7 republicans join in vote to convictfeb 14, 2021  · c m y k x,2021-02-14,a,001,bsx nx -4c,e2...

U(D547FD)v+"!/!_!?!#

C M Y K Nxxx,2021-02-14,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

Travel may soon require digital docu-mentation showing that passengershave been vaccinated or tested forCovid. Your questions answered. PAGE 3

AT HOME

Pack Your ‘Vaccine Passport’Slate Star Codex, a blog for a communi-ty called the Rationalists, was a windowinto the psyche of tech leaders buildingthe future. Then it vanished. PAGE 1

SUNDAY BUSINESS

Silicon Valley’s Disrupters Keith Olbermann PAGE 4

SUNDAY REVIEW

For Julie Zuckerman, an ele-mentary school principal in Man-hattan, last summer felt like onenever-ending day filled with fearand confusion about New YorkCity’s plan to resume in-personteaching. But in the months sinceclassrooms opened in September,something has shifted.

Teachers at the school, PublicSchool 513 in Washington Heights,appear more at ease, and somesay they would like to be in theirclassrooms even when the build-ing closes because of coronaviruscases. Parents, too, seem moreconfident: About half of the stu-dents are in the building mostdays, up from less than a third inSeptember.

Ms. Zuckerman expects thateven more children will returnthis spring.

“People have made their peace;they’re not in crisis in the sameway,” she said. “I feel there’s ahuge night-and-day difference be-tween what was going on lastspring and what’s happened thisyear.”

New York’s push to become thefirst big school district in the coun-try to reopen classrooms last fallwas a high-stakes and risky ex-periment. It has had its share ofmiscommunication, logisticalstumbles and disruptions — espe-cially when classrooms and

school buildings are frequentlyclosed because of virus cases.

But in interviews, parents,teachers, principals and unionleaders also provided reasons foroptimism at the midpoint of theacademic year. In-school trans-mission of the coronavirus beenvery low, and there has also beenbroad agreement that childrenhave benefited from being inclassrooms.

“Having the kids here is somuch better for them, for every-one,” Ms. Zuckerman said.

The strength of the plan will betested again in the coming weeks,as about 62,000 middle school stu-dents are set to return to class-rooms for the first time since No-vember. New York also offers theclearest preview in the UnitedStates of what other big city dis-tricts — most prominently Chi-

Despite Bumps, New York’s MoveTo Open Schools Pays Dividends

By ELIZA SHAPIRO

Continued on Page 10

Some help to keep distant at aschool in Washington Heights.

JAMES ESTRIN/THE NEW YORK TIMES

When the coronavirus pan-demic struck last March, KathrynStewart was working at a gas sta-tion in rural Michigan and living inher mother’s trailer with eight rel-atives, three dogs and a budgetwith no room for error. Hermother, who is disabled, soonurged her to quit to avoid bringinghome the disease. Ms. Stewart re-luctantly agreed, wondering howshe would support herself and her10-year-old son.

An expanded safety net caughther, after being rushed into placeby Congress last spring with rarebipartisan support.

To her surprise, Ms. Stewart notonly received unemployment in-surance, but a weekly bonus of$600 more than tripled her in-come. A stimulus check offeredadditional help, as did a modestfood stamp increase. Despiteopaque rules and confounding de-lays, the outpouring of govern-ment aid lifted her above the pov-erty line.

Six months later, after tempo-rary aid expired and deadlock inWashington returned, Ms. Stew-art’s benefits fell to a trickle, andshe was all but homeless after afamily fight forced her from thetrailer to a friend’s spare room.

She skipped meals to feed her son,sold possessions to conjure cashand suffered anxiety attacks so se-vere they sometimes kept her inbed.

Just as Ms. Stewart finallyfound a job, celebration turned toshock: The state demanded thatshe repay the jobless aid she hadreceived, claiming she had beenineligible. That left her with aneye-popping debt of more than$12,000.

“I spent the whole day just try-ing to breathe,” Ms. Stewart saidthe day the notice arrived. “I’m re-

ally confused about the wholething. I’m trying not to panic.”

In the robust aid she receivedand its painful disappearance, Ms.Stewart’s experience capturesboth sides of the gyrating federalefforts to fortify the safety net in acrisis of historic proportions.

As the virus ravaged jobs lastspring, rapid federal action pro-tected millions of people fromhardship and showed that govern-ment can be a powerful force in re-ducing poverty.

Yet the expiration of aid a fewmonths later also underscored

how vulnerable the needy are topartisan standoffs in an age of po-larized government. Gaps in aidleft families short on food andrent, uncertainty made it impossi-ble to plan and confusion joinedfear and worry.

In his first weeks in office, Pres-ident Biden appears to have bothlessons in mind. A benefit exten-sion passed in December expiresnext month, and he is urging Con-gress to spend big and move fastto keep 11 million workers fromlosing unemployment aid. Demo-

Erratic FlowOf Aid Helps

And HindersBy JASON DePARLE

Continued on Page A8

Kathryn Stewart of Michigan had a budget with no room for error; then she got her stimulus check.BRITTANY GREESON FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

The pure savagery of the mobthat rampaged through the Capi-tol that day was breathtaking, ascataloged by the injuries inflictedon those who tried to guard the na-tion’s elected lawmakers. One po-lice officer lost an eye, another thetip of his finger. Still another wasshocked so many times with aTaser gun that he had a heart at-tack.

They suffered cracked ribs, twosmashed spinal disks and multi-ple concussions. At least 81 mem-bers of the Capitol force and 65members of the Metropolitan Po-lice Department were injured, noteven counting the officer killed

that day or two others who laterdied by suicide. Some officers de-scribed it as worse than whenthey served in combat in Iraq.

And through it all, PresidentDonald J. Trump served as the in-spiration if not the catalyst. Evenas he addressed a rally before-hand, supporters could be heardon the video responding to him byshouting, “Take the Capitol!”Then they talked about calling thepresident at the White House toreport on what they had done. Andat least one of his supporters readover a bullhorn one of the presi-dent’s angry tweets to charge upthe crowd.

Though Mr. Trump escapedconviction, the Senate impeach-ment trial has served at least onepurpose: It stitched together the

most comprehensive and chillingaccount to date of last month’sdeadly assault on the Capitol, en-suring that the former president’sname will be inextricably associ-ated with a violent attempt to sub-vert the peaceful transfer ofpower, the first in American his-tory. In the new details it revealedand the methodical, minute-by-minute assembly of known facts itpresented, the trial proved revela-tory for many Americans — and

even for some who lived throughthe events.

There were close calls and nearmisses as the invaders, somewearing military-style tacticalgear, some carrying baseball batsor flagpoles or shields seized fromthe police, came just several doz-en steps from the vice presidentand members of Congress. Therewas almost medieval-level physi-cal combat captured in body-camfootage and the panicked voices ofofficers on police dispatch tapes

Clearest Record of the Attack, the Close Calls and the Near MissesBy PETER BAKER

and SABRINA TAVERNISE

Continued on Page 18

Trial Provides Picturesof Brutality for the

History Books

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,969 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2021

SENATE ACQUITS TRUMP IN CAPITOL RIOT;7 REPUBLICANS JOIN IN VOTE TO CONVICT

WASHINGTON — A Senatestill bruised from the most violentattack on the Capitol in two cen-turies acquitted former PresidentDonald J. Trump on Saturday inhis second impeachment trial, asall but a few Republicans lockedarms to reject a case that he incit-ed the Jan. 6 rampage in a last-ditch attempt to cling to power.

Under the watch of NationalGuard troops still patrolling thebuilding, a bipartisan majoritycast votes to find Mr. Trump guiltyof the House’s single charge of “in-citement of insurrection.” They in-cluded seven Republicans, moremembers of a president’s partythan have ever returned an ad-verse verdict in an impeachmenttrial.

But with most of Mr. Trump’sparty coalescing around him, the57-to-43 tally fell 10 votes short ofthe two-thirds majority needed toconvict and allow the Senate tomove to disqualify him from hold-ing future office.

Among the Republicans break-ing ranks to find guilty the manwho led their party for four tumul-tuous years, demanding absoluteloyalty, were Senators Richard

Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cas-sidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins ofMaine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasseof Nebraska and Patrick J.Toomey of Pennsylvania.

The verdict brought an abruptend to the fourth presidential im-peachment trial in American his-tory, and the only one in which theaccused had left office before be-ing tried. But it was unlikely to bethe final word for Mr. Trump, hisbadly divided party or the sprawl-ing criminal and congressional in-vestigations into the assault.

It left behind festering woundsin Washington and around thecountry after a 39-day stretch un-like any in the nation’s history —encompassing a deadly riot at the

A 57-to-43 Tally Falls10 Votes Short of a

Guilty Verdict

By NICHOLAS FANDOS

Article I:Incitement of Insurrection

GUILTY

TOTAL

57

43

DEM.

50

0

REP.

7

43NOT GUILTY

With 100 senators present, 67 votes were needed to convict.

Continued on Page 19

During the first trial of DonaldJ. Trump, 13 months ago, theformer president commandednear-total fealty from his party.His conservative defenders wereardent and numerous, and Re-publican votes to convict him —for pressuring Ukraine to helphim smear Joseph R. Biden Jr. —were virtually nonexistent.

In his second trial, Mr. Trump,no longer president, receivedless ferocious Republican sup-port. His apologists were sparserin number and seemed to lackenthusiasm. Far fewer conserva-tives defended the substance ofhis actions, instead dwelling ontechnical complaints while skirt-ing the issue of his guilt on thecharge of inciting the Jan. 6 riotat the Capitol.

And this time, seven Republi-can senators voted with Demo-crats to convict Mr. Trump — themost bipartisan rebuke everdelivered in an impeachmentprocess. Several others, includ-ing Mitch McConnell, the minor-ity leader, intimated that Mr.Trump might deserve to facecriminal prosecution.

Mr. McConnell, speaking fromthe Senate floor after the vote,denounced Mr. Trump’s “uncon-scionable behavior” and held himresponsible for having given“inspiration to lawlessness andviolence.”

Yet Mr. McConnell had joinedwith the great majority of Repub-licans just minutes earlier to findMr. Trump not guilty, leaving thechamber well short of the two-thirds majority needed to convictthe former president.

The vote stands as a pivotalmoment for the party Mr. Trumpmolded into a cult of personality,one likely to leave a deep blem-ish in the historical record. Nowthat Republicans have passed upan opportunity to banish himthrough impeachment, it is notclear when — or how — theymight go about transformingtheir party into something otherthan a vessel for a semiretireddemagogue who was repudiatedby a majority of voters.

Defeated by President Biden,stripped of his social-mediamegaphone, impeached again bythe House of Representativesand accused of betraying hisoath by a handful of Republicandissenters, Mr. Trump nonethe-

POLITICAL MEMO

G.O.P. Defines ItselfWith Act of Fealty

By ALEXANDER BURNS

Continued on Page 20

The House impeachment managers on Saturday. They documented the desecration of the Capitol and the mind-set of the rioters.ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Before the coronavirus flared again inMelbourne, the crowds at theAustralian Open showed the sportsworld what it has been missing. PAGE 28

SPORTS 28-30

With Fans, It Feels Like SportsEven as a boy, Aleksei A. Navalnyresisted authority. Now he poses athreat to the country’s ultimate author-ity, President Vladimir V. Putin. PAGE 15

INTERNATIONAL 12-15

The Russian Resistance

MCCONNELL Damning criticismafter a vote to acquit. PAGE 22

NO EXONERATION The verdict wasan escape. News Analysis. PAGE 23

Today, a bit of snow, sleet and freez-ing rain early, roads can be slick,high 34. Tonight, overcast, low 30.Tomorrow, a bit of ice at times, high33. Weather map is on Page 24.

$6.00