VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,244 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2019

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Karl Lagerfeld, the most prolific designer of the20th and 21st centuries and a man whose careerformed the prototype of the modern luxury fashionindustry, died on Tuesday in Paris.

Though his birth year was a matter of some dis-pute, Mr. Lagerfeld, who lived in Paris, was generallythought to be 85. His death was announced byChanel, with which he had long been associated.

“More than anyone I know, he represents the soulof fashion: restless, forward-looking and voraciouslyattentive to our changing culture,” Anna Wintour, ed-

itor of American Vogue, said of Mr. Lagerfeld whenpresenting him with the Outstanding AchievementAward at the British Fashion Awards in 2015.

Creative director of Chanel since 1983 and Fendisince 1965, and founder of his own line, Mr. Lagerfeldwas the definition of a fashion polyglot, able to speakthe language of many different brands at the sametime (not to mention many languages themselves:He read in English, French, German and Italian).

In his 80s, when most of his peers were retiring totheir yachts or country estates, he was designing anaverage of 14 new collections a year, ranging fromcouture to the high street — and not counting col-

Karl Lagerfeld, Shape-Shifting Designer Invaluable to Lives of Luxury, Is Dead

By VANESSA FRIEDMAN

Karl Lagerfeld and Rihanna in 2015. A longtime force at Chanel and Fendi, he was thought to be 85.DANNY KIM FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A24

‘He represents the soul of fashion.’ANNA WINTOUR, editor of American Vogue

WASHINGTON — As federalprosecutors in Manhattan gath-ered evidence late last year aboutPresident Trump’s role in silenc-ing women with hush paymentsduring the 2016 campaign, Mr.Trump called Matthew G. Whita-ker, his newly installed attorneygeneral, with a question. He askedwhether Geoffrey S. Berman, theUnited States attorney for theSouthern District of New York anda Trump ally, could be put incharge of the widening investiga-tion, according to several Ameri-can officials with direct knowl-edge of the call.

Mr. Whitaker, who had pri-vately told associates that part ofhis role at the Justice Departmentwas to “jump on a grenade” for thepresident, knew he could not putMr. Berman in charge because Mr.Berman had already recused him-self from the investigation. Thepresident soon soured on Mr.Whitaker, as he often does with hisaides, and complained about hisinability to pull levers at the Jus-tice Department that could makethe president’s many legal prob-lems go away.

Trying to install a perceived loy-alist atop a widening inquiry is afamiliar tactic for Mr. Trump, whohas been struggling to beat backthe investigations that have con-sumed his presidency. His effortshave exposed him to accusationsof obstruction of justice as RobertS. Mueller III, the special counsel,finishes his work investigatingRussian interference in the 2016election.

Mr. Trump’s public war on theinquiry has gone on long enoughthat it is no longer shocking. Mr.

Trump rages almost daily to his 58million Twitter followers that Mr.Mueller is on a “witch hunt” andhas adopted the language of Mafiabosses by calling those who co-operate with the special counsel“rats.” His lawyer talks openlyabout a strategy to smear and dis-credit the special counsel investi-gation. The president’s allies inCongress and the conservativenews media warn of an insidiousplot inside the Justice Depart-ment and the F.B.I. to subvert ademocratically elected president.

An examination by The NewYork Times reveals the extent ofan even more sustained, more se-cretive assault by Mr. Trump onthe machinery of federal law en-forcement. Interviews with doz-ens of current and former govern-ment officials and others close toMr. Trump, as well as a review ofconfidential White House docu-ments, reveal numerous unre-ported episodes in a two-yeardrama.

White House lawyers wrote aconfidential memo expressingconcern about the president’sstaff peddling misleading infor-mation in public about the firing ofMichael T. Flynn, the Trump ad-ministration’s first national secu-rity adviser. Mr. Trump had pri-vate conversations with Republi-can lawmakers about a campaignto attack the Mueller investiga-tion. And there was the episodewhen he asked his attorney gen-eral about putting Mr. Berman incharge of the Manhattan investi-gation.

Mr. Whitaker, who this monthtold a congressional committeethat Mr. Trump had never pres-sured him over the various inves-tigations, is now under scrutiny

Inside Trump’s Angry WarOn Inquiries Around Him

Pressure Tactics Leave the President Exposedto Accusations of Obstruction

This article is by Mark Mazzetti,Maggie Haberman, Nicholas Fan-dos and Michael S. Schmidt.

Continued on Page A18

AL HAWL CAMP, Syria — Shewas a 20-year-old college studentin Alabama who had become con-vinced of the righteousness of theIslamic State. So she duped herparents into thinking she was go-ing on a college trip, and insteadbought a plane ticket to Turkeywith her tuition money.

After being smuggled into thecaliphate, the student, HodaMuthana, posted a photograph on

Twitter showing her gloved handsholding her American passport.“Bonfire soon,” she promised.

That was more than four yearsago. Now, after being married tothree Islamic State fighters andwitnessing executions like thoseshe had once cheered on socialmedia, Ms. Muthana says she isdeeply sorry and wants to returnhome to the United States.

She surrendered last month tothe coalition forces fighting ISIS,and now spends her days as a de-tainee in a refugee camp in north-eastern Syria. She is joined there

by another woman, KimberlyGwen Polman, 46, who had stud-ied legal administration in Canadabefore joining the caliphate andwho possesses dual United Statesand Canadian citizenship.

Both women, interviewed byThe New York Times at the camp,said they were trying to figure out

how to have their passports reis-sued, and how to win the sympa-thy of the two nations theyscorned.

“I don’t have words for howmuch regret I have,” said Ms. Pol-man, who was born into a Re-formed Mennonite community inHamilton, Ontario, to an Ameri-can mother and Canadian fatherand who has three adult children.

Ms. Muthana, who attendedhigh school in Hoover, Ala., andthe University of Alabama atBirmingham, said she was first

They Married Fighters for ISIS. Now They Want to Come Home.By RUKMINI CALLIMACHIand CATHERINE PORTER

A detention camp in Syria where at least two women who left North America to join the Islamic State are stuck without papers.IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

U.S. Citizens in LimboAsk for Forgiveness

Continued on Page A10

LOHHEIDE, Germany — On aformer Cold War base, Germanand Dutch soldiers, serving to-gether in one tank battalion, stoodto attention one recent morningand shouted their battle cry inboth languages.

“We fight —,” their commanderbellowed.

“— for Germany!” the battalionreplied in unison.

“We fight —,” the commandershouted.

“— for the Netherlands!” hissoldiers yelled back.

They are not shouting “for Eu-rope.” Not yet.

But the battalion — Europe’sfirst made up of soldiers from twocountries — is an important babystep toward deeper European mil-itary cooperation. First floated af-ter World War II, the idea of a Eu-ropean army is as old as the Euro-pean Union itself, but has yet tobecome a reality.

Now, though, the idea has takenon new urgency because of theTrump administration’s threat towithdraw the Continent’s securityguarantee if it does not spendmore on its defense. At a high-lev-el security conference last week-end, the breach between theUnited States and Europe burstinto the open, leaving many Euro-pean officials feeling increasinglyon their own.

“Everyone is talking about aEuropean army,” Lt. Col. MarcoNiemeyer, the German command-er of the battalion, said. “We arepioneers.”

Yet if some powerful European

Joining ForcesTo Give Europe

Its Own ArmyBy KATRIN BENNHOLD

Continued on Page A9

Senator Bernie Sanders, theVermont independent and 2016Democratic primary runner-upwhose populist agenda has helpedpush the party to the left, em-barked on Tuesday on a secondrun for president, in a bid that willtest whether he retains his anti-establishment appeal or losesground to newer faces who haveadopted many of his ideas.

A professed democratic social-ist whose calls for “Medicare forall,” a $15 minimum wage and tu-ition-free public colleges have be-come pillars of the party’s leftwing, Mr. Sanders joins the race ata time when Republicans are try-ing to define the Democratic fieldand its ideas as out of the politicalmainstream. In Mr. Sanders, whohas not joined the DemocraticParty and has described himselfas a socialist, Republicans have aneasy target to try to make the faceof the opposition.

But Mr. Sanders, 77, starts withstronger support from small-

Once an Outlier,Sanders EntersA Packed Race

By SYDNEY EMBER

Senator Bernie SandersTOM BRENNER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A20

A housing decline has preceded nine ofthe last 11 recessions. Here’s why historymay not repeat itself next time. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

Don’t Blame Housing MarketThe A.C.L.U. may sue a Wisconsin highschool where coaches gave out awardsmocking cheerleaders’ bodies. PAGE B10

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B10-14

‘So Wrong, in So Many Ways’Looking for prestige, the masters of the$1 pizza slice have opened a shop, Up-side Pizza, with offerings, above, thatare fancier and more costly. PAGE D1

FOOD D1-8

A Dollar Won’t Cut It

Among candidates for public advocate,Eric Ulrich was a lonely voice backingthe Amazon deal. Now that could givethe Republican a leg up. PAGE A21

NEW YORK A21-22

A Prime AdvantageAfter two years of overhauling educa-tion policy, Education Secretary BetsyDeVos must now answer to Democratsshe’s clashed with or ignored. PAGE A15

NATIONAL A14-20

More Oversight for DeVos

Hundreds of businesses have beensued, sometimes in alphabetical order,over whether their websites are acces-sible to the blind. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Suing Galleries, From A to Z

Frank Bruni PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27Don Newcombe, an ace for the Brook-lyn Dodgers and the first black pitcherto star in the majors, was 92. PAGE B10

Barrier-Breaking Pitcher DiesProposals to tax wealth and raise thetop rate on income find support acrossparty lines in a voter survey. PAGE B1

Tax the Rich? A Popular Idea

An Alabama paper’s editor was widelycondemned for an editorial calling forthe K.K.K. “to ride again.” PAGE A17

Uproar Over Backing of Klan

Plans to ship Moscow’s trash to theprovinces are aggravating economicunrest. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-12

Feeling Poor and Dumped On

WASHINGTON — A day afterCalifornia filed a lawsuit challeng-ing President Trump’s emergencydeclaration on the border, theTransportation Department saidit was exploring legal options toclaw back $2.5 billion in federalfunds it had already spent on thestate’s high-speed rail network.

The Trump administration alsosaid it was terminating a $929 mil-lion federal grant to the CaliforniaHigh-Speed Rail Authority, ac-cording to a letter the Transporta-tion Department sent Tuesday.

The $77 billion Los Angeles-to-San Francisco bullet train, whichhas been a goal of California trans-portation planners for decades,has long faced opposition from Mr.Trump and other Republicans.But on Tuesday morning, thepresident explicitly tied the railline to efforts to stymie construc-tion of the Mexican border wall.

“The failed Fast Train project inCalifornia, where the cost over-runs are becoming world recordsetting, is hundreds of times moreexpensive than the desperatelyneeded Wall!” Mr. Trump wroteon Twitter.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of Califor-nia, who announced last week thathe was scaling back the project,said the Transportation Depart-ment’s move was retaliation forthe border wall lawsuit, filed onMonday with 15 other states.

“It’s no coincidence that the ad-ministration’s threat comes 24hours after California led 16 statesin challenging the president’s far-

U.S. May WrestBillions for RailFrom California

By ANNIE KARNIand JENNIFER MEDINA

Continued on Page A17

Late EditionToday, mostly cloudy, afternoonsnow, high 32. Tonight, wintry mix,then rain late, low 31, but rising. To-morrow, morning rain, milder, high56. Weather map is on Page A16.

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