IN PLEAS TO F.B.I. TRUMP PERSISTED COMEY TELLS HOW · 08/06/2017  · magnet for visitors. Four of...

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WASHINGTON — From hisfirst days in office, PresidentTrump repeatedly put pressure onhis F.B.I. director, James B.Comey. He demanded loyalty. Heasked that an investigation into anadviser be dropped. And he im-plored Mr. Comey to publicly clearhis name.

As Mr. Comey describedWednesday in written testimonyprepared for the Senate Intelli-gence Committee, Mr. Trump’s en-treaties continued for months, inunexpected phone calls and awk-ward meetings. As Mr. Comey’sdiscomfort grew, so did the presi-dent’s persistence and his frustra-tion with Mr. Comey’s unwilling-ness to help.

Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey lastmonth, and his account offered anextraordinary back story, one thatunfolded with cinematic detail,terse dialogue and tense momentsacross a White House dinner ta-ble.

Mr. Comey is scheduled to de-liver the testimony on Thursdayat a Senate hearing that is shapingup to be the most dramatic mo-ment so far in the tangle of con-gressional and F.B.I. investiga-tions into Mr. Trump’s associatesand possible collusion with Rus-sian operatives during the 2016election.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly de-nied any such collaboration, andMr. Comey confirmed that he toldthe president three times that hewas not personally under investi-gation. Mr. Trump had encour-aged Mr. Comey to say so publicly,but Mr. Comey refused — in partbecause he did not want to have torecant if that changed.

“He asked what we could do to‘lift the cloud,’” Mr. Comey wroteafter a March 30 phone call withMr. Trump. “I responded that wewere investigating the matter asquickly as we could, and that therewould be great benefit, if we didn’tfind anything, to our having donethe work well. He agreed, but thenre-emphasized the problems thiswas causing him.”

Many of the details in his testi-mony have been reported in re-cent weeks by The New YorkTimes and other news organiza-tions. But in addition to filling outMr. Comey’s account, his remarksadded to the chorus of questionsabout Mr. Trump’s efforts to tor-pedo the investigation — ques-tions that senior national securityofficials refused to answer in aseparate congressional hearingon Wednesday.

By asking that his remarks bereleased a day early, Mr. Comey

COMEY TELLS HOWTRUMP PERSISTED

IN PLEAS TO F.B.I.Ex-Director to Give Senate Panel Account

of Pressure to ‘Lift the Cloud’

By MATT APUZZO and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT

Continued on Page A18

JEAN-JACQUES HUBLIN/THE MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY

Fossils from Morocco, like this jawbone, show Homo sapiens reached further back than thought, and not just in East Africa. Page A6.A Twist in the Story of Mankind

She was buried Nov. 7, 1970, inplot No. 537 of a potter’s field inMiddletown, N.Y. In thecemetery’s record book, whereher name should have been, some-one wrote a single word.

“Unknown.”The police had found her a few

weeks earlier, dead in the woods.Her hands had been tied behindher back with a length of electricalcord. She had been shot, her bodyleft unrecognizable by months of

exposure to the elements. She car-ried no identification.

For more than 45 years, thewoman’s body has lain in a gravemarked only by a number on ametal plate.

Then, in late 2015, a break-through: The woman’s finger-prints, run through a new policedatabase, were matched to thoseof a woman arrested several timesin the 1960s in Harlem.

But arrest records, a half-cen-tury old, brought little clarity. Thewoman had several identities, giv-ing the police a new name with

each arrest. One file contained apolice photo, possibly mistakenlyplaced: It appeared to be that of aman. Instead of leads, state policeinvestigators found only morequestions.

She remained, as the cemeterylog states, unknown.

An investigation by The NewYork Times, using public recordsand data from those old arrest re-ports, has solved the mystery. Indoing so, the investigation yieldeda remarkable life story in reverse,from the woods where the womandied to the streets of Harlem,

which were newly flooded in the1960s with narcotics — streets shewalked on her own terms, dressedlike a man and ready with quicklies for the police.

Delving further would bringglimpses of her childhood, whenshe was an infant living on a dirtroad in the Deep South.

It is a life of surprising breadthfor its length — no more than 30years. A woman born into ruralpoverty made her way to NewYork City alone, finding a newidentity along the way and em-

47 Years Later, a Murder Victim Defined by Aliases Has a NameBy MICHAEL WILSON

Continued on Page A24

WASHINGTON — ChristopherA. Wray was the government’s topcriminal prosecutor in 2004 whenthe F.B.I. director, Robert S. Muel-ler III, and the deputy attorneygeneral, James B. Comey,threatened to quit the Bush ad-ministration over a controversialsurveillance program. He offeredto join their protest.

Now, with President Trump’sselection of Mr. Wray on Wednes-day to be the director of the F.B.I.,all three men will be central fig-ures in the investigation of Rus-sian meddling in the 2016 electionthat has rocked the Trump admin-istration. Mr. Mueller is leadingthe investigation into Russian in-fluence — and the inquiry led Mr.Trump to fire Mr. Comey.

In choosing Mr. Wray, the presi-dent is calling on a veteran Wash-ington lawyer who is more low keyand deliberative than either Mr.Mueller or Mr. Comey but will re-main independent, friends andformer colleagues say.

“He’s not flashy. He’s not showy.He’s understated,” said J. MichaelLuttig, a former judge who hiredMr. Wray as a law clerk in 1992. Mr.Luttig, who said he counted Mr.Comey and Mr. Mueller as friends,

F.B.I. NomineeSeen as ShieldAgainst Politics

By ADAM GOLDMANand MATT APUZZO

Christopher A. WrayVIA REUTERS

Continued on Page A19

BATH, England — The Britishprime minister’s blue battle bushad just arrived for a campaignstop at a factory when the booingstarted.

A motley crew of protesters,among them anti-fox-huntingactivists and beret-wearing pro-Europeans, greeted Theresa Mayby playing “Liar, Liar,” the anti-May tune that has become one ofthe top 100 songs on the U.K.iTunes store, on repeat. InsideCross Manufacturing, an aero-space supplier, the blue-collarworkers broke into applause onlyafter a questioner asked whetherher refusal to debate other candi-dates on television was a sign offear and weakness.

“Every vote for me is a vote forthe strong and stable leadershipwhich I believe this countryneeds,” the prime minister re-sponded, going into repeat modeherself. “Who do you trust to havethe strong and stable leadershipto get on with that job of gettingthe best deal for Britain for Brexit,because Brexit really matters?”

Britain is having its first na-tional election since the so-calledBrexit referendum last June,when the country voted to leavethe European Union, a race un-folding in the unsettling glare oftwo terrorist attacks that killed 29people in the last three weeks. Ithas not quite turned out as Mrs.May had hoped; having tried tomake the campaign about theshortcomings of the Labourleader, Jeremy Corbyn, the race isnow as much about her own.

When she called the snap voteseven weeks ago — after insistingfor months she had no intention ofdoing so — Mrs. May seemed un-assailable. Twenty points ahead ofher nearest contender in opinionpolls, and with most of Britain’s at-tack-dog tabloids cooing at her ev-ery move, the 60-year-old vicar’s

At Race’s End,Britons PonderFlawed Leader

By KATRIN BENNHOLD

Continued on Page A13

WASHINGTON — Rarely hasthe Trump administration spokenof Iran other than to condemn it asthe world’s chief sponsor of terror-ism and an aspiring nuclearweapons state. So when the WhiteHouse woke on Wednesday to im-ages of a possible Islamic State at-tack on Tehran, it prompted asharp quandary: How does Presi-dent Trump condemn the violencewithout seeming to embrace thevictims?

Several administration officialssaid it took most of the day for theWhite House to work out the terse,curt wording of a statement thatsought to show sympathy for theIranian public even as it pointedlysuggested that the behavior ofTehran’s clerical leaders made itspeople a target.

“We grieve and pray for the in-nocent victims of the terrorist at-tacks in Iran, and for the Iranianpeople, who are going throughsuch challenging times,” Mr.Trump wrote. “We underscorethat states that sponsor terrorismrisk falling victim to the evil theypromote.”

The statement capped a dayduring which Mr. Trump thrusthimself into the messy politics ofPersian Gulf states, trying to alsoplay peacemaker in a bitter dis-pute between Qatar and otherSunni Muslim neighbors thatthreatens to splinter a MiddleEastern alliance fighting the Is-lamic State.

For the administration,Wednesday served as a reminder

A BALANCING ACTIN THE MIDEAST

Certainty of Trump HitsReal-Life Obstacles

This article is by David E. Sanger,Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt.

Continued on Page A11

Armed assailants, includingsome disguised as women,stunned Iran on Wednesday withbrazen attacks on the Parliamentbuilding and the tomb of its revo-lutionary founder, the worst ter-rorist strike to hit the Islamic re-public in years.

At least 12 people were killedand 46 were wounded in the near-simultaneous assaults, whichlasted for hours, clearly tookIran’s elite security forces by sur-prise and shattered the self-pro-claimed image of calm in a turbu-lent region.

The six known attackers alsowere killed, official news mediasaid, and five suspects were re-ported detained. Their identitieswere not made clear.

“We will avenge the blood ofthose martyred in today’s terror-

ism attacks,” said Brig. Gen. Hos-sein Salami, deputy commanderof the Islamic RevolutionaryGuards Corps, the country’s pow-erful paramilitary force.

In a statement, the Revolution-ary Guards appeared to blameSaudi Arabia and the UnitedStates for the assaults even as re-sponsibility for them was assertedby the Islamic State, the Sunniextremist group that has takencredit for terrorist attacks aroundthe world in the past few weeks.

If the Islamic State’s claim istrue, that would be its first suc-cessful attack in Iran, which ispredominantly Shiite Muslim andregarded by Sunni militants as a

nation of heretics. Iranian-backedforces in Iraq and Syria are help-ing battle the Islamic State.

Eleven people died in the Par-liament building assault, and oneat the mausoleum of AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini, father of the1979 revolution, whose shrine is amagnet for visitors. Four of theassailants were killed at the Par-liament building, official news me-dia said, and two at the mausole-um. Five were men, and one mau-soleum assailant was a woman.

The audacity of the assaults,and the hours it took to end them,suggested that Iranian securityofficials had been caught unpre-pared — especially for whatseemed like a coordinated planconceived well in advance.

“It’s very clear that for thisgroup to be able to mount such at-tacks it must have had a networkinside the country that was notput in place yesterday, an infra-

Dual Sieges by Terrorists Shatter Calm in TehranBy THOMAS ERDBRINK

and MUJIB MASHAL

Iranian police officers helped civilians leave the Parliament building in Tehran on Wednesday.OMID VAHABZADEH/FARS NEWS, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

12 Are Killed in Strikesat Parliament andKhomeini’s Tomb

Continued on Page A11

Exiles in the United States have takenup face-to-face shaming of people whoback Venezuela’s president. PAGE A15

NATIONAL A15-22

A Venezuelan Rift in Miami

Lawyers for Bill Cosby tried to findinconsistencies in the testimony ofAndrea Constand. PAGE A15

Questions for Cosby’s Accuser

In overriding a veto, lawmakers effec-tively rejected Gov. Sam Brownback’sfiscal experiment. PAGE A22

NATIONAL

Pushback on Kansas Tax Cuts

Changes are proposed amid an inquiryinto several CUNY foundations for theirhandling of federal funds. PAGE A26

NEW YORK A23-26

New Rules at City University

The president of Uber’s Asia businesswas dismissed over his handling of arape case involving a driver. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-9

Rape Case Leads to Uber Firing

A couple stumbled upon an unrecog-nized John Lautner house and weredetermined to make it theirs. PAGE D1

THURSDAY STYLES D1-8

A ‘Lost’ House Is Found“The Essex Serpent” is “part ghoststory and part natural history lesson,”and quite a bit more. PAGE C1

A Lush New Novel

“Cost of Living,” with Victor Williamsand Katy Sullivan, is a gripping newplay. A review. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Disabilities and Drama

Nicholas Kristof PAGE A31

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A30-31

Dominic Thiem, a hungry 23-year-old,prevailed over a flagging veteran toadvance at the French Open. PAGE B10

Upstart Tops Wilting Djokovic

With a kernel of truth, a bit of parodyand a little invention, a bogus Russianarticle ended up on Fox News. PAGE A4

Tracing a Nugget of Fake News

North Korea fired cruise missiles to-ward the sea in its 10th test launch ofthe year, a day after Seoul suspendedits antimissile program. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-14

New North Korea Missile Test

Golden State stopped Cleveland inGame 3 and could win an N.B.A. titleFriday with a 16-0 playoff run. PAGE B11

SPORTSTHURSDAY B10-15

Warriors a Win From Perfect

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVI . . . No. 57,622 + © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 2017

Today, sunshine, then increasingclouds, high 72. Tonight, cloudy, low55. Tomorrow, clouds and sunshine,showers or thunderstorms, high 78.Weather map appears on Page B12.

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