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WASHINGTON — Four pros-ecutors abruptly withdrew onTuesday from the case of Presi-dent Trump’s longtime friendRoger J. Stone Jr. after senior Jus-tice Department officials inter-vened to recommend a more le-nient sentence for crimes he com-mitted in a bid to protect the presi-dent.

In an extraordinary decisionoverruling career lawyers, theJustice Department recom-mended an unspecified term of in-carceration for Mr. Stone insteadof the prosecutors’ request of apunishment of seven to nineyears. The move coincided withMr. Trump’s declaration on Twit-ter early Tuesday that the govern-ment was treating Mr. Stone tooharshly.

The development immediatelyprompted questions aboutwhether the Justice Departmentwas bending to White House pres-sure. The gulf between the pros-ecutors and their Justice Depart-ment superiors burst into publicview the week before Mr. Stonewas to be sentenced for trying tosabotage a congressional investi-gation that had posed a threat tothe president.

The prosecutors — one of whomresigned from the department —were said to be furious over the re-versal of their sentencing request,filed in federal court late Monday.The Stone case was one of themost high-profile criminal pros-ecutions arising from the nearlytwo-year investigation of Russianinterference in the 2016 electionby the special counsel, Robert S.Mueller III.

The development added to thesense of turmoil in Washingtonthat has followed Mr. Trump’s ac-quittal by the Senate six days agoon charges of abuse of power andobstructing Congress. With theimpeachment case behind him,Mr. Trump fired an ambassadorwhile his national security adviserdismissed an aide. Both had testi-fied against the president in theimpeachment hearings.

To some, the surprising rever-sal in the politically sensitiveStone case underscored questionsabout Attorney General William P.Barr’s willingness to protect thedepartment’s independence fromany political influence by Mr.Trump. Critics have accused Mr.Barr of seeming to side with thepresident over law enforcement,including his criticism of the ori-gins of the F.B.I.’s investigationinto whether the Trump campaign

JUSTICE DEPT. ACTSTO EASE SENTENCEFOR A TRUMP ALLY

4 U.S. Prosecutors Quit Stone Case AfterBosses Step In to Overrule Them

This article is by Katie Benner,Sharon LaFraniere and Adam Gold-man.

Continued on Page A18

PARIS — Gabriel Matzneff, theFrench writer under investigationfor his promotion of pedophilia,was holed up this month inside aluxury hotel room on the ItalianRiviera, unable to relax, unable tosleep, unable to write.

He was alone and in hiding,abandoned by the same powerfulpeople in publishing, journalism,politics and business who had pro-tected him weeks earlier. He wentoutside only for solitary walks be-hind dark sunglasses, and wasstartled when I tracked him downin a cafe mentioned in his books.

“I feel like the living dead, adead man walking, walking on thelungomare,” he said, referring inItalian to the seafront promenade,in a long conversation, after somepersuading.

Hiding is new for Mr. Matzneff.For decades, he was celebratedfor writing and talking openlyabout stalking teenage girls out-side schools in Paris and havingsex with 8-year-old boys in thePhilippines.

He was invited to the ÉlyséePalace by President François Mit-terrand and socialized with thefar-right leader Jean-Marie LePen. He benefited from the largessof the fashion designer Yves SaintLaurent and his partner, the busi-ness tycoon Pierre Bergé.

But Mr. Matzneff has been sum-moned to appear in a Paris courton Wednesday, accused of ac-tively promoting pedophiliathrough his books. He could faceup to five years in prison, yet thecase is also an implicit indictmentof an elite that furthered his ca-

Trial of an Avowed Pedophile Will Also Judge the French EliteBy NORIMITSU ONISHI

Gabriel Matzneff has long defended his having sex with minors.ANDREA MANTOVANI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A12

ALYSSA SCHUKAR FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar split the centrist vote in New Hampshire, with Ms.Klobuchar vaulting into contention in the Democratic race. Joseph R. Biden Jr. tumbled to fifth.

CHANG W. LEE/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Senator Bernie Sanders had about 26 percent of the vote with 85 percent of the ballots counted.

TAMIR KALIFA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Saudi Arabia hosts Desert X and its artinstallations, below, but critics recoil atthe government’s involvement. PAGE C1

Art and Politics in the DesertA primer for chocoholics: how theirfavorite treat is made, and how to makesure it’s ethically produced. PAGE D1

Sweet Tooth, Clear Conscience

Charles Fuller debuted “A Soldier’sPlay” in 1981, but he never expected itto move beyond black theaters. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-7

A Long March to BroadwayIf the Taliban fulfill a promise to reduceviolence in Afghanistan, the UnitedStates would begin the gradual with-drawal of American troops. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-12

Afghan Peace Deal Gets an OKPim Techamuanvivit’s new SanFrancisco restaurant expands ideas ofThai cuisine, Tejal Rao says. PAGE D1

FOOD D1-8

A Chef Upends ExpectationsWith the head of the N.C.A.A. on CapitolHill, lawmakers expressed displeasurewith rules that limit players. PAGE B10

SPORTSWEDNESDAY B8-11

A Collegial Sign of Frustration

Thailand is struggling to understandhow a soldier’s rage turned into themass killing of strangers. PAGE A6

Gunman’s Anger and RampageThe meticulously groomed Siba becamethe fifth standard poodle to be crownedWestminster’s best in show. PAGE B9

Poof Positive: A Poodle Reigns

That gusher, or that subway delay, maybe the result of a break in one of thecity’s aging water mains. PAGE A21

NEW YORK A21, 24

Old but Not FaithfulThe F.T.C. told Amazon, Apple, Face-book, Alphabet and Microsoft to give itdetails on small acquisitions. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

Tech Giants’ Deals ScrutinizedThomas L. Friedman PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

HONG KONG — An apartmentbuilding in Hong Kong, its unitslinked by pipes. A departmentstore in the eastern Chinese city ofTianjin, where more than 11,000shoppers and employees mingled.A ski chalet in France, home basefor a group of British citizens onvacation.

These sites, scattered aroundthe world, have become linked bya grim commonality: They areplaces where pockets of new coro-navirus cases have emerged in re-cent days, raising fears about thevirus’s ability to spread quicklyand far beyond its origins in cen-tral China.

Since the dangerous outbreakemerged in late December, thevast majority of cases have beenconcentrated in Wuhan, the citywhere the new virus was first re-ported. The authorities there andin the surrounding province havesealed off tens of millions of peo-ple in a desperate attempt at con-tainment.

But as the outbreak’s toll hasmushroomed — it has claimedmore than 1,100 lives in China andsickened more than 44,000 — ithas become clear how easily thevirus can be transmitted and howhard it may be to contain, even incommunities around the worldthat are far removed from Wuhan.Many of the people infected hadnot even been there.

Hot Spots for Virus Are FlaringFrom Hong Kong to French Alps

This article is by Vivian Wang,Austin Ramzy and Megan Specia.

Continued on Page A10

WASHINGTON — As far asPresident Trump is concerned,banishing Lt. Col. Alexander S.Vindman from the White Houseand exiling him back to the Penta-gon was not enough. If he had hisway, the commander in chiefmade clear on Tuesday, the De-fense Department would now takeaction against the colonel, too.

“That’s going to be up to the mil-itary,” Mr. Trump told reporterswho asked whether Colonel Vind-man should face disciplinary ac-tion after testifying in the Househearings that led to the presi-dent’s impeachment. “But if youlook at what happened,” Mr.Trump added in threateningterms, “I mean they’re going to,certainly, I would imagine, take alook at that.”

This is an unsettled time in Mr.Trump’s Washington. In the dayssince he was acquitted in a Senatetrial, an aggrieved and unboundpresident has sought to even the

scales as he sees it. Colonel Vind-man was abruptly marched by se-curity out of the White House, anambassador who also testified inthe House hearings was summari-ly dismissed, and senior JusticeDepartment officials on Tuesdayintervened on behalf of Mr.Trump’s convicted friend, Roger J.Stone Jr., leading four career pros-ecutors to quit the case.

More axes are sure to fall. Asenior Pentagon official appearsin danger of losing her nominationto a top Defense Department postafter questioning the president’ssuspension of aid to Ukraine.Likewise, a prosecutor involved inMr. Stone’s case has lost a nomina-tion to a senior Treasury Depart-ment position. A key National Se-curity Council official is said bycolleagues to face dismissal. Andthe last of dozens of career offi-cials being transferred out of theWhite House may be gone by the

Alarm in Capital as Axes SwingIn Growing Post-Acquittal Purge

By PETER BAKER

Continued on Page A18

A grand jury accused Jussie Smollett oflying to the Chicago police about anattack they called a hoax. PAGE A19

Charges Against Actor Revived

A federal judge ruled in favor of allow-ing the merger of the nation’s third- andfourth-largest wireless carriers to moveforward. PAGE A20

NATIONAL A13-20

T-Mobile-Sprint Deal Is Closer

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Sena-tor Bernie Sanders narrowly wonthe New Hampshire primary onTuesday, consolidating support onthe left and fending off a latecharge by two moderate rivals toclaim his second strong showingin two weeks and establish him-self as a formidable contender forthe Democratic nomination.

Mr. Sanders had about 26 per-cent of the vote with 85 percent ofthe ballots counted, while formerMayor Pete Buttigieg of SouthBend, Ind., was a close second. Mr.Buttigieg split the centrist votewith Senator Amy Klobuchar ofMinnesota, who surged in NewHampshire to finish in third.

Senator Elizabeth Warren ofMassachusetts, Mr. Sanders’s pro-gressive rival, finished a distantfourth in her neighboring state,and in a stinging blow to his candi-dacy, former Vice President Jo-seph R. Biden Jr. finished fifth.

The results raised immediatequestions about how much longerMr. Biden and Ms. Warren, one-time front-runners, could afford tocontinue their campaigns. Bothhad already cut back their adver-tising because of financial strain.

Mr. Sanders’s victory leveragedhis own reliable strengths as thechampion of a liberal agendaagainst a moment of turmoil in theparty’s more moderate wing:With Mr. Biden tumbling and Mr.Buttigieg and Ms. Klobucharstriving to take his place, Mr.Sanders’s grip on progressivescarried him to the top of the field inboth Iowa and New Hampshire.

But in both states he capturedless than 30 percent of the vote,and his vote share was the lowesttotal ever for a winner in the pri-mary here. Coupled with theabrupt ascents of Mr. Buttigiegand Ms. Klobuchar, his modestsuccess only underscored thechurning uncertainty of the raceand raised the prospect of adrawn-out nominating processthat could last through the spring.

“This victory here is the begin-ning of the end for Donald Trump,”Mr. Sanders told jubilant support-ers in Manchester, N.H., claiming“a great victory” even before thefinal results were in. And lookingtoward Nevada and South Car-olina, the next two states to vote,he vowed he would “win thosestates, as well.”

The rise of Mr. Sanders, a demo-cratic socialist from Vermont whoremains a political independent,has distressed many centrists andtraditional liberals at a time whenDemocratic voters are united by aravenous desire to defeat Presi-dent Trump. Mr. Trump’s im-peachment acquittal, the chaoticvote-counting in Iowa and the

Sanders Is Winner in New Hampshire Buttigieg Is a Close

2nd — KlobucharSurges to 3rd

By JONATHAN MARTINand ALEXANDER BURNS

Continued on Page A14

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Therevolution has not come. BernieSanders is looking like the front-runner anyway.

The more moderate, non-Sanders alternatives combinedto far outpace the liberal Ver-mont senator’s vote share hereon Tuesday night, with PeteButtigieg, the former mayor of asmall Indiana city, again holdinghim to a virtual draw. His predic-tions of runaway progressive

turnout remain unproved.But the two fading former

favorites who once seemed tohave a hold on the liberal estab-lishment and the moderate es-tablishment — Senator ElizabethWarren and former Vice Presi-dent Joseph R. Biden Jr. — lost,badly. Two other professed unitycandidates, Mr. Buttigieg andSenator Amy Klobuchar, per-formed well in New Hampshirebut have shown little capacity toresonate with nonwhite voters sofar.

And with no consensus amonghis doubters about how best tostop him, and who is best posi-tioned to do it, Mr. Sanders’searly hold on a fractured primaryfield has laid bare a distressingtruth for some Democrats: Theman who has long resisted theparty’s label might just becomethe standard-bearer.

Mr. Biden had spoken formonths of his peerless ability towin. But his debacle in NewHampshire, after another in

Establishment Finds Itself on the Outside

NEWS ANALYSIS

By MATT FLEGENHEIMERand KATIE GLUECK

Continued on Page A15

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,601 + © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020

Late EditionToday, sunny, high 44. Tonight,cloudy, rain, snow late, low 38. To-morrow, periodic rain, very mild,high 54. Wind south at 6 to 12 milesper hour. Weather map, Page C8.

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