VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,913 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2018

C M Y K Nxxx,2018-03-26,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

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A proposal to change to a skills-basedimmigration system could shrink aprimary source of workers for the grow-ing senior-care industry. PAGE A11

NATIONAL A11-16

Needs That Immigrants Fulfill

A pothole epidemic has upended thestreets of Rome, the city that built anempire on its roads. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-10

Striking Fear Into S.U.V.s Amazon now collects sales tax in everystate that has one, but a report faults itslocal tax collection. PAGE B1

Cities Want Amazon Tax Share

David Leonhardt PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

tarian facing corruption charges,who posted a photograph with thepresident on Facebook.

This type of access has value onthe international stage, where theperception of support from anAmerican president — or even aphoto with one — can benefit for-eign leaders back home.

Mr. Broidy was open about hisbusiness interests, but the admin-istration made no effort to curtailhis offers of access to clients orprospective clients.

Yet Mr. Broidy was so ag-gressive, some associates said,that they warned him to tonedown his approach for fear that hemight run afoul of the president,clients or American lobbying andanti-corruption laws.

As with so many other politicalconventions, Mr. Trump has up-ended the traditional system of ac-cess to the president, among themost prized chits in Washington.

WASHINGTON — For ElliottBroidy, Donald J. Trump’s presi-dential campaign represented anunparalleled political and busi-ness opportunity.

An investor and defense con-tractor, Mr. Broidy became a topfund-raiser for Mr. Trump’s cam-paign when most elite Republicandonors were keeping their dis-tance, and Mr. Trump in turn over-looked the lingering whiff of scan-dal from Mr. Broidy’s 2009 guiltyplea in a pension fund briberycase.

After Mr. Trump’s election, Mr.Broidy quickly capitalized, mar-keting his Trump connections topoliticians and governmentsaround the world, including somewith unsavory records, accordingto interviews and documents ob-tained by The New York Times.Mr. Broidy suggested to clientsand prospective customers of hisVirginia-based defense contract-ing company, Circinus, that hecould broker meetings with Mr.Trump, his administration andcongressional allies.

Mr. Broidy’s ability to leveragehis political connections to boosthis business illuminates how Mr.Trump’s unorthodox approach togoverning has spawned a newbreed of access peddling in theswamp he vowed to drain.

Mr. Broidy offered tickets toV.I.P. inauguration events, includ-ing a candlelight dinner attendedby Mr. Trump, to a Congolesestrongman accused of funding alavish lifestyle with public re-sources. He helped arrange ameeting with Republican senatorsand offered a trip to Mar-a-Lago,the president’s private Florida re-sort, for an Angolan politician.And he arranged an invitation to aparty at Mr. Trump’s Washingtonhotel for a Romanian parliamen-

The fund-raiser Elliott Broidywith his wife, Robin, in 2012.

ALEX J. BERLINER/ABIMAGES, VIA A.P.

As President Trump heads intoone of the most critical phases ofthe special counsel’s investiga-tion, his personal legal team hasshrunk to essentially just onemember, and he is struggling tofind any top lawyers willing torepresent him.

Working for a president is usu-ally seen as a dream job. But lead-ing white-collar lawyers in Wash-ington and New York have repeat-edly spurned overtures to takeover the defense of Mr. Trump, amercurial client who often ignoreshis advisers’ guidance. In somecases, lawyers’ firms haveblocked any talks, fearing a back-lash that would hurt business.

The president lost two lawyersin just the past four days, includ-ing one who had been on board forless than a week.

Joseph diGenova, a longtimeWashington lawyer who haspushed theories on Fox News thatthe F.B.I. made up evidenceagainst Mr. Trump, left the teamon Sunday. He had been hired lastMonday, three days before thehead of the president’s personallegal team, John Dowd, quit afterdetermining that the presidentwas not listening to his advice. Mr.Trump had also considered hiringMr. diGenova’s wife, VictoriaToensing, but she will also not jointhe team.

That leaves the president withjust one personal lawyer who isworking full time on the specialcounsel’s investigation as Mr.

Continued on Page A14

Defense TeamFor President:

Army of OneBy MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTand MAGGIE HABERMAN

JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES

A photographer has spent years capturing various scenes such as a Border Patrol agent in Texas chasing a man in 2014. Page A6.Covering the Story of Immigration, From All Sides

BEIJING — Ms. Choi was wor-ried about her sister in North Ko-rea.

The last time they spoke, twomonths earlier, her sister hadsounded desperate. She said shehad been imprisoned and beaten,and could no longer bear the tor-ment. She said she wanted to fleeand join Ms. Choi in South Korea.

She said she would carry poi-son, to kill herself if she were cap-tured.

For Ms. Choi, 63, a grandmotherwith large brown eyes and a steelyfortitude, getting the rest of herfamily to South Korea was themost important thing left in life.She had fled North Korea 10 yearsago. Her son had made it out too,as had her sister’s daughter, now ahairdresser living near her inSeoul, the South’s flashy capital.

Ms. Choi longed to be reunitedwith the sister, a 50-year-olddressmaker with her own homebusiness, and also the nephew shehad left behind. She wanted to getthem to safety, out of the reach ofthe government that had arrestedher husband, her brother-in-lawand her son-in-law on suspicionsof helping people leave. They hadbeen targeted as enemies of thestate and were never seen again.

One evening this past summer,Ms. Choi got the news she hadbeen waiting for.

As she opened her apartmentdoor, her niece, 25, shouted: “Mybrother called. He said: ‘Wecrossed the border. We’re inChina. Get the car.’”

Ms. Choi, who must go by only

Defecting From North Korea,Vowing: ‘We Are Ready to Die’

By JANE PERLEZ and SU-HYUN LEE

Continued on Page A8

The passionate gun control ral-lies Saturday that brought outlarge crowds around the countrysent a vivid signal that the issue islikely to play a major role in the2018 midterm elections, and thatRepublicans could find them-selves largely on the defensive ongun issues for the first time in dec-ades.

The gun debate could play outvery differently in House and Sen-ate races, as Republicans strain tosave suburban congressional dis-tricts where gun control is popu-lar, and Democrats defend Senateseats in red states where the Sec-ond Amendment is sacrosanct.

But, in a year of extraordinarypolitical intensity, and in the firstnational election of the Trumppresidency, Republican and Dem-ocratic leaders say the gun issueappears to have become a potentrallying point for voters opposedto Mr. Trump and fed up with whatthey see as Washington’s indiffer-ence to mass shootings. The scaleof demonstrations over the week-end was reminiscent of the Wom-en’s March, earlier in Mr. Trump’spresidency, and underscored theintense energy of activists on theleft ahead of the fall campaign.

The commitment of the youngmarch organizers to keep the is-sue front and center makes it un-likely to fade before November.

But they are certain to face con-siderable resistance from pro-gunforces, particularly the NationalRifle Association, which has for-midable financial resources at its

disposal and a long record of suc-cessfully mobilizing conserva-tives and helping win elections.

Still, Republicans have alreadybeen struggling to keep their foot-ing in densely populated suburbswhere Mr. Trump is unpopularand the N.R.A. is an object of wide-spread scorn. The gun issue ap-pears likely to deepen Republi-cans’ problems in these areas, fur-

ther cleaving moderate, pocket-book-minded suburban votersfrom the party’s more hard-linerural base and raising the risks forRepublicans in swing House dis-tricts around the country.

Gun control may be a compli-cated issue for Democrats, too, be-cause of the makeup of the Senate

Passion of Gun Protests Testing G.O.P.’s Hold on Swing SuburbsBy ALEXANDER BURNSand JONATHAN MARTIN

March for Our Lives placards in New York. Opinion polls show powerful support for gun laws.HOLLY PICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

ALSO BEHIND RALLIES: ADULTS

Sophisticated, experienced organi-zational muscle helped ease theway for youth marches. Page A16.

Continued on Page A16

The pornographic film starStephanie Clifford told “60 Min-utes” that she struck a $130,000deal for her silence about an al-leged affair with Donald J. Trumpin the final days of the 2016 cam-paign because she was worriedabout her safety and that of heryoung daughter.

That concern, she told “60 Min-utes” in an interview broadcast onSunday night, was based on athreat she received in 2011 from aman who approached her in LasVegas. She said the threat cameafter she sold her story about Mr.Trump for $15,000 to Bauer Pub-lishing, which finally publishedthe interview in its magazine In-Touch early this year. Bauer hadinitially decided not to run it afterMr. Trump’s personal lawyer, Mi-

chael Cohen, threatened to sue.“I was in a parking lot going to a

fitness class with my infantdaughter,” she told the “60 Min-utes” correspondent and CNNhost Anderson Cooper. “And a guywalked up on me and said to me,‘Leave Trump alone. Forget thestory.’ And he leaned round andlooked at my daughter and said,‘That’s a beautiful little girl, itwould be a shame if somethinghappened to her mom.”

Ms. Clifford said she did not goto the police after the threat, butwhen, years later, a lawyer cameto her with an offer brokered byMr. Cohen in the final days of thepresidential campaign, she took itbecause, “I was concerned for myfamily and their safety.”

Adult Film Star Feared for SafetyOf Daughter After Trump Threat

By JIM RUTENBERG

Continued on Page A14

When 20,000 West Virginiateachers staged a rare statewidewalkout, questions of pay andbenefits dominated the headlines.But those concerns could not fullyaccount for the teachers’ fero-cious resolve. After all, stagnantwages and receding benefits havebeen an issue for workers for dec-ades.

The missing variable appears tohave been anxiety about their sta-tus as professionals.

Fred Albert, a math teacher andlocal union official in the Charles-ton area, said many felt that theLegislature had devalued theirtraining and certification byproposing to let people teach asubject they hadn’t studied andhad no experience in.

“If someone really wants to be ateacher, if they feel the call to be inthe classroom with students, theyneed to go through the same pro-grams we went through,” he said.

In that sense, Mr. Albert and hiscolleagues were in the main-stream of recent labor history.From doctors and nurses to gov-ernment workers and journalists,some of the most aggressive andsuccessful labor actions in recentyears have erupted when profes-sionals felt their judgment, exper-tise and autonomy were under as-sault.

Teachers in Oklahoma, who arethreatening a walkout on April 2,have expressed similar frustra-tions, as have adjunct facultymembers at a college in Floridaand the recently unionized staff of

Labor RevoltsSignal ThreatsBeyond Money

By NOAM SCHEIBER

Continued on Page A13

A survey notes that a rise in obesity isputting people at greater risk for heartdisease, diabetes and cancer. PAGE A13

U.S. Adults Are Getting Fatter

The company is making deals withSteven Spielberg and other big names.But the giant, built on careful engineer-ing, is still in alien territory. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

Apple Goes to Hollywood

A grieving family of three displaced bya Bronx blaze last year has struggled tofind affordable housing. PAGE A17

NEW YORK A17-19

In Limbo After a Fatal FireThe U.S. carried out its first dronestrike in southern Libya, an expansionof its counterterrorism efforts. PAGE A10

U.S. Targets Al Qaeda in Libya

The Jayhawks, who outlasted Duke,and the Wildcats, who beat Texas Tech,rounded out the Final Four. PAGE D1

SPORTSMONDAY D1-7

Kansas and Villanova Advance

Will the Astros repeat? Will the Yan-kees take the next step? Tyler Kepnermakes his predictions. PAGES D4-5

Before ‘Play Ball,’ a Crystal Ball

A London-born revival of Tony Kush-ner’s “Angels in America” pulses withspirit, Ben Brantley writes. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

An ‘Angels’ That Soars

Mike Judge talks about the changes inthe fifth season of his HBO series, andwhy “Idiocracy” endures. PAGE C1

‘Silicon Valley’ Starts Anew

Marketing Ties to Trump,Top Donor Made Millions

Offers of Private Parties With the President,Sent With Proposed Business Deals

By KENNETH P. VOGEL and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Continued on Page A15

Ruth Wakefield, who died in 1977, beganmaking her enduring Toll House choco-late chip cookies in the 1930s. PAGE A21

OBITUARIES A20-21

Overlooked: A Cookie Creator

Late EditionToday, sunshine and patchy clouds,rather cool for late March, high 48.Tonight, clear, cold, low 32. Tomor-row, plenty of sunshine, high 50.Weather map appears on Page D8.

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