Suffered a Culture of Misogyny The Angels at Victoria s Secret

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,591

? 2020 The New York Times Company

NEW YORK, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2020

Late Edition

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First Tainted, Then Set Free By the Senate

Trump's Victory Lap From Trial to the Trail

GETTY IMAGES

Wuhan, the center of a coronavirus epidemic in China. Since the first case emerged in December, over 14,380 people have been infected and at least 304 have died.

China Kept World in Dark as Outbreak Rippled

By CHRIS BUCKLEY and STEVEN LEE MYERS

WUHAN, China -- A mysterious illness had stricken seven patients at a hospital, and a doctor tried to warn his medical school classmates. "Quarantined in the emergency department," the doctor, Li Wenliang, wrote in an online chat group on Dec. 30, referring to patients.

"So frightening," one recipient replied, before asking about the epidemic that began in China in 2002 and ultimately killed nearly 800 people. "Is SARS coming again?"

In the middle of the night, officials from the health authority in the central city of Wuhan summoned Dr. Li, demanding to know why he had shared the informa-

Old Habits Delayed

Fight to Halt Virus

tion. Three days later, the police compelled him to sign a statement that his warning constituted "illegal behavior."

The illness was not SARS, but something similar: a coronavirus that is now on a relentless march outward from Wuhan, throughout the country and across the globe, killing at least 304 people in China and infecting more than 14,380 worldwide.

The government's initial handling of the epidemic allowed the virus to gain a tenacious hold. At critical moments, officials chose

to put secrecy and order ahead of openly confronting the growing crisis to avoid public alarm and political embarrassment.

A reconstruction of the crucial seven weeks between the appearance of the first symptoms in early December and the government's decision to lock down the city, based on two dozen interviews with Wuhan residents, doctors and officials, on government statements and on Chinese media reports, points to decisions that delayed a concerted public health offensive.

In those weeks, the authorities silenced doctors and others for raising red flags. They played down the dangers to the public, leaving the city's 11 million residents unaware they should pro-

Continued on Page 12

Once Hawking Big-Ticket Ideas, Democrats Refocus on the Ticket

By JONATHAN MARTIN and ALEXANDER BURNS

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- After a long campaign of ideological clashes, policy debates and talk of a grand reckoning on the direction of the Democratic Party, the presidential primaries starting on Monday will be shaped by a less lofty but increasingly urgent matter: determining the best candidate to defeat an incumbent who has already proved to be a political survivor.

With Republicans ready to acquit President Trump of two impeachment charges next week, the nation's political table has been set for 2020: Congress will not remove him from office, de-

spite the wishes of many liberals, leaving the fate of Mr. Trump to the November general election and the candidate nominated by Democrats in the coming months.

From the liberal left to the moderate middle, the major presidential contenders are now honing or recalibrating their final appeals before Iowa's caucuses to make the case that they represent the party's best chance to overcome Mr. Trump's well-funded re-election operation and win back the White House this fall.

If impeachment rarely comes up on the Democratic campaign

Continued on Page 19

By PETER BAKER

WASHINGTON -- Ralph Waldo Emerson seemed to foresee the lesson of the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump. "When you strike at a

king," Emerson NEWS famously said, "you ANALYSIS must kill him."

Mr. Trump's foes struck at him but did not take him down.

With the end of the impeachment trial now in sight and acquittal assured, a triumphant Mr. Trump emerges from the biggest test of his presidency emboldened, ready to claim exoneration and take his case of grievance, persecution and resentment to the campaign trail.

The president's Democratic adversaries rolled out the biggest constitutional weapon they had and failed to defeat him, or even to force a full trial with witnesses testifying to the allegations against him. Now Mr. Trump, who has said that the Constitution "allows me to do whatever I want" and pushed so many boundaries that curtailed past presidents, has little reason to fear the legislative branch nor any inclination to reach out in conciliation.

"I don't think in any way Trump is willing to move on," said Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman who teaches at Princeton University. "I think he will just have been given a green light and he will claim not just acquittal but vindication and he can do those things and they can't impeach him again. I think this is going to empower him to be much bolder. I would expect to see him even more let loose."

Impeachment will always be a stain on Mr. Trump's historical record, a reality that has stung him in private, according to some close to him. But he will be the first president in American history to face voters after an impeachment trial and that will give him the chance to argue for the next nine months that his enemies have spent his entire presidency plotting against him to undo the 2016 election.

Continued on Page 21

Divorce Complete, Britain Faces Next Test: What if Brexit Works?

The `Angels' at Victoria's Secret Suffered a Culture of Misogyny

By MARK LANDLER

LONDON -- Britain's departure from the European Union on Friday drew a mournful reaction from many people who have long viewed Brexit as consigning their country, once the vanguard of Europe, to a future of economic mediocrity and geopolitical irrelevance.

But there are many others who view Brexit as a day of liberation, when Britain, unshackled from the bureaucracy of Brussels, will stride into a future of economic innovation and vigorous, cleareyed politics -- a "moment of real national renewal," in the words of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

That positive case for Brexit will now be tested, and it is prompting even those who ardently opposed it to wrestle with a question they had mostly dismissed during three and a half years of debate: What if it works?

"Disruptive change can be beneficial for a country," said Tony Travers, a professor of politics at the London School of Economics. "That is, in a sense, what Brexit has accomplished."

Britain is no stranger to disruptive change, of course. After the

end of World War II, it adjusted to the end of empire by embedding itself in an Atlantic alliance and building a European-style welfare state. In the early 1980s, Margaret Thatcher led a free-market revolution that dismantled parts of that state and nurtured a British nationalism that fully flowered in the wrenching debate over Brexit.

Now, Britain is remaking itself yet again, cast off from Europe and facing an uncertain future in which the shape of its society and economy, and its place in the world, are still very much up for grabs.

By giving the Brexiteers a chance to put their ideas into action, Professor Travers said, British politics could be reinvigorated. With the country shorn of its links to the European Union, Mr. Johnson and his aides will not be able to blame Britain's shortcomings on anyone else. British voters will get to hold their leaders accountable.

The economic case for Brexit is harder to make. Most experts said Britain's decision to leave the bloc was likely to deprive the country

Continued on Page 8

COLIN E. BRALEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

TODD OLSZEWSKI/GETTY IMAGES

CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES

GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGES

Black Quarterbacks' Precarious Rise

Players like Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson (winner of the M.V.P. Award), Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson have redefined the position, but the gains seem fragile. SportsSunday.

This article is by Jessica SilverGreenberg, Katherine Rosman, Sapna Maheshwari and James B. Stewart.

Victoria's Secret defined femininity for millions of women. Its catalog and fashion shows were popular touchstones. For models, landing a spot as an "Angel" all but guaranteed international stardom.

But inside the company, two powerful men presided over an entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment, according to interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees, contractors and models, as well as court filings and other documents.

Ed Razek, for decades one of the top executives at L Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret, was the subject of repeated complaints about inappropriate conduct. He tried to kiss models. He asked them to sit on his lap. He touched one model's crotch ahead of the 2018 Victoria's Secret fashion show.

Executives said they had alerted Leslie Wexner, the billionaire founder and chief executive of L Brands, about his deputy's pat-

ASTRID STAWIARZ/GETTY IMAGES

Leslie Wexner, left, and Ed Razek led the parent company.

tern of behavior. Some women who complained faced retaliation. One model, Andi Muise, said Victoria's Secret had stopped hiring her for its fashion shows after she rebuffed Mr. Razek's advances.

A number of the brand's models agreed to pose nude, often without pay, for a Victoria's Secret photographer who later used some pictures in a coffee-table book -- an arrangement that made L Brands executives uncomfortable about

Continued on Page 23

NATIONAL 16-25

Municipalities Ponder Refugees

The president's move to give local officials veto power over refugee resettlement has split communities. PAGE 22

2016 Divide Resurfaces in Iowa

The specter of the divisive Democratic battles of the last presidential election cast a shadow over this year's. PAGE 18

THE MAGAZINE

The Disappeared

In an increasingly hostile China, a

Uighur couple tried to live as model

citizens. Then one day they stopped

answering messages.

PAGE 28

INTERNATIONAL 4-13

Still Royal, a Bit Less English

Prince Harry and Meghan's new home, Victoria, British Columbia, has also distanced itself from England. PAGE 9

Venezuela's Capital Is Booming

American sanctions forced economic

changes that have improved life in

Caracas, but only for some.

PAGE 6

SUNDAY BUSINESS

How Payless Shoes Was Buried

Finance-driven capitalism was sup-

posed to make the economy more dy-

namic. The story behind the failure of

the shoe chain shows why it hasn't

happened.

PAGE 1

No Need for a Zamboni

With stackable plastic panels, compa-

nies like Glice are turning ice skating

into a year-round activity-- no special

blades, electricity or water (other than

for cleaning) required.

PAGE 5

SUNDAY REVIEW

Gail Collins

PAGE 4

SPORTSSUNDAY

The Price of Perfection

The 1972 Miami Dolphins were undefeated, but the players who made that season possible have struggled with illness and trauma as they age. PAGE 1

Gone, Yet Everywhere

As the Lakers returned to the court for

the first time since the death of Kobe

Bryant and eight others last Sunday,

the loss reverberated.

PAGE 2

Kenin Wins Australian Open

The American Sofia Kenin, 21, hit the

"five best shots of my life" to become

the youngest women's singles champion

at the event in 12 years.

PAGE 11

ARTS & LEISURE

Caught in the Beauty Trap

Male stars face a double standard, too,

and ever since Brad Pitt bared his chest

in "Thelma & Louise," his work has

been undervalued.

PAGE 1

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