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Page 1: TO CALL WITNESSES FUELS SENATE PUSH …...the trade truce and the geopoliti-cal easing, and providing new rea-son for businesses and house-holds to hunker down. On Monday, investors

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AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, Po-land — They wore scarves embla-zoned with their prisoner num-bers, the same ones tattooed ontheir arms. Many were frail, walk-ing only with the support offriends or relatives.

And as they slowly made theirway, one by one, to what had beenthe wall of death, where thou-sands of prisoners were lined upfor summary execution, it was avivid reminder that before longthe last eyewitnesses to thecrimes that took place inAuschwitz will be gone.

“What can I say? All I have arethese tears to pour over the past,”Batsheva Dagan, 95, told thecrowd that gathered Monday for asolemn ceremony marking the75th anniversary of the liberationof the Nazi concentration anddeath camp.

“I feel uplifted when I see somany of you here who will carrythe memory of innocent peoplefrom all nations of the world whomet their death here,” she said,her voice often cracking with emo-tion. “You will make sure thatthose horrors are never repeated.I’m sorry, I apologize for the emo-tions.”

The ceremony at Auschwitz cul-minated a week of events aroundthe world, including a commemo-ration in Jerusalem attended by

dozens of world leaders, whourged collective vigilance againsta resurgence of anti-Semitismworldwide.

Fifteen years ago, some 1,500survivors attended the anniversa-ry event. This year, there wereabout 200, and, for many, it islikely to be their last visit.

As those who can testify to themonstrous crimes of the Holo-caust dwindle in number, there isgrowing concern about the effortsby political leaders to bend thehistorical narrative of World WarII to suit their own ends.

In the weeks leading up to theanniversary, President Vladimir

V. Putin of Russia had repeatedlywhitewashed the Soviet treatywith Nazi Germany before WorldWar II and the subsequent subju-gation of Poland by both countriesat the outbreak of the war. At thesame time, he accused Poles ofcollaborating with Germans and

Auschwitz Survivors Warn Against Silence in Face of New PerilsBy JOANNA BERENDT

Survivors of Auschwitz walked by the death camp’s notorious gate ahead of Monday’s ceremony.OMAR MARQUES/GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page A10

CALABASAS, Calif. — The heli-copter carrying the basketballlegend Kobe Bryant on Sundaymorning circled over a golf courseat Griffith Park in Los Angeles,awaiting clearance from air trafficcontrollers to continue its flightinto the hills.

The weather 55 miles south inOrange County, where the helicop-ter had departed less than an hourearlier, had been fine — four milesvisibility. Mr. Bryant had routinelymade the same flight from hishome on the coast to the Camarilloairport, near his basketball acad-emy north of Los Angeles.

But now, up ahead, a fog so thickthat it nearly blinded drivers onthe freeway enveloped the hill-sides near their destination. Visi-bility was so poor that the Los An-geles Police Department hadgrounded its fleet of helicopters.The pilot had a decision to make,one that might have proved fatal.

Turn around? Begin flying oninstruments and head to a safeairport? The pilot, who by all ac-counts had a sterling safetyrecord and was licensed to fly ininclement weather, kept going.

Sometime after its last contactwith air traffic controllers at 9:45a.m., the aircraft slammed into a

hillside at 1,085 feet.On Monday, investigators were

trying to figure out what wentwrong, and they emphasized thatno possibility, including a mechan-ical problem, had been ruled out.

“We take a broad look at every-thing around an investigation,around an accident,” JenniferHomendy, a member of the Na-tional Transportation SafetyBoard, said at a news conferenceon Monday afternoon. “We look atman, machine and the envi-ronment, and weather is just asmall portion of that.”

Amid Fog, Pilot Carrying BryantHad a Fateful Decision to Make

This article is by Dave Philipps,Tim Arango and Louis Keene.

WORLD MOURNS Tributes wereleft in Los Angeles, above, andaround the globe. Page B7.

KYLE GRILLOT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A14

WASHINGTON — The WhiteHouse and Senate Republicanleaders struggled on Monday tosalvage their plans for a quick ac-quittal of President Trump after anew account by his former na-tional security adviser John R.Bolton corroborated a centralpiece of the impeachment caseagainst him.

The newly disclosed revela-tions by Mr. Bolton, whose forth-coming book details how Mr.Trump conditioned military aidfor Ukraine on the country’s will-ingness to furnish information onhis political rivals, angered keyRepublicans and reinvigorated abid to call witnesses. Such a movewould prolong the trial and posenew dangers for the president.

A handful of Republicans ap-peared to be moving closer to join-ing Democrats in a vote to sub-poena Mr. Bolton, even as theirleaders insisted that doing sowould only delay his inevitable ac-quittal.

“I think it’s increasingly likelythat other Republicans will jointhose of us who think we shouldhear from John Bolton,” SenatorMitt Romney, Republican of Utah,told reporters. He later told Re-publican colleagues at a closed-door lunch that calling witnesseswould be a wise choice politicallyand substantively, according topeople familiar with the discus-sions.

As they opened the second dayof their defense, Mr. Trump’s law-yers largely ignored the revela-tions from Mr. Bolton, reported onSunday by The New York Times,that bolstered the abuse of powercase made by the House Demo-cratic prosecutors.

Instead, the White House teamis doubling down on a defense thatis directly contradicted by the ac-count in Mr. Bolton’s book, due outin March. Mr. Trump’s lawyerstold senators that no evidence ex-

BOLTON’S ACCOUNTFUELS SENATE PUSHTO CALL WITNESSES

Hopes Dim in G.O.P. for Quick Acquittal

By MICHAEL D. SHEARand NICHOLAS FANDOS

Continued on Page A16

WASHINGTON — In anothertime, in another Washington, thismight be the moment thatchanged the trajectory of thepresidency. A former national

security adviserconfirms that thepresident, despitehis denials, condi-tioned security aidto a war-torn allyon its cooperation

against his domestic rivals, theissue at the heart of his impeach-ment trial.

At first glance, John R.Bolton’s account of PresidentTrump’s private remarkssounded like an echo of the so-called smoking gun tape thatproved President Richard M.Nixon really had orchestratedthe Watergate cover-up andultimately forced him from office.By the end of Monday, the reve-lation appeared to make it morelikely that the Senate wouldagree to hear witnesses at thetrial.

But this is Mr. Trump’s era andMr. Trump’s Washington, and theold rules do not always applyanymore. The reality show starwho was elected president evenafter he was captured on an“Access Hollywood” tape boast-ing about sexual assault hasgone on to survive one politicallycharged furor after anotherduring his three years in theWhite House, proving moredurable than any other nationalpolitician in modern Americanhistory.

So will this be a Watergate-style turning point or just onemore disclosure that his criticsconsider validation withoutchanging other minds? Will it beanother smoking gun or another“Access Hollywood”?

The news of Mr. Bolton’s ac-count in an unpublished book,first reported by The New YorkTimes, could hardly have comeat a worse time for Mr. Trump,just as his lawyers opened hisdefense on the Senate floor and

Likely Turning Point,if Old Rules Held

PETERBAKER

TRUMPON TRIAL

Continued on Page A18

After suffering from a fever andbreathing problems for more than15 days, Xiao Shibing, a 51-year-old resident of Wuhan, China, fi-nally sought help at a hospital. De-spite the symptoms, he was nottested for the new coronavirus —a lapse suggesting that there maybe far more cases of the virus thanare being officially reported.

Instead, Mr. Xiao was told thathe had a viral chest infection, so hewent back home. As he grewsicker, he went to three other hos-pitals. But they told him they didnot have enough beds.

Like many of the thousands ofChinese patients who are con-cerned about the new coro-navirus, Mr. Xiao is scrambling toget help from a health care systemstraining to serve even the basicneeds of patients.

“It is like kicking a ball fromhere to there,” said his wife, Feng

Xiu.Mr. Xiao, who was eventually

hospitalized on Sunday — about aweek after his initial attempt —still hasn’t been tested for thepneumonialike virus.

As it struggles to combat a coro-navirus outbreak that has sick-ened more than 4,500 people andkilled 106, the Chinese govern-ment is relying on a medical sys-tem that is overburdened andoverwhelmed even in normaltimes. While other parts of every-day life in China have significantlyimproved in the past decade, thequality of health care has stag-nated.

In major cities like Beijing andShanghai, many people have tostand in line in the wee hours ofthe morning to secure appoint-ments with doctors. When they doget an appointment, patients get

Feeble Health System in ChinaStrains to Combat Deadly Virus

By SUI-LEE WEE

A medical mask factory in Nantong. A shortage of equipment in China has hampered the response to the outbreak of coronavirus.AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES

Continued on Page A9

Before a mysterious respira-tory illness emerged in the centerof China, spreading with lethal ef-fect through the world’s most pop-ulous nation, concerns about thehealth of the global economy hadbeen easing, replaced by a meas-ure of optimism.

The United States and Chinahad achieved a tenuous pause in atrade war that had damaged bothsides. The specter of open hostil-ities between the United Statesand Iran had reverted to stale-mate. Though Europe remainedstagnant, Germany — the Conti-nent’s largest economy — had es-caped the threat of recession.

Now, the world is worryinganew.

An outbreak originating inChina and reaching beyond itsborders has summoned freshfears, sending markets into a

wealth-destroying tailspin. It hasprovoked alarm that the worldeconomy may be in for anothershock, offsetting the benefits ofthe trade truce and the geopoliti-cal easing, and providing new rea-son for businesses and house-holds to hunker down.

On Monday, investors dumpedstocks on exchanges from Asia toEurope to North America. Theyentrusted their money to tradi-tional safe havens, pushing up thevalue of the yen, the dollar andgold. They pushed down the priceof oil over fears that weaker econ-omies would spell less demand forfuel.

In short, those in control ofmoney took note of a growing cri-sis in a country of 1.4 billion peo-ple, whose consumers and busi-nesses are a primary engine of

Worry Over Chinese OutbreakSpreads Into Global Markets

By PETER S. GOODMAN

Continued on Page A8

President Trump met with BenjaminNetanyahu, Israel’s leader, and said hisplan would be unveiled Tuesday. PAGE A7

INTERNATIONAL A4-11

Mideast Peace Plan ComingMicaela Healy, above, dressed as Aud-rey from “Little Shop of Horrors” forBroadwayCon, a haven for passionatemusical theater fans. PAGE C2

ARTS C1-8

Fans Become the Show

The fire tore through a wooden dock onthe Tennessee River in Scottsboro, Ala.,destroying dozens of boats and sendingsurvivors into the water. PAGE A13

NATIONAL A12-21

8 Killed in Marina FireDayton, Ohio, used to vote Democratic.As its economy soured, blue-collar work-ers turned to Republicans, a patternthat’s repeating nationwide. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

The G.O.P. and the Left BehindPrince Andrew said he would help theAmerican authorities investigatingJeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, but sofar he has ignored their repeated re-quests. PAGE A23

NEW YORK A22-24

‘Zero Cooperation’

The Supreme Court lifted a block onplans to deny green cards to peoplewho may need public benefits. PAGE A16

Wealth Test for Green CardsA factory whose survival was a key issuein last year’s strike will get $2.2 billionfor next-generation vehicles. PAGE B3

G.M.’s Detroit Plant Promise

New Jersey will become the first stateto require builders to take climatechange, including rising sea levels, intoaccount to win government approval fornew projects. PAGE A23

Considering the Danger

A company wants to build a geothermalplant in Umbria; elite residents don’twant it. Italy Dispatch. PAGE A4

The Powerful Fight Power

William B. Taylor PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27The eruption in 79 A.D. left particularlygrim scenes in Herculaneum for ar-chaeologists to study. PAGE D1

SCIENCE TIMES D1-6

The Brutality of VesuviusA duel between an old-school veteranand a flickering young talent led to adazzling display of tennis. PAGE B12

SPORTSTUESDAY B7-13

Nadal Advances Past Kyrgios

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,586 © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2020

Late EditionToday, mostly cloudy, breezy, high42. Tonight, partly cloudy, low 29. To-morrow, mostly sunny, high 40.Wind in the north at 6 to 12 miles perhour. Weather map is on Page A28.

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