PDF As Shake-Up Continues For 3rd Security Adviser Trump Chooses Hawk

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,910 +

? 2018 The New York Times Company

NEW YORK, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018

Late Edition

Today, a mix of clouds and sunshine, chilly, high 45. Tonight, clear, cold, low 31. Tomorrow, sunshine and a few clouds, another chilly day, high 46. Weather map is on Page B14.

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Trump Chooses Hawk For 3rd Security Adviser As Shake-Up Continues

McMaster to Resign -- Choice of Bolton Signals Hard-Line Shift in Policy

PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE -- GETTY IMAGES

Protests in Paris

Workers and students in Paris joined tens of thousands around France to protest President Emmanuel Macron's policies. Page A13.

U.S. Imposes Tariffs on $60 Billion Worth of Chinese Goods

Strongest Trade Action Yet vs. `Economic Enemy' Reply From Beijing Could Rattle Global Economy

By MARK LANDLER and JIM TANKERSLEY

President Trump put China squarely in his cross hairs on Thursday, imposing tariffs on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese goods to combat the rising threat from a nation that the White House has called "an economic enemy."

The measures are Mr. Trump's strongest trade action yet against a country that he says is responsible for thousands of lost American jobs and billions in lost revenues. Financial markets plunged on fears of a potential trade war between the world's two largest economies, with the Standard &

Poor's 500-stock index dropping by 2.5 percent.

The White House said it was taking action in retaliation for China's use of pressure and intimidation to obtain American technology and trade secrets. The measures include a significant change in Mr. Trump's looming steel and aluminum tariffs that would aim them primarily at China.

After Mr. Trump announced the moves, China's Ministry of Commerce said that it was proposing tariffs of its own on 128 products

Continued on Page A11

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

BEIJING -- For the better part of two decades, China's leaders have made the most of the global trade rules set by the United States and others, seizing on opportunities to bolster their nation's economic rise while finessing American complaints that they were not always playing fair.

Now, for the first time, China faces an American president who is embracing protectionist measures, and that has presented its leader, Xi Jinping, with an extraordinary challenge: Even as he has elevated his status as the country's "helmsman," with a new

mandate to rule indefinitely, the United States is moving to treat China more seriously as a strategic rival and to recast an economic relationship that has long bound the two countries.

The punitive actions unveiled by President Trump on Thursday -- tariffs on $60 billion worth of Chinese goods, as well as new restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States -- put Mr. Xi on the spot, forcing him to consider retaliatory action.

On Friday, China said it was

Continued on Page A11

By MARK LANDLER and MAGGIE HABERMAN

WASHINGTON -- President Trump named John R. Bolton, a hard-line former American ambassador to the United Nations, as his third national security adviser on Thursday, continuing a shakeup of his administration that creates one of the most hawkish national security teams of any White House in recent history.

Mr. Bolton will replace Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, the battle-tested Army officer who was tapped as Mr. Trump's second national security adviser last year to stabilize a turbulent foreign policy operation. But General McMaster never developed a comfortable relationship with the president.

The move, which was sudden but not unexpected, signals a more hawkish shift in American foreign policy at a time when Mr. Trump faces mounting challenges from Iran and North Korea.

The president replaced Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson last week with the C.I.A. director, Mike Pompeo, a former Army officer and Tea Party congressman who has spoken about regime change in Pyongyang and about ripping up the Iran nuclear deal.

Mr. Bolton, an outspoken hawk who served in the George W. Bush administration, has called for military action against Iran and North Korea. In an interview on Thursday on Fox News, soon after his appointment was announced in a presidential tweet, he declined to say whether Mr. Trump should go through with a planned meeting with North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un.

General McMaster will retire from the military, ending a career that included senior commands in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had discussed his departure with Mr. Trump for several weeks, White House officials said, but decided

to speed up his departure because questions about his status were casting a shadow over his exchanges with foreign officials.

Mr. Trump, the officials said, also wanted to fill out his national security team before his meeting with Mr. Kim, which is scheduled to occur by the end of May.

Mr. Bolton, who will take office April 9, has met regularly with Mr. Trump to discuss foreign policy. Though he has been on a list of candidates for the post since the beginning of the administration, officials said Mr. Trump has hesitated, in part because of his negative reaction to Mr. Bolton's wal-

ALEX BRANDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS

DIFFERENT VIEWS John R. Bolton is not always in step with the president. Page A18.

rus-like mustache. On Thursday, however, Mr.

Trump summoned him to the Oval Office to discuss the job. Hours later, Mr. Bolton was on Fox, where he has been an analyst, for a prescheduled interview, in which he confessed surprise at how quickly Mr. Trump announced the appointment. "This hasn't sunk in," he said.

The news of the appointment Continued on Page A19

De Blasio Knew

About Bribery,

Donor Testifies

By BRIAN M. ROSENTHAL

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- A Long Island restaurateur testified under oath on Thursday that he steered tens of thousands of dollars to Mayor Bill de Blasio's political campaigns in return for favorable treatment by the city.

It was the first time that the restaurateur, Harendra Singh, has publicly detailed his efforts to use campaign contributions -- as much as $80,000 raised from others, and much more personally by using "straw donors" to skirt contribution limits -- to gain better terms during lease negotiations for one of his restaurants.

Mr. Singh also suggested for the first time that Mr. de Blasio not only knew of the illegal arrangement, but that the mayor encouraged it and actively helped the restaurateur.

"He made many phone calls," Mr. Singh said of the mayor. "His office was working very hard, from his deputy mayor to his assistant to his intergovernmental affairs person. Everyone was working."

Mr. Singh was testifying as a cooperating witness in the corruption trial of Edward Mangano, the former Nassau County executive, and John Venditto, the former Town of Oyster Bay supervisor, both of whom Mr. Singh has pleaded guilty to bribing.

Continued on Page A24

ERIN SCHAFF FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

David Hogg, right, a Parkland, Fla., student activist, visited a school in Washington on Thursday.

They've Tuned In, on Guns. Will They Turn Out?

By ALEXANDER BURNS and JULIE TURKEWITZ

On Saturday, Rebecca Schneid plans to pull on her sneakers, sling a camera over her shoulder and march down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington with thousands of other students demanding an end to the gun violence that has cut through so many Ameri-

can communities. But to Ms. Schneid, a survivor

of the school shooting that killed 17 people last month in Parkland, Fla., the march is just the beginning -- a moment of political awakening, she hopes, that will put the nation on notice that young people plan to be a greater, more organized force than teenagers and college students in the

past. "It's going to look like millions

and millions of people," said Ms. Schneid, 16, who is the editor of the newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. "And it's going to look scary to politicians."

With more than 800 student-led demonstrations planned in the

Continued on Page A22

Trump's Lead Lawyer Resigns After President Ignores Counsel

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and MAGGIE HABERMAN

WASHINGTON -- John Dowd resigned on Thursday as President Trump's lead lawyer for the special counsel investigation as Mr. Trump signaled that he was prepared to ignore his advice and wanted a sit-down with investigators.

After days of uncertainty among the president's lawyers about their status, Mr. Dowd ultimately broke with Mr. Trump over whether he should agree to be questioned in the inquiry, a person briefed on the matter said.

Mr. Dowd viewed an interview as too risky, but the president reiterated shortly after Mr. Dowd resigned that he wanted to clear his name. "I would like to," the president told reporters at the White House when asked about meeting with investigators for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III. "I would like to."

Mr. Dowd's departure cleared the way for the president to embrace a more aggressive posture toward the investigation and marked another reshuffling of personnel for Mr. Trump. In the most politically consequential investigation in decades, the president has refashioned his legal team several times, a revolving door that mirrors the high turnover among senior White House and campaign aides.

"I love the president," Mr. Dowd said in a telephone interview. "I

BRENDAN McDERMID/REUTERS

John Dowd quit Thursday.

wish him the best of luck. I think he has a really good case."

Now, as he weighs whether to be interviewed by Mr. Mueller, the president will be advised by a cadre of lawyers better known for their television and advocacy work than their courtroom triumphs.

This week, the president hired Joseph E. diGenova, a longtime Washington lawyer who has pushed the theory on Fox News that the F.B.I. and Justice Department framed Mr. Trump.

The former United States attorney in Washington, Mr. diGenova has been on television in recent years more than he has been in court. He has appeared in only three federal criminal cases in the past two decades, according to the national database of federal court records, and has not filed an appearance in a federal criminal

Continued on Page A19

INTERNATIONAL A4-13

Soviet Throwback for Youths

The Youth Army, a Kremlin creation designed to imprint nationalist fervor, has its critics. Kubinka Journal. PAGE A6

Ex-President Is Jailed in Seoul

South Korea arrested former President Lee Myung-bak on charges of bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion. PAGE A4

NATIONAL A16-22

Austin After the Blasts

The bombs planted by a white man have raised lingering questions about race, geography and class in a city that felt it had answered them. PAGE A17

Congress Averts Shutdown

The Senate sealed a $1.3 trillion deal to

keep the federal government open

through September.

PAGE A20

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

Divergent Consequences

Martin Shkreli went to prison for fraud,

and Elizabeth Holmes hasn't. James B.

Stewart asks if that's fair.

PAGE B1

NEW YORK A23-25

A Wing and a Pay Raise

Workers at Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark airports may see a $19 minimum wage by the fall of 2023. PAGE A23

City's Population Hits a Record

More than 8.6 million people lived in New York City last year, according to a city analysis of census data. PAGE A23

SPORTSFRIDAY B7-11

Loyola-Chicago Stays Alive

The No. 11 Ramblers and 98-year-old team chaplain Sister Jean edged No. 7 Nevada to continue their run in the N.C.A.A. men's tournament. No. 3 Michigan topped No. 7 Texas A&M. PAGE B10

U.S. Star, at Home in Mexico

Landon Donovan, the best U.S. soccer player of his time, is using a move to a Mexican club as a chance to get to know a country that once reviled him. The openness has been mutual. PAGE B7

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

David Brooks

PAGE A27

WEEKEND ARTS C1-28

`Frozen' Storms Broadway

The stage musical adaptation of the animated blockbuster is beautiful, Jesse Green writes, and a bit confusing, too. Above, Caissie Levy as Elsa. PAGE C1

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