VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,939 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2018

C M Y K Nxxx,2018-04-21,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

U(D54G1D)y+#!]!.!#!{

WASHINGTON — Federal civilrights prosecutors have recom-mended charges against a NewYork police officer in the 2014death of Eric Garner, three cur-rent and former officials said, buttop Justice Department officialshave expressed strong reserva-tions about whether to move for-ward with a case they say may notbe winnable.

Mr. Garner died on a Staten Is-land street after the police officer,Daniel Pantaleo, used a chokeholdto subdue him. Officers had con-fronted Mr. Garner, who was un-armed, over accusations of sellinguntaxed cigarettes. His finalgasps of “I can’t breathe,” cap-tured on a cellphone video, be-came a rallying cry for protestersaround the country.

In recent weeks, career pros-ecutors recommended civil rightscharges against Officer Pantaleoand sought approval from the dep-uty attorney general, Rod J.Rosenstein, to seek an indictment,according to the officials. Mr.Rosenstein has convened severalmeetings that revealed divisions

within the Justice Departmentover whether to move forward. Nodecision has been made, but onelaw enforcement official said that,based on the discussions so far, itappeared unlikely that Mr. Rosen-stein would approve charges.

Attorney General Jeff Sessionshas also been briefed on the caseand could weigh in after Mr.Rosenstein makes his own recom-

Justice Dept. Is Seen as DividedOn Rights Case in Garner Killing

By MATT APUZZO

Eric Garner died after beingsubdued with a chokehold.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, VIA GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page A18

KHALIL HAMRA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Protesters hurled stones Friday at Israeli troops along the fence dividing Israel from Gaza. Israeli snipers killed four people. Page A9.Deadly Clash at Border Fence

For years, a joke among TrumpTower employees was that theboss was like Manhattan’s FirstAvenue, where the traffic goesonly one way.

That one-sidedness has alwaysbeen at the heart of PresidentTrump’s relationship with hislongtime lawyer and fixer, Mi-chael D. Cohen, who has said hewould “take a bullet” for Mr.Trump. For years Mr. Trumptreated Mr. Cohen poorly, withgratuitous insults, dismissivestatements and, at least twice,threats of being fired, according tointerviews with a half-dozen peo-ple familiar with their relation-ship.

“Donald goes out of his way totreat him like garbage,” saidRoger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Trump’s in-formal and longest-serving poli-tical adviser, who, along with Mr.Cohen, was one of five people orig-inally surrounding the presidentwhen he was considering a presi-dential campaign before 2016.

Now, for the first time, the traf-fic may be going Mr. Cohen’s way.Mr. Trump’s lawyers and advisershave become resigned to thestrong possibility that Mr. Cohen,who has a wife and two childrenand faces the prospect of devas-tating legal fees, if not criminalcharges, could end up cooperatingwith federal officials who are in-vestigating him for activity thatcould relate, at least in part, towork he did for Mr. Trump.

Last week federal agents raidedMr. Cohen’s office and hotel roomand seized business records,emails and other material as partof what Mr. Trump has called a“witch hunt” by his own JusticeDepartment. The trove includeddocuments dating back decades,as well as more recent ones relat-ed to a payment in 2016 to a porno-graphic film actress who has saidshe had a sexual encounter withMr. Trump, which Mr. Trump de-nies.

Although Mr. Trump called Mr.Cohen last Friday, four days after

Punching Bag For PresidentNow Has Clout

This article is by Maggie Ha-berman, Sharon LaFraniere andDanny Hakim.

Continued on Page A12

WASHINGTON — For days,top Republicans in Congressdemanded the release of JamesB. Comey’s memos about Presi-dent Trump, threatening Rod J.Rosenstein, the deputy attorneygeneral, with a subpoena if hefailed to share the highly antici-pated documents written by theformer F.B.I. director.

But if Mr. Trump and his alliesbelieved that Mr. Rosenstein’srefusal would deliver a pretext tocall for his firing, as Democratsasserted, his decision to quicklyrelease all the memos late Thurs-day night foiled that plan. Thememos leaked to reporters hoursafter being delivered to lawmak-ers in both parties.

And the seven memos, inwhich Mr. Comey methodicallydocumented his interactions withthe president in real time, didlittle to help Republicans under-mine Mr. Comey’s credibility or

expose contradictions with hisbest-selling, tell-all book. Takentogether, the 15 pages of detailednotes largely back up the storiesthat Mr. Comey told in congres-sional testimony, in the pages ofhis memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,”and during numerous televisionand radio interviews.

“I’m not quite sure how thisimproved the strategic posture ofthose who want to dismantle thespecial counsel investigation,”said Representative JamieRaskin, Democrat of Maryland.“This is a tactic that has back-fired. From what I’ve seen of theComey memos, they bear outcompletely the authenticity of hisreports and his own credibility.”

Word last spring that Mr.Comey had taken contemporane-ous notes of his meetings withMr. Trump jolted Washington,and for nearly a year, the exist-ence of the still-secret memoscast a shadow over the capital,generating intense speculationabout the private details thatmight be exposed if they weremade public. Salacious talk ofRussian prostitutes, a request toease up on the investigation ofthe president’s national securityadviser and a presidential de-mand for the loyalty of the F.B.I.director all made for bombshellrevelations.

But by the time the actualmemos appeared, the detailswere already known, and someRepublicans suggested the realimport of the memos was thatthey indicated that there was noobstruction of justice case.

“I don’t know that it was nec-essarily earth-shattering, thenew information that we found,”

G.O.P. Push on Comey Files May Have BackfiredBy MICHAEL D. SHEARand NICHOLAS FANDOS

CONGRESSIONAL MEMO

Memos Help ReinforceTestimony and Fail to

Alter Inquiry

Continued on Page A13

On Feb. 20, a young womannamed Mirian arrived at theTexas border carrying her 18-month-old son. They had fled theirhome in Honduras through acloud of tear gas, she told borderagents, and needed protectionfrom the political violence there.

She had hoped she and her sonwould find refuge together. In-stead, the agents ordered her toplace her son in the back seat of agovernment vehicle, she said laterin a sworn declaration to a federalcourt. They both cried as the boywas driven away.

For months, members of Con-gress have been demanding an-swers about how many familiesare being separated as they areprocessed at stations along thesouthwest border, in part becausethe Trump administration has inthe past said it was considering ta-king children from their parentsas a way to deter migrants fromcoming here.

Officials have repeatedly de-clined to provide data on howmany families have been sepa-rated, but suggested that the num-ber was relatively low.

But new data reviewed by The

New York Times shows that morethan 700 children have been takenfrom adults claiming to be theirparents since October, includingmore than 100 children under theage of 4.

The data was prepared by theOffice of Refugee Resettlement, adivision of the Department ofHealth and Human Services thattakes custody of children whohave been removed from migrant

parents. Senior officials at the De-partment of Homeland Security,which processes migrants at theborder, initially denied that thenumbers were so high. But afterthey were confirmed to The Timesby three federal officials whowork closely with these cases, aspokesman for the health and hu-man services department on Fri-day acknowledged in a statement

Over 700 Children Taken From Parents at BorderBy CAITLIN DICKERSON

Immigrants after crossing the border near McAllen, Tex., thismonth. The Trump administration has sought to deter migrants.

LOREN ELLIOTT/REUTERS

Continued on Page A14

Students left classrooms on the 19thanniversary of the Columbine massa-cre, protesting gun violence. PAGE A10

NATIONAL A10-15

A Walkout Against Guns

Files released on the death of Princereveal the desire of the singer’s friendsand employees to protect him. PAGE A15

Standing Guard for Prince Tapper’s debut novel, “The HellfireClub,” a historical thriller set in 1950sWashington, has some unsettling paral-lels to today’s political climate. PAGE B1

Jake Tapper’s New Novel

Actors’ Equity has decided to rename abeloved Broadway insider ritual cele-brating chorus members. PAGE C1

Doing Away With ‘Gypsy Robe’

LAWSUIT The Democrats saidRussian officials, the Trumpcampaign and WikiLeaks con-spired in the 2016 vote. PAGE A11

An exclusive excerpt from “The MarsRoom,” a new novel by Rachel Kushner.

THIS WEEKEND

Special Section: Fiction

From fashion to flowers, music to food,Broadway to literature, T Magazinelooks at 36 months that left an enduringimprint on American culture.

New York City, 1981-1983

Decades ago, Nigel Oakes promoted thepower of the subliminal to sway behav-ior. That led to data mining. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

The Power to Manipulate

Murders in East New York, Brooklyn,have often exceeded 100 a year. Therehave been none since Dec. 12. PAGE A16

NEW YORK A16-19

129 Murder-Free Days

Arsène Wenger plans to depart after 22years as Arsenal’s manager. PAGE D1

SPORTSSATURDAY D1-5

A Flawed Soccer Giant’s Exit

Gail Collins PAGE A21

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A20-21

The president called oil prices “artifi-cially” high as gasoline hit its highestpoint in three years after the cartel andRussia moved to limit output. PAGE B1

Trump Targets OPEC

Two Metropolitan Opera stars learnwhat their voices would sound likecaptured on wax cylinders. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-7

Recording (Really) Old School

The Justice Department is investigatingpossible coordination by AT&T andVerizon to hinder people from easilyswitching wireless carriers. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

A Claim of Wireless Collusion

SEOUL, South Korea — NorthKorea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, an-nounced early Saturday that hiscountry no longer needed to testnuclear weapons or long-rangemissiles and would close a nucleartest site.

“The nuclear test site has doneits job,” Mr. Kim said in a state-ment carried by North Korea’sstate media.

Mr. Kim’s announcement camejust days before a scheduled sum-mit meeting with President MoonJae-in of South Korea; Mr. Kim isalso planning to meet with Presi-dent Trump soon. It was the sec-ond time in two days that he madewhat appeared to be a significantconcession to the United Statesbut in reality cemented the statusquo. North Korea already hadstopped testing its weapons.

Mr. Kim made no mention in hislatest remarks of dismantling thenuclear weapons and long-rangemissiles North Korea has alreadybuilt. On the contrary, he sug-gested he was going to keep them.

Still, Mr. Trump welcomed whatMr. Kim said. “North Korea hasagreed to suspend all NuclearTests and close up a major testsite,” the president said in a Twit-ter message. “This is very goodnews for North Korea and theWorld — big progress! Look for-ward to our Summit.”

Mr. Moon’s office also praisedthe announcement. “We view theNorth’s decision as a significantstep toward the denuclearizationof the Korean Peninsula the worldhas wished for,” said Yoon Young-chan, a spokesman for Mr. Moon.

Despite the enthusiasm, Ameri-can officials have watched Mr.Kim with a mix of satisfaction andwariness.

The North Korean leader’smove could be tactical — puttingthe United States on the defensivein advance of talks on its nucleararsenal. By extending an olivebranch, American officials said,North Korea is putting pressureon the United States to accept a

NORTH KOREANSPROMISE TO HALTNUCLEAR TESTING

‘BIG PROGRESS’ TO TRUMP

Summit Meetings Loom— No Plans to Scrap

Weapons of War

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Continued on Page A8

SEOUL, South Korea — On adark February night, the trucksunloaded their contraband nearHyesan, a North Korean townacross a narrow river from China.As border guards looked the otherway, workers used carts to pull thecargo of metal ore — tungsten,lead, zinc, copper and gold con-centrates, all banned from exportunder United Nations sanctions —across the frozen river.

By sunrise, all that was leftwere tire tracks and footprintsacross the river’s frozen surface.

A North Korean witness told anacquaintance living in South Ko-rea that ore, as well as other ma-terials, was being smuggled intoChina at the crossing almost ev-ery night. He said smugglers alsoheaded the other way, movingsugar, flour and 50-kilogram sacksof fertilizers into North Korea.

There is growing evidence thattough new sanctions imposed onNorth Korea to stop its nuclearweapons and missile programshave begun to bite, and bite hard.Factories have closed because of alack of raw materials, fishermenhave deserted their boats and mil-itary units are resorting to char-coal-engine vehicles and even ox-driven carts for transport.

But the elaborate efforts tosmuggle goods in and out of NorthKorea are among the signs thatthe closed, secretive country isfinding ways to cope.

The North is responding withpatriotic appeals and belt-tighten-ing, and by prioritizing the alloca-tion of resources to the militaryand political elite. Despite short-ages, exchange rates and key con-sumer prices are stable, and thereis no sign of an approaching fam-ine, according to recent visitorsand North Korean defectors whoremain in contact with people in-side the country.

President Trump and South Ko-rea’s president, Moon Jae-in, saytheir policy of “maximum pres-sure” on the government of theNorth Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has helped bring him to thebargaining table. Mr. Trump re-cently acknowledged that he sentthe C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo,to a secret meeting with Mr. Kimthis month to lay the groundworkfor the first-ever meeting betweenthe leaders of the United States

Can SanctionsPush the North

Into Reforms?

Penalties Hit IsolatedNation in New Ways

By CHOE SANG-HUN

Continued on Page A8

Late EditionToday, sunshine and patchy clouds,breezy, high 59. Tonight, clear, chilly,low 41. Tomorrow, sunshine andpatchy clouds, seasonable, high 62.Weather map appears on Page C8.

$3.00