Became Influential Friend Wooed by Saudis, Kushner · 12/9/2018 · For the Guru This article is...
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Senior American officials were worried. Since the early months of the Trump administration, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in- law and Middle East adviser, had been having private, informal conversations with Prince Mo- hammed bin Salman, the favorite son of Saudi Arabia’s king. Given Mr. Kushner’s political in- experience, the private ex- changes could make him suscepti- ble to Saudi manipulation, said three former senior American of- ficials. In an effort to tighten prac- tices at the White House, a new chief of staff tried to reimpose longstanding procedures stipulat- ing that National Security Council staff members should participate in all calls with foreign leaders. But even with the restrictions in place, Mr. Kushner, 37, and Prince Mohammed, 33, kept chatting, ac- cording to three former White House officials and two others briefed by the Saudi royal court. In fact, they said, the two men were on a first-name basis, calling each other Jared and Mohammed in text messages and phone calls. The exchanges continued even after the Oct. 2 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was ambushed and dismem- bered by Saudi agents, according to two former senior American of- ficials and the two people briefed by the Saudis. As the killing set off a firestorm around the world and American intelligence agencies concluded that it was ordered by Prince Mo- hammed, Mr. Kushner became the prince’s most important defender inside the White House, people fa- miliar with its internal delibera- tions say. Mr. Kushner’s support for Prince Mohammed in the moment of crisis is a striking demonstra- tion of a singular bond that has helped draw President Trump into an embrace of Saudi Arabia as one of his most important interna- tional allies. But the ties between Mr. Kush- ner and Prince Mohammed did not happen on their own. The prince and his advisers, eager to enlist American support for his hawkish policies in the region and for his own consolidation of power, cultivated the relationship with Mr. Kushner for more than two years, according to documents, emails and text messages re- viewed by The New York Times. A delegation of Saudis close to the prince visited the United States as early as the month Mr. Trump was elected, the docu- ments show, and brought back a report identifying Mr. Kushner as a crucial focal point in the courtship of the new administra- tion. He brought to the job scant knowledge about the region, a transactional mind-set and an in- tense focus on reaching a deal with the Palestinians that met Is- rael’s demands, the delegation noted. Even then, before the inaugura- tion, the Saudis were trying to po- sition themselves as essential al- lies who could help the Trump ad- ministration fulfill its campaign pledges. In addition to offering to help resolve the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, the Saudis offered hundreds of bil- lions of dollars in deals to buy Wooed by Saudis, Kushner Became Influential Friend Private Chats Between an Ambitious Prince and a Novice Adviser to Trump This article is by David D. Kirk- patrick, Ben Hubbard, Mark Land- ler and Mark Mazzetti. Jared Kushner was identified in a Saudi report as a crucial conduit to President Trump. SARAH SILBIGER/THE NEW YORK TIMES Continued on Page 12 U(D5E71D)x+&!}!/!=!: The van Gogh and the Monet are safely in storage in Switzer- land. The Oscar that once be- longed to Marlon Brando is in a federal warehouse in Texas. Those were easy enough to corral. But when the $250 million yacht was finally captured in Bali, the United States government could- n’t let it bob in the water unattend- ed, so it had to pay for a crew. The $35 million Bombardier jet has been grounded, but it needed an engine test costing up to $25,000. And no one is quite sure what to do with the see-through grand pi- ano now sitting in a supermodel’s Malibu home. It won’t fit through the door. All of the items, and many more, had been bought by a flamboyant Malaysian financier named Jho Low, who prosecutors say helped siphon billions of dollars from a Malaysian government invest- ment fund, then went on a colossal spending spree. It is one of the largest international kleptocracy cases the United States has ever pursued. It is so expansive that just tracking down, retrieving and maintaining the loot has become a complex multinational operation in itself. Court documents and inter- views describe a recovery effort that involves half a dozen federal agencies, a bevy of contractors and investigators in countries in- Rounding Up Loot From Fugitive’s Buying Spree By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS and ALEXANDRA STEVENSON A see-through grand piano and the $250 million yacht Equanimity are among the purchases pur- sued by the United States from a Malaysian financier accused of laundering embezzled funds. FROM LEFT: PETER A. TOL; SONNY TUMBELAKA/A.F.P. — GETTY IMAGES Continued on Page 17 CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK Hundreds were arrested Saturday as “Yellow Vest” protesters descended on Paris. Above, tear gas near the Champs-Élysées. Page 13. Anti-Tax Anger Smolders in France One is dean of Yale’s medical school. Another is the director of a cancer center in Texas. A third is the next president of the most prominent society of cancer doc- tors. These leading medical figures are among dozens of doctors who have failed in recent years to re- port their financial relationships with pharmaceutical and health care companies when their stud- ies are published in medical jour- nals, according to a review by The New York Times and ProPublica and data from other recent re- search. Dr. Howard A. “Skip” Burris III, the president-elect of the Ameri- can Society of Clinical Oncology, for instance, declared that he had no conflicts of interest in more than 50 journal articles in recent years, including in the prestigious New England Journal of Medi- cine. However, drug companies have paid his employer nearly $114,000 for consulting and speaking, and nearly $8 million for his research during the period for which disclo- sure was required. His omissions extended to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, which is published by the group he will lead. In addition to the widespread lapses by doctors, the review by The Times and ProPublica found that journals themselves often gave confusing advice and did not routinely vet disclosures by re- searchers, although many rela- tionships could have been easily detected on a federal database. Medical journals, which are the main conduit for communicating the latest scientific discoveries to the public, often have an inter- dependent relationship with the researchers who publish in their pages. Reporting a study in a lead- ing journal can heighten their pro- file — not to mention that of the drug or other product being tested. And journals enhance their cachet by publishing exclu- sive, breakthrough studies by ac- claimed researchers. In all, the reporting system still ‘Broken’ System Lets Doctors Omit Industry Ties in Journals By CHARLES ORNSTEIN and KATIE THOMAS Continued on Page 22 Friction between China and the United States, the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, is threatening to slow global action on climate change. PAGE 10 INTERNATIONAL 4-13 Duel Imperils Climate Efforts Burn victims of the California wildfires face a living nightmare of lasting psy- chological scars and years of surgeries and physical rehabilitation. PAGE 16 NATIONAL 16-22 Agony of Wildfire Survivors Courtney Dauwalter’s success in ultra- marathons has opened a debate about how men’s innate strength advantages apply to endurance sports. PAGE 1 SPORTSSUNDAY Outlasting the Male Runners Lean In, the feminist movement started by Ms. Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, is trying to leave her, and her scandals, behind. PAGE 1 SUNDAY BUSINESS The Sheryl Sandberg Problem Nicholas Kristof PAGE 1 SUNDAY REVIEW BLADENBORO, N.C. — Adam Delane Thompson wanted to vote but was not sure what to do with the absentee ballots he received in the mail this year for him, his fi- ancée and his daughter. So for guidance he called an old friend in Bladenboro, L. McCrae Dowless Jr., a low-level local official with a criminal record who nonetheless had once been feted as “guru of elections” in Bladen County. Mr. Dowless soon had the sealed ballots in his hands and was off to the post office to mail them, Mr. Thompson said. Mr. Thompson, who works in the maintenance department at a DuPont plant, said in an interview he was grateful. But the act was apparently illegal in North Car- olina, where, except in limited cir- cumstances, it is a felony to collect another person’s absentee ballot. In this rural region near the state’s southern border, where candidates are often intimately known as neighbors, friends or en- emies, Mr. Dowless ran a do-it-all vote facilitating business that was part of the community fabric. While cash-driven voter turn- out efforts are a cottage industry in campaign seasons, Mr. Dow- less’s operation appeared to run like a family business that crossed lines laid out in election law. Dozens of interviews and an ex- amination of thousands of pages of documents portray Mr. Dow- less, a former car salesman, as a local political opportunist who was quick to seek ballots, collect them or offer rides to the polls. He employed a network of part-time helpers, some of them his own rel- atives, who, lured by promises of swift cash payments, would fan out across southeastern North Carolina in get-out-the-vote ef- forts for whichever candidate happened to be footing that year’s bill. But that network operated with little oversight and accountability, critics say, and now Mr. Dowless Absentee Vote A Cash Crop For the ‘Guru’ This article is by Richard Fausset, Alan Blinder, Sydney Ember, Timo- thy Williams and Serge F. Kovaleski. Continued on Page 19 KELLY TO RESIGN In a move long seen as inevitable, John F. Kelly will resign as chief of staff by the end of the year. PAGE 18 WASHINGTON — The latest revelations by prosecutors inves- tigating President Trump and his team draw a portrait of a candi- date who personally directed an il- legal scheme to manipulate the 2016 election and whose advisers had more contact with Russia than Mr. Trump has ever acknowl- edged. In the narrative that the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, and New York prosecutors are build- ing, Mr. Trump continued to se- cretly seek to do business in Rus- sia deep into his presidential cam- paign even as Russian agents made more efforts to influence him. At the same time, in this ac- count he ordered hush payments to two women to suppress stories of impropriety in violation of cam- paign finance law. The prosecutors made clear in their memo that they viewed ef- forts by Mr. Trump’s former per- sonal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, to squelch the stories as nothing less than a perversion of a democratic election — and by extension they effectively accused the president of defrauding voters, questioning the legitimacy of his victory. On Saturday, Mr. Trump dis- missed the filings, and his lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, minimized the importance of any potential campaign finance violations. Democrats, however, said they could lead to impeachment. In a sentencing memo filed on Friday in the case of Mr. Cohen, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York depicted Mr. Trump, identified only as “Indi- vidual-1,” as an accomplice in the hush payments. While Mr. Trump was not charged, the reference echoed Watergate, when Presi- dent Richard M. Nixon was named an unindicted co-conspira- tor by a grand jury investigating the cover-up of the break-in at the Democratic headquarters. “While many Americans who desired a particular outcome to the election knocked on doors, Exposure on Election Laws a Challenge to Trump By PETER BAKER and NICHOLAS FANDOS Continued on Page 18 Claims of Collusion and Obstruction and Now Financial Misdeeds Late Edition VOL. CLXVIII . . No. 58,171 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018 Today, sunny to partly cloudy, cold, high 38. Tonight, partly cloudy, cold, low 30. Tomorrow, sunshine and patchy clouds, a chilly day, high 40. Weather map appears on Page 24. $6.00
Transcript of Became Influential Friend Wooed by Saudis, Kushner · 12/9/2018 · For the Guru This article is...
Senior American officials wereworried. Since the early months ofthe Trump administration, JaredKushner, the president’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, hadbeen having private, informalconversations with Prince Mo-hammed bin Salman, the favoriteson of Saudi Arabia’s king.
Given Mr. Kushner’s political in-experience, the private ex-changes could make him suscepti-ble to Saudi manipulation, saidthree former senior American of-ficials. In an effort to tighten prac-tices at the White House, a newchief of staff tried to reimposelongstanding procedures stipulat-ing that National Security Councilstaff members should participatein all calls with foreign leaders.
But even with the restrictions inplace, Mr. Kushner, 37, and PrinceMohammed, 33, kept chatting, ac-cording to three former WhiteHouse officials and two othersbriefed by the Saudi royal court.In fact, they said, the two menwere on a first-name basis, callingeach other Jared and Mohammedin text messages and phone calls.
The exchanges continued evenafter the Oct. 2 killing of JamalKhashoggi, the Saudi journalistwho was ambushed and dismem-bered by Saudi agents, accordingto two former senior American of-ficials and the two people briefedby the Saudis.
As the killing set off a firestormaround the world and Americanintelligence agencies concludedthat it was ordered by Prince Mo-hammed, Mr. Kushner became theprince’s most important defenderinside the White House, people fa-miliar with its internal delibera-tions say.
Mr. Kushner’s support forPrince Mohammed in the momentof crisis is a striking demonstra-tion of a singular bond that hashelped draw President Trump intoan embrace of Saudi Arabia as oneof his most important interna-tional allies.
But the ties between Mr. Kush-ner and Prince Mohammed did
not happen on their own. Theprince and his advisers, eager toenlist American support for hishawkish policies in the region andfor his own consolidation of power,cultivated the relationship withMr. Kushner for more than twoyears, according to documents,emails and text messages re-viewed by The New York Times.
A delegation of Saudis close tothe prince visited the UnitedStates as early as the month Mr.Trump was elected, the docu-ments show, and brought back areport identifying Mr. Kushner asa crucial focal point in thecourtship of the new administra-tion. He brought to the job scantknowledge about the region, atransactional mind-set and an in-tense focus on reaching a dealwith the Palestinians that met Is-rael’s demands, the delegationnoted.
Even then, before the inaugura-tion, the Saudis were trying to po-sition themselves as essential al-lies who could help the Trump ad-ministration fulfill its campaignpledges. In addition to offering tohelp resolve the dispute betweenIsrael and the Palestinians, theSaudis offered hundreds of bil-lions of dollars in deals to buy
Wooed by Saudis, KushnerBecame Influential Friend
Private Chats Between an Ambitious Princeand a Novice Adviser to Trump
This article is by David D. Kirk-patrick, Ben Hubbard, Mark Land-ler and Mark Mazzetti.
Jared Kushner was identifiedin a Saudi report as a crucialconduit to President Trump.
SARAH SILBIGER/THE NEW YORK TIMES
Continued on Page 12
U(D5E71D)x+&!}!/!=!:
C M Y K Nxxx,2018-12-09,A,001,Bs-4C,E3
The van Gogh and the Monetare safely in storage in Switzer-land. The Oscar that once be-longed to Marlon Brando is in afederal warehouse in Texas.Those were easy enough to corral.
But when the $250 million yachtwas finally captured in Bali, theUnited States government could-n’t let it bob in the water unattend-ed, so it had to pay for a crew. The
$35 million Bombardier jet hasbeen grounded, but it needed anengine test costing up to $25,000.
And no one is quite sure what todo with the see-through grand pi-ano now sitting in a supermodel’sMalibu home. It won’t fit throughthe door.
All of the items, and many more,had been bought by a flamboyantMalaysian financier named JhoLow, who prosecutors say helpedsiphon billions of dollars from aMalaysian government invest-ment fund, then went on a colossal
spending spree. It is one of thelargest international kleptocracycases the United States has everpursued.
It is so expansive that justtracking down, retrieving andmaintaining the loot has become acomplex multinational operationin itself.
Court documents and inter-views describe a recovery effortthat involves half a dozen federalagencies, a bevy of contractorsand investigators in countries in-
Rounding Up Loot From Fugitive’s Buying Spree
By ELIZABETH A. HARRISand ALEXANDRA STEVENSON
A see-through grand piano and the $250 million yacht Equanimity are among the purchases pur-sued by the United States from a Malaysian financier accused of laundering embezzled funds.
FROM LEFT: PETER A. TOL; SONNY TUMBELAKA/A.F.P. — GETTY IMAGES
Continued on Page 17
CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
Hundreds were arrested Saturday as “Yellow Vest” protesters descended on Paris. Above, tear gas near the Champs-Élysées. Page 13.Anti-Tax Anger Smolders in France
One is dean of Yale’s medicalschool. Another is the director of acancer center in Texas. A third isthe next president of the mostprominent society of cancer doc-tors.
These leading medical figuresare among dozens of doctors whohave failed in recent years to re-port their financial relationshipswith pharmaceutical and healthcare companies when their stud-ies are published in medical jour-nals, according to a review by TheNew York Times and ProPublicaand data from other recent re-search.
Dr. Howard A. “Skip” Burris III,the president-elect of the Ameri-can Society of Clinical Oncology,for instance, declared that he hadno conflicts of interest in morethan 50 journal articles in recentyears, including in the prestigiousNew England Journal of Medi-cine.
However, drug companies havepaid his employer nearly $114,000for consulting and speaking, andnearly $8 million for his research
during the period for which disclo-sure was required. His omissionsextended to the Journal of ClinicalOncology, which is published bythe group he will lead.
In addition to the widespreadlapses by doctors, the review byThe Times and ProPublica foundthat journals themselves oftengave confusing advice and did notroutinely vet disclosures by re-searchers, although many rela-tionships could have been easilydetected on a federal database.
Medical journals, which are themain conduit for communicatingthe latest scientific discoveries tothe public, often have an inter-dependent relationship with theresearchers who publish in theirpages. Reporting a study in a lead-ing journal can heighten their pro-file — not to mention that of thedrug or other product beingtested. And journals enhancetheir cachet by publishing exclu-sive, breakthrough studies by ac-claimed researchers.
In all, the reporting system still
‘Broken’ System Lets DoctorsOmit Industry Ties in Journals
By CHARLES ORNSTEIN and KATIE THOMAS
Continued on Page 22
Friction between China and the UnitedStates, the two biggest greenhouse gasemitters, is threatening to slow globalaction on climate change. PAGE 10
INTERNATIONAL 4-13
Duel Imperils Climate EffortsBurn victims of the California wildfiresface a living nightmare of lasting psy-chological scars and years of surgeriesand physical rehabilitation. PAGE 16
NATIONAL 16-22
Agony of Wildfire SurvivorsCourtney Dauwalter’s success in ultra-marathons has opened a debate abouthow men’s innate strength advantagesapply to endurance sports. PAGE 1
SPORTSSUNDAY
Outlasting the Male RunnersLean In, the feminist movement startedby Ms. Sandberg, Facebook’s chiefoperating officer, is trying to leave her,and her scandals, behind. PAGE 1
SUNDAY BUSINESS
The Sheryl Sandberg Problem Nicholas Kristof PAGE 1
SUNDAY REVIEW
BLADENBORO, N.C. — AdamDelane Thompson wanted to votebut was not sure what to do withthe absentee ballots he received inthe mail this year for him, his fi-ancée and his daughter. So forguidance he called an old friend inBladenboro, L. McCrae DowlessJr., a low-level local official with acriminal record who nonethelesshad once been feted as “guru ofelections” in Bladen County.
Mr. Dowless soon had thesealed ballots in his hands andwas off to the post office to mailthem, Mr. Thompson said.
Mr. Thompson, who works inthe maintenance department at aDuPont plant, said in an interviewhe was grateful. But the act wasapparently illegal in North Car-olina, where, except in limited cir-cumstances, it is a felony to collectanother person’s absentee ballot.
In this rural region near thestate’s southern border, wherecandidates are often intimatelyknown as neighbors, friends or en-emies, Mr. Dowless ran a do-it-allvote facilitating business that waspart of the community fabric.
While cash-driven voter turn-out efforts are a cottage industryin campaign seasons, Mr. Dow-less’s operation appeared to runlike a family business that crossedlines laid out in election law.
Dozens of interviews and an ex-amination of thousands of pagesof documents portray Mr. Dow-less, a former car salesman, as alocal political opportunist whowas quick to seek ballots, collectthem or offer rides to the polls. Heemployed a network of part-timehelpers, some of them his own rel-atives, who, lured by promises ofswift cash payments, would fanout across southeastern NorthCarolina in get-out-the-vote ef-forts for whichever candidatehappened to be footing that year’sbill.
But that network operated withlittle oversight and accountability,critics say, and now Mr. Dowless
Absentee VoteA Cash CropFor the ‘Guru’
This article is by Richard Fausset,Alan Blinder, Sydney Ember, Timo-thy Williams and Serge F. Kovaleski.
Continued on Page 19
KELLY TO RESIGN In a move longseen as inevitable, John F. Kellywill resign as chief of staff by theend of the year. PAGE 18
WASHINGTON — The latestrevelations by prosecutors inves-tigating President Trump and histeam draw a portrait of a candi-date who personally directed an il-legal scheme to manipulate the2016 election and whose advisershad more contact with Russiathan Mr. Trump has ever acknowl-edged.
In the narrative that the specialcounsel, Robert S. Mueller III, andNew York prosecutors are build-ing, Mr. Trump continued to se-cretly seek to do business in Rus-sia deep into his presidential cam-paign even as Russian agentsmade more efforts to influencehim. At the same time, in this ac-count he ordered hush paymentsto two women to suppress storiesof impropriety in violation of cam-
paign finance law.The prosecutors made clear in
their memo that they viewed ef-forts by Mr. Trump’s former per-sonal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, tosquelch the stories as nothing lessthan a perversion of a democraticelection — and by extension theyeffectively accused the presidentof defrauding voters, questioningthe legitimacy of his victory.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump dis-missed the filings, and his lawyer,Rudolph W. Giuliani, minimizedthe importance of any potentialcampaign finance violations.Democrats, however, said they
could lead to impeachment.In a sentencing memo filed on
Friday in the case of Mr. Cohen,prosecutors from the SouthernDistrict of New York depicted Mr.Trump, identified only as “Indi-vidual-1,” as an accomplice in thehush payments. While Mr. Trumpwas not charged, the referenceechoed Watergate, when Presi-dent Richard M. Nixon wasnamed an unindicted co-conspira-tor by a grand jury investigatingthe cover-up of the break-in at theDemocratic headquarters.
“While many Americans whodesired a particular outcome tothe election knocked on doors,
Exposure on Election Laws a Challenge to TrumpBy PETER BAKER
and NICHOLAS FANDOS
Continued on Page 18
Claims of Collusion andObstruction and NowFinancial Misdeeds
Late Edition
VOL. CLXVIII . . No. 58,171 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2018
Today, sunny to partly cloudy, cold,high 38. Tonight, partly cloudy, cold,low 30. Tomorrow, sunshine andpatchy clouds, a chilly day, high 40.Weather map appears on Page 24.
$6.00
