VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 58,036 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JULY 27, 2018

C M Y K Nxxx,2018-07-27,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

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A deadly collapse raises questionsabout why no one sounded alarms, andabout the quality of the work. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-12

Warning Signs for Laos Dam

As baseball skews whiter, a pitcher wascheered after racist tweets were ex-posed, Michael Powell writes. PAGE B8

Racist Tweets and Ovations

David Brooks PAGE A26

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

In his first inaugural address in2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio invokedthe names of legendary reform-ers, from Fiorello La Guardia toFranklin and Eleanor Roosevelt,and said that in their honor andspirit, he would “commit to a newprogressive direction in NewYork.”

The anticipation for many of Mr.de Blasio’s supporters was partic-ularly keen because it built on thesense that his predecessor, Mi-chael R. Bloomberg, had presidedover the city’s growth in a waythat benefited the well-off and leftthe poor behind.

But midway through his fifthyear in office, Mr. de Blasio hasdisappointed some of his most loy-al backers, who point to a range of

issues, from criminal justice re-form and homelessness to the pro-tection of immigrants, where themayor has fallen short of hispromises.

On Monday, Mr. de Blasio foundhimself having to explain why, af-ter enacting a policy to end soli-tary confinement in city jails, thecity Department of Correction in-creased the number of inmatesshipped upstate, where they wereput in solitary. He defended the ac-tions as rare and necessary forsafety.

Other promises have also runup against reality.

The city has not succeeded inopening new neighborhood-based

Progressives Who Once HailedDe Blasio Bemoan Slow Gains

By J. DAVID GOODMAN and WILLIAM NEUMAN

Continued on Page A22

For a quarter century, theyhave been the stuff of myth amongscholars: three missing chaptersfrom “The Autobiography of Mal-colm X,” reputedly cut from themanuscript after his assassina-tion in 1965 because they weredeemed too incendiary.

Their possible existence was

first teased at in 1992, when a pri-vate collector at an estate salescooped up material belonging toAlex Haley, Malcolm X’s collabo-rator on the book. Years later, onebiographer was allowed a 15-minute look at some of the papers,but otherwise they have beenmostly locked away, surroundedby a haze of cultivated mystery.

But now the unpublished ma-terial, or at least some of it, has

suddenly emerged and was of-fered for sale Thursday at a Man-hattan auction house, along withanother artifact that scholarshave never seen: the manuscript

for the published book, whichbears dense traces of Mr. Haley’sand Malcolm X’s complex negotia-tions over the finished text.

At the auction, an unpublishedchapter called “The Negro” waspicked up by the New York PublicLibrary’s Schomburg Center forResearch in Black Culture for$7,000. There were no offers onthe manuscript for the published

Malcolm X Writings Are Sold, Including Rumored Lost PortionsBy JENNIFER SCHUESSLER

Malcolm X’s handwriting, in red, on a manuscript that was sold to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on Thursday.JEENAH MOON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Three Missing ChaptersFrom Autobiography

Continued on Page A20

LASHING OUT AT E.U. PresidentTrump has a point about a $5.1billion antitrust fine for Google,James B. Stewart writes. PAGE B1

THE COHEN INQUIRY U.S attor-neys in Manhattan want to inter-view the chief financial officer ofthe Trump Organization. PAGE A17

WASHINGTON — For years,President Trump has used Twitteras his go-to public relations weap-on, mounting a barrage of attackson celebrities and then political ri-vals even after advisers warnedhe could be creating legal prob-lems for himself.

Those concerns now turn out tobe well founded. The special coun-sel, Robert S. Mueller III, is scruti-nizing tweets and negative state-ments from the president aboutAttorney General Jeff Sessionsand the former F.B.I. directorJames B. Comey, according tothree people briefed on the matter.

Several of the remarks came asMr. Trump was also privatelypressuring the men — both keywitnesses in the inquiry — aboutthe investigation, and Mr. Mueller

is examining whether the actionsadd up to attempts to obstruct theinvestigation by both intimidatingwitnesses and pressuring seniorlaw enforcement officials to tampdown the inquiry.

Mr. Mueller wants to questionthe president about the tweets.His interest in them is the latestaddition to a range of presidentialactions he is investigating as apossible obstruction case: privateinteractions with Mr. Comey, Mr.Sessions and other senior admin-istration officials about the Russiainquiry; misleading White Housestatements; public attacks; andpossible pardon offers to potentialwitnesses.

None of what Mr. Mueller hashomed in on constitutes obstruc-tion, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said.They argued that most of the pres-idential acts under scrutiny, in-cluding the firing of Mr. Comey,fall under Mr. Trump’s authorityas the head of the executivebranch and insisted that he should

MUELLER LOOKINGFOR OBSTRUCTIONIN TRUMP TWEETS

ANALYZING PUBLIC ACTS

Investigators Focusing onCriticism of Comey

and Sessions

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTand MAGGIE HABERMAN

Continued on Page A16

WASHINGTON — When Presi-dent Trump called a truce with theEuropean Union over trade, thegeneral outlines of his plansounded familiar. It echoed of ear-lier negotiations — the onesstarted under President BarackObama and shelved by Mr. Trumplast year.

Mr. Trump, in many ways, istaking credit for solving a crisis ofhis own making. After taking of-fice, he criticized the deals of hispredecessor and cut off trade talkswith the European Union. Heraised the stakes by imposing tar-iffs on steel and aluminum,prompting retaliatory measuresby the European Union. Then hestoked the tensions by calling Eu-rope a “foe.”

Now, Mr. Trump, in hashing outan agreement on Wednesday withthe president of the EuropeanCommission, Jean-ClaudeJuncker, is declaring victory. Hesaid the two sides would work tolower tariffs and other trade barri-ers. They would reduce bureau-cratic roadblocks to industrialgoods flowing across the Atlantic,while ending conflicting regula-tions for drugs and chemicals.

The United States was pursuingmuch the same under Mr. Obamathrough a deal called the Transat-lantic Trade and Investment Part-nership. And the collapse of thedeal still smarts for large seg-ments of American and Europeanbusiness who had fervently hopedto create a trans-Atlantic versionof the North American Free TradeAgreement. The European Unionhas repeatedly told the Trump ad-ministration that it would behappy to revive trade talks.

“Most of the deal is stuff wewere already on the verge ofagreeing on in the T.T.I.P. negotia-tions, before that deal got deep-sixed after Trump’s election,” saidRufus Yerxa, the president of theNational Foreign Trade Council,which represents exporters. “Butat least the president is talkingabout more open trade instead ofhow great tariffs are.”

Both European and Americanofficials resisted comparisons toprevious negotiations. But it wasnot immediately clear what wouldset the new talks apart from thosecarried out by the Obama admin-istration, beyond their more lim-ited scope. Unlike with the previ-ous round of negotiations, Euro-

Truce on TradeFollows RouteObama Paved

Trump Claims Victoryin Crisis He Started

By ANA SWANSONand JACK EWING

Continued on Page A10

GREGG VIGLIOTTI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Carolina Ramos, right, was reunited Thursday with her son, 17, and daughter, 10, in New York, but hundreds remain apart. Page A18. Deadline Day for Migrant Reunions

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Sevenyears ago, Islam Dabbas, an engi-neering student, was thrown inprison for protesting against theSyrian government. His mothervisited him twice, paying bribes todo so, but then the permissionsstopped. She heard nothing of herson’s fate ever since.

Until last week, when a relativefiled for a government registra-tion document and was shocked tosee that it gave Mr. Dabbas’s dateof death: Jan. 15, 2013.

“The news of his death devas-tated us, and we wish we hadknown then,” said his sister, Heba,who lives in exile in Egypt. “Sincehis arrest, we have lived days ofhope and days of despair as uncer-tainty consumed our minds.”

In recent weeks, hundreds ofSyrian families have suddenlylearned that their missing rela-

tives have been registered as deadby the government. Governmentofficials have not commented pub-licly on the new information, saidhow many people it applied to orexplained how they died.

But the documents appear to bethe first public acknowledgmentby the government that hundredsif not thousands of prisoners diedin state custody. Analysts believethe quiet changes in status showthat President Bashar al-Assad isconfident enough of winning thewar and remaining in power thathe can make that admission with-out fear of repercussion, prodding

Scores of Syrian Prisoners DiedIn Custody, Families Are Told

By BEN HUBBARDand KARAM SHOUMALI

Acknowledgment MayBe Signal of Assad’sConfidence in Grip

Continued on Page A9

LAHORE, Pakistan — ImranKhan, a charismatic cricket starwho has fiercely criticized Ameri-can counterterrorism policy in aregion plagued by extremism, ap-peared poised on Thursday to be-come Pakistan’s next prime min-ister.

After preliminary resultsshowed his party decisively aheadin an election that critics say wasdeeply marred, Mr. Khan ad-dressed the nation on television,outlining what he would do asprime minister.

He said he would fight corrup-tion at the highest levels, improverelations with China, seek a “mu-tually beneficial” relationshipwith the United States and createa just welfare state along the linesof what the Prophet Muhammaddid centuries ago.

“We’re going to run Pakistan in

a way it’s never been run before,”he said.

He also said he would never livein the prime minister’s mansion.In a country of so many poor peo-ple, he said, “I would be embar-rassed” to stay in such a house.

For years, Mr. Khan had triedbut failed to take the reins of thisnuclear-armed Islamic republic,which has struggled with poverty,economic stagnation and instabil-ity and which is increasingly tornbetween its two biggest allies:China and the United States. Butthis time around, he found a pow-erful ally in Pakistan’s military.

Nuclear-Armed Islamic RepublicGets Unpredictable New Leader

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN Khan’s Journey FromCricket Star to Cuspof Power in Pakistan

Continued on Page A8

A year after $195 million in aid to Egyptwas blocked over rights concerns, theState Department released it. PAGE A9

Aid to Egypt Is Restored

Jim Jordan, embroiled in a scandal fromhis days as a wrestling coach, wants tosucceed Paul D. Ryan. PAGE A19

NATIONAL A13-20

Firebrand Seeks Speaker’s Job

Women in heels present awards andkisses to Tour de France winners, aritual many see as outdated. PAGE B8

SPORTSFRIDAY B8-11

Kissing: It’s Part of the Job

The social media company’s stocktumbled 19 percent a day after a sec-ond-quarter earnings report showedslowing growth in new users and adsales. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-7

Facebook Shock for Investors

Ken Kurson, a friend of Jared Kushner’sand a past adviser to Donald J. Trump,withdrew from consideration for aprestigious position amid harassmentallegations. PAGE B1

Undoing of a Kushner Ally

Tom Cruise runs, dives, flies and falls ashe pushes to greater action extremes in“Mission: Impossible — Fallout,”Manohla Dargis writes. PAGE C1

WEEKEND ARTS C1-20

A Mountain of SpectaclesThe government has a draft proposal todrop Obama-era rules meant to curbabuses by for-profit colleges. PAGE A19

Plan Buoys For-Profit Schools

The City Council is considering a cap onUber and other for-hire vehicles toaddress growing complaints over con-gestion on city streets. PAGE A24

NEW YORK A21-24

Proposal to Cap Uber Vehicles

Late EditionToday, partly sunny, afternoonstorms, humid, high 87. Tonight,strong thunderstorms, low 72. To-morrow, clouds and sunshine, high86. Weather map is on Page B12.

$3.00