reminiscent of a Porsche 718 Boxster.” “In fact,” the publication adds, “our testers found the Model 3 thrilling to drive.” Correction: An earlier version quoted Consumer Reports’s review of the Tesla Model 3, which compared the handling of the Model 3 to a Porsche 917 Boxter. Consumer Reports now says it had meant the Porsche 718 Boxster. This version has been corrected. More reading: The Boston restaurant where robots have replaced the chefs Robot dogs that terrified people by opening doors may soon come to a building near you The jogging humanoid robot video that is ‘terrifying’ the Internet


With the help of virtual therapists, people with eating disorders tackle anxiety in grocery stores

Individuals with anorexia, binge eating disorder and bulimia often feel anxious and overwhelmed when surrounded by food. This anxiety can make grocery shopping and cooking a challenge. A new form of telemedicine in which people can video-chat with a nutritional counselor while at the supermarket aims to help. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 1 percent of Americans suffer from anorexia, a sometimes deadly psychiatric illness. Along with anorexia, millions of Americans also struggle with binge eating disorder. Jamie Lynn Pelletier, 28, of Greensboro, N.C., was just 13 when she began counting calories and skipping meals, behavior that eventually led to anorexia, which is characterized by food restriction, extreme weight loss and distorted body image. “In junior high, I began to feel unattractive and self-conscious about my body. To lose weight, I started dieting and overexercising,” Pelletier said. Since 2015, Pelletier has completed several residential and outpatient treatment programs in the battle to stop starving herself. Her struggle shows how tough it can be for anorexics to stop seeing food as the enemy. Recently, Pelletier’s dietitian recommended grocery store therapy, which allows her to connect with a dietitian via video chat. “Going to the grocery store is stressful because seeing foods labeled as low-carb and low-fat can make me feel like buying the real thing is not okay. With virtual therapy, I FaceTime with my dietitian at the store,” said Pelletier, referring to Apple’s video-chat application. “For privacy, I put in my headphones so I can talk to her discreetly while I’m shopping.” This type of treatment, known as exposure therapy, allows people to face their traumas, phobias and anxieties by gradually exposing them to the feared stimulus. “The eating disorder treatment world has adapted exposure therapy to help people face their food fears. Grocery store therapy can be beneficial by allowing individuals to confront their anxieties with the support of a trusted health-care provider,” said Kelsey Latimer, a clinical psychologist at the Center for Discovery, a treatment facility for eating disorders in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Earlier, dietitians and counselors would accompany their clients on store outings. Telemedicine allows for virtual help. It can be a game-changer for those living in rural areas where access to health-care services may be limited, experts said. Lois Zsarnay “With technology like FaceTime, I can virtually accompany my clients at the grocery store, which allows me to help them at


that moment with their food struggles,” she said. Zsarnay first meets with clients in person. They discuss food fears, potential anxiety triggers and treatment goals. For some, simply stepping inside the store is a huge success; others are ready to take a more significant risk by purchasing a “forbidden” food, such as ice cream, bagels or potato chips, she said. When Zsarnay provides virtual grocery store therapy, she begins each session with a breathing exercise to help her clients feel grounded. “At first, we take a few deep breaths together, and then I remind my client about the objectives we reviewed during our planning meeting,” she said. Often, clients become triggered when walking down, for example, the cereal aisle. When this fear arises, Zsarnay uses relaxation exercises to help decrease her client’s anxiety. If the client becomes too overwhelmed, she reminds them that they can walk back to an area of the store with “safer” foods. Once the anxiety dissipates, she proceeds to guide her client through their shopping list. Virtual grocery store therapy is relatively new, and there are no studies on its effectiveness. But there is some research on the effectiveness of other forms of virtual therapy to help treat eating disorders. Athena Robinson “Our initial results show a clinically significant reduction in eating disorder symptoms,” Robinson said. She added that future research will examine long-term effectiveness. For Pelletier, virtual therapy has been a vital part of her healing. “At the grocery store, I get uneasy reading nutrition labels because I fixate on how many calories are in each food. With grocery store therapy, my dietitian talks me through my fears and reminds me that all foods, even carbohydrates and sweets, are good foods,” she said. Pelletier completed four sessions of grocery store therapy, which her insurance paid for. The treatment helped her realize that no one is judging her food choices or her appearance. Since finishing the treatment, she has been able to shop on her own. Even though telemedicine can make aspects of eating disorder treatment more accessible, it isn’t a replacement for in-person care, experts say. Pelletier continues to meet in person with a psychotherapist and a nutritionist regularly. “It was validating for my dietitian to acknowledge my worries; it helped me to feel less alone. While recovery is a journey, grocery store therapy gave me additional tools to help guide me through the process,”


More people are shopping at Walmart online as the retailer tries to go upscale

middle-income shoppers who frequent its 4,700 U.S. stores. (More than 96 percent of Walmart’s sales continue to come from its stores.) Walmart and Amazon have been locked in a tight battle to win over customers, in stores and online. Walmart spent $3.3 billion buying up Jet.com in 2016 and last week announced its biggest deal to date — a $16 billion investment in Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart. It also purchased a number of niche labels last year, including Bonobos, ModCloth, Moosejaw and ShoeBuy. Amazon, meanwhile, spent $13.7 billion on Whole Foods Market last year, giving it a foothold in the U.S. grocery business, where Walmart remains the largest player. “There is increasing overlap between Amazon and Walmart shoppers, but for the most part, the rift remains: Walmart is for mainstream shoppers, while Amazon is for higher-income families,” said Krista Garcia, an analyst for eMarketer, a market research firm. That separation may be exacerbated in coming months, she said, as Amazon raises the price of its Prime membership 20 percent to $119 a year. “We’ll likely see lower-income Prime members saying, ‘You know what, I don’t want to pay this much anymore,’ ” Garcia said. “But I don’t think higher-income shoppers are going to defect to Walmart in any big way.” Overall, Walmart’s revenue grew 4.4 percent to $122.7 billion in the most recent quarter. Same-store sales — a closely watched industry metric that measures sales at stores open at least one year — grew 2.1 percent in the United States. Profits, however, fell about 30 percent to $2.13 billion, or 72 cents per share, as the company beefed up its investments. The company does not break out online revenue. “We’re encouraged by the progress made across the business,” Doug McMillon, Walmart’s chief executive, said in a statement. “Customers are responding well to the refreshed [online] experience.” He added that the company plans to expand its online grocery pickup service to 1,000 more U.S. stores this year. Walmart customers who shop online and in the company’s stores typically spend double the amount spent by those who do only one or the other, McMillon said. Read more: Amazon doubles its profit — and hikes Prime membership fee 20% ‘To anybody under 60 years old, Nescafé is boring’: Why Nestlé is spending $7 billion on Starbucks A troubling precedent for Walmart: Paying $1.3 million to a city for abandoning plans to open stores


USA Gymnastics CEO Kerry Perry apologizes to victims of Larry Nassar

Breaking nearly six months of silence on the topic Wednesday, Kerry Perry, the president and CEO of USA Gymnastics, told a Congressional subcommittee investigating sexual abuse of Olympic athletes that she was “appalled and sickened by the despicable crimes of Larry Nassar.” And for the first time, Perry apologized to the hundreds of victims of the former Olympic doctor and vowed, “Those days are over.” Perry’s remarks came at the outset of a three-hour hearing in which she, the acting CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the CEOs of USA Swimming, USA Taekwondo and USA Volleyball in turn voiced remorse for episodes of abuse in their sports and offered a litany of action plans, to-do lists, and pledges of culture changes designed to safeguard athletes going forward. But lawmakers made clear they were skeptical about Olympic officials’ resolve and ability to deliver on those promises. “Honestly, I’m not reassured by your testimony because I don’t hear a sense of urgency,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) told Susanne Lyons, the USOC’s acting CEO, late in the proceedings, after Lyons attempted to explain the organization’s seven-year delay in launching the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which opened in March 2017 to field and investigate reports of sexual abuse. “The time to talk is over. You need to walk your talk.” Greg Walden (R-Ore.) was blunt in explaining what troubled him: a perception that “the USOC is more concerned about its own reputation and about medals and money than it is about athlete safety.” Rep. Mimi Walter (R-Calif.) pressed Lyons on the fact that not all Olympic sports make public their list of coaches who have been banned or suspended for past incidents of abusive behavior. Following an aggressive line of questioning of Perry that a fellow panel member objected to as “badgering,” U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) turned his sights on Lyons and barked: “You should resign the position now! You are not fit to serve in this job!” With that, the chairman of the panel, Gregg Harper (R-Miss), twice banged his gavel and said to his peers, “Let’s stay on track.” The purpose of the hearing, held by a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was to examine the extent of sexual misconduct in the Olympic community and to explore whether current policies adequately protect amateur athletes at all levels from abuse. The panel, which has investigated issues as


The Finance 202: Banks give richly to three Senate Democrats who backed deregulation

$3 billion of their exports because of the duties.” — WH drives hard bargain with EU. WSJ's Emre Peker: “Trump is weighing measures to cut European Union steel and aluminum exports to the U.S. by about 10%, in a sign the bloc’s concessions to secure tariff exemptions aren’t meeting White House demands, EU officials familiar with the talks said... ‘We are under the impression that somehow they want to limit steel imports to the U.S.,’ European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said of continuing negotiations with Washington before briefing EU governments. ‘Aluminum as well,’ she said, without providing details. The EU is still trying to figure out precisely what Mr. Trump wants ahead of his June 1 deadline, when the bloc’s temporary exemptions will expire, European officials said. Quotas are one idea floated by U.S. negotiators, but their scope and details aren’t yet clear, EU officials said.” — NAFTA talks stall. WSJ's Robbie Whelan: “Talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement have reached a stalemate, with Mexico and the U.S. accusing one another of intransigence and inconsistency after missing a key deadline. The most troublesome points remain the rules governing auto production and the so-called America First provisions that President Donald Trump wants in any new deal, in a bid to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. These include removing the international arbitration panels that currently resolve commercial disputes and creating a sunset clause that would terminate the deal every five years. Both Mexico and Canada have described those measures as unacceptable.” MELTDOWN WATCH: — Cohen's partner agrees to plea deal.NYT's Danny Hakim, William Rashbaum, and Vivian Wang: “A significant business partner of Michael D. Cohen, ... Trump’s personal lawyer, has agreed to cooperate with the government as a potential witness, a development that could be used as leverage to pressure Mr. Cohen to work with the special counsel examining Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Under the deal reached with the New York attorney general’s office, the partner, Evgeny A. Freidman, a Russian immigrant who is known as the Taxi King, specifically agreed to assist government prosecutors in state or federal investigations, according to a person briefed on the matter.” — Mnuchin: Treasury investigating leak of Cohen records. Bloomberg: “Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that banking records of... Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen appear to have been leaked from a database maintained by his department. ‘Our inspector


Man is fatally stabbed near the National Portrait Gallery in NW

THE DISTRICT Man fatally stabbed near museum A man was fatally stabbed early Wednesday near the National Portrait Gallery in Northwest Washington. His name was not released, pending the notification of family. D.C. police said on Twitter that the incident occurred in the 700 block of G Street NW, and they are looking for a black man with dreadlocks with a black backpack in connection with the incident. He was last seen in the 400 block of H Street NW. — Dana Hedgpeth MARYLAND Hogan ends E-ZPass fee Maryland is eliminating the $7.50 fee imposed on all new customers of the state’s E-ZPass program, a strategic move to grow electronic toll payments as the state explores a cashless system for its eight toll facilities. The decision, announced by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) during a news conference at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, comes as he prepares to run for a second term. It builds on one of his first orders of business as governor three years ago when he lowered tolls across the state, marking the first time in 50 years that tolls were rolled back. — Luz Lazo Officer charged in beer-pouring assault A Maryland police officer accused of pouring a beer down a man’s shirt after issuing a parking citation has been charged with second-degree assault, according to prosecutors. A Prince George’s County grand jury indicted Brentwood Police Officer Ilia Cole this week, prosecutors said. He also was charged with a count of misconduct in office and related charges. Cole, who has been with the department for about two years, was citing passengers parked in a van on a residential street for a parking violation and an open container violation, officials said. — Lynh Bui AFL-CIO endorse Toles, Levi for county council Prince George’s County Council member Karen R. Toles and former state delegate Gerron S. Levi have been endorsed by the Metropolitan Washington Council AFL-CIO in their bids for two new at-large council seats. Toles, who has served two terms on the council, and Levi, a federal lobbyist, are among 10 candidates vying for the at-large seats, which were created by a 2016 ballot measure. The other Democratic candidates are council member Mel Franklin (District 9), longtime county employee Calvin Hawkins, former member of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Juanita Culbreath-Miller, Julian Lopez, Reginald Tyer, Melvin Johnson and Jonathan White. Republican Felicia Folarin is also running. — Rachel


The E.U.’s approval ratings rise just as it gets tough with Trump

country “has on balance benefited from being a member of the E.U.” Only 29 percent said the opposite was the case, even though 51 percent voted to leave two years ago. The E.U. survey may not foreshadow a sudden Brexit reversal — other studies still show that many Brits want to leave regardless of whether membership has benefited them economically — but it does indicate that the rather chaotic Brexit preparations seem to have deterred others. In neighboring Ireland, there are concerns that the reintroduction of border controls after Britain leaves the single market could result in a flare-up of violence near Northern Ireland, which belongs to the United Kingdom. As those concerns mount, 91 percent of the Irish now believe that the E.U. has benefited them. In debt-ridden Italy, only 44 percent agreed with that assertion, even though support for the E.U. there and in Greece is on the rise, too. Another reason for Europe’s resurgence could be a string of verbal attacks on the continent from the White House. Trump’s threats over defense spending, the Iran deal and trade tariffs have snubbed European governments, but they now also serve as the prime example of why the E.U. is needed, officials here say. “We have to be careful that we don’t allow anyone to drive a wedge between us. Of course, there are various interests within Europe,” said Peter Beyer, coordinator of transatlantic relations for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party, in an interview last week. His concerns appeared to be proved correct on Tuesday, when Poland announced that it would defend the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran deal, despite continuous E.U. support for that agreement. Even though they ultimately failed to sway Trump’s mind on Iran, Merkel’s and French President Emmanuel Macron’s visits to the White House in recent weeks were still an example of how European nations could successfully coordinate their responses to Trump within the E.U., Beyer emphasized. Britain issued a joint statement with France and Germany after Trump withdrew from the deal, but such coordinated efforts could become rarer in the future. While Macron and Merkel are teaming up at a time when many here consider joint responses the only way to get Trump’s attention, Britain is preparing its solo run. Sometimes, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Read more: E.U. leader lights into Trump: ‘With friends like that, who needs enemies?’


How the Trump echo chamber pushes bit players like Stefan Halper to center stage

him a good intelligence source. But this is not James Bond. A former British intelligence officer who knows Halper well describes him as “an intensely loyal and trusted U.S. citizen [who was] asked by the Bureau to look into some disconcerting contacts” between Russians and Americans. Isn’t that what the FBI and its sources are supposed to do? The professor is just one of the unlikely figures who populate the edges of the Trump-Russia investigation. These Zelig-like characters at the periphery have been so enticing for journalists, left and right, that they’ve become part of the central narrative. They’re the mice that roared. Another such middleman who has become a central character is George Nader, a Lebanese-born operative who worked for the United Arab Emirates. According to news reports, Nader tried to channel UAE money to people close to the Trump campaign to mobilize support for Emirati efforts against Iran and Qatar. Nader is a familiar gadfly to people who follow the Middle East. Since the mid-1980s, he has been a professional intermediary, trying to freelance connections between the United States and the Arab world. It’s a mystery why the UAE, a sophisticated country that can buy the best expertise in the intelligence business, would turn to a character such as Nader. But on such oddities and lapses in judgment, the world turns. Paul Manafort Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska is another odd character who hovers on the fringes of this story. Manafort tried to impress Deripaska with his Trump credentials, presumably hoping that they would prove lucrative. Weirdly, leaked text messages show that Deripaska’s American lawyer tried to make a connection between Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), ranking member of the intelligence committee, and Christopher Steele, the former MI6 officer who compiled the famous “dossier” alleging back in mid-2016 that Russia was secretly colluding with the Trump campaign. Steele may be the ultimate Zelig in this story, a character who keeps reappearing at each turn. From what his former colleagues say, he was too good an intelligence operative to be described as a peddler. But his role as a freelance investigator, hired by Trump’s opponents, has become a black hole in this story, into which other facts disappear. Large events sometimes turn on small characters who place themselves at center stage. Think of Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iranian fixer who launched the Iran-contra scandal that shrouded President Ronald Reagan’s second term.