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Donald Trump, Theodore McCarrick, Colin Kaepernick: Your Weekend Briefing

By Ashley Calloway-Blatch and Lance Booth
Feb. 17, 2019

Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead.
CreditTamir Kalifa for The New York Times

ImageCreditTamir Kalifa for The New York Times

1. President Trump declared a national emergency on the border with Mexico on Friday in an effort to access billions of dollars that Congress refused to give him to build a wall there.

The president asserted that the “invasion of drugs and criminals” coming across the border constituted a threat to national security and justified unilateral action. But illegal crossings are already down and critics are accusing him of manufacturing a crisis. Above, migrants waiting along the border fence in Penitas, Tex., on Feb. 1.

Mr. Trump acknowledged that his declaration would be litigated in the courts and even predicted a rough road for his side. Senate Republicans are now faced with the hard choice of defending their institution, which Mr. Trump is attempting to circumvent, or bowing to the president’s whims.

The border is sometimes treated like a political football, but it’s also home to millions of people. Every week for the next few months, our Crossing the Border newsletter will bring you their stories.

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Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with our news quiz. And here’s the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and our crossword puzzles.

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CreditJoshua Roberts/Reuters

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CreditJoshua Roberts/Reuters

2. Pope Francis defrocked Theodore E. McCarrick, above, a former cardinal and archbishop of Washington, after a canonical process that found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians over decades.

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It appears to be the first time that a cardinal or bishop in the United States has been expelled from the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church, and the first time any cardinal has been defrocked, or laicized, for sexual abuse.

Few of the church’s leaders have faced such severe discipline. The move to defrock Mr. McCarrick is “almost revolutionary,” a professor of canon law said.

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CreditT.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

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CreditT.J. Kirkpatrick for The New York Times

3. The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide whether the Trump administration can include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census.

The court stepped in before any appeals court had ruled on the matter, putting the case on an unusually fast track — almost certainly because census forms are set to be printed in June.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was at work that day to participate in adding cases to the court’s docket, her first appearance since having cancer surgery in December. She is expected to be on the bench on Tuesday when the court returns from its midwinter break.

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CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

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CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

4. William P. Barr is now head of the Justice Department, for the second time, after the Senate confirmed him as attorney general on Thursday.

Mr. Barr, above, assured senators that he would not allow political interference to sway the department’s work, but offered no specific assurances that he would make the findings of the special counsel’s office on Russian election interference public.

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, had deliberately lied to prosecutors after pledging to cooperate with the special counsel, thereby breaching his plea agreement. The special counsel’s office recommended Friday that Mr. Manafort serve up to 25 years in prison and pay up to $25 million in fines in his financial fraud case.

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CreditTravis Dove for The New York Times

5. Sexism on the campaign trail can affect not only how voters perceive candidates but how candidates present themselves to voters.

And now the influence of stereotypes and double standards is about to play out in uncharted territory: At last count, six women were running for the Democratic nomination, including Senator Kamala Harris of California, above.

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Ms. Harris, a former district attorney and state attorney general, is running as a “progressive prosecutor” — and facing a chorus of skepticism, especially from the left. Another candidate, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, is making running as a woman, for women, the central theme of her candidacy.

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CreditSaul Martinez for The New York Times

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CreditSaul Martinez for The New York Times

6. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., had a “day of service and love” on Thursday to commemorate the 17 lives lost a year ago in one of the nation’s deadliest school shootings. Above, community members at a memorial garden.

We spoke to several students, as well as parents, police officers and a teacher, about how their lives were transformed by the massacre.

“My life is not normal,” said Anthony Borges, 16, who took five bullets as he barricaded a classroom door to protect other students. “It will never be like before.”

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CreditJohn Taggart for The New York Times

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CreditJohn Taggart for The New York Times

7. Amazon on Thursday backed out of its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after unexpectedly fierce backlash from lawmakers, progressive activists and union leaders.

The company had promised to create more than 25,000 jobs in return for nearly $3 billion in government incentives. The deal stirred debate in New York about the use of public subsidies, the rising cost of living and the city’s very identity.

Amazon grew increasingly concerned that the backlash showed no signs of abating and was tarnishing its image beyond the city. We pieced together how the ambitious deal collapsed.

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CreditAlfredo Estrella/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

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CreditAlfredo Estrella/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

8. The Mexican crime lord known as El Chapo was convicted on Tuesday following a three-month drug trial that exposed the inner workings of his sprawling cartel.

The kingpin, above, whose real name is Joaquín Guzmán Loera, was found guilty on all 10 counts of the indictment and faces life in prison. Here are the 11 biggest takeaways from the case.

While the conviction was a huge victory for American law enforcement, it may have little lasting impact on either Mr. Guzmán’s cartel or the wider effort to stem the flow of drugs into the United States, writes Alan Feuer, the Times reporter who covered the trial.

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CreditMarcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

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CreditMarcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

9. Colin Kaepernick and a former teammate, Eric Reid, reached a surprise legal settlement with the N.F.L., which they had accused of colluding to keep them out of the league for kneeling during the national anthem at games to protest police shootings of black people. Above, from left, Mr. Reid and Mr. Kaepernick at a game on Sept. 12, 2016.

Mr. Kaepernick and other players who participated in the protest drew the ire of President Trump and some N.F.L. fans who boycotted games. Other fans also boycotted the N.F.L. with the belief that Mr. Kaepernick was blacklisted for leading the movement.

Here’s a timeline of Mr. Kaepernick’s protest.

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CreditApic/Getty Images

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CreditApic/Getty Images

10. Finally, don’t miss our Best Weekend Reads.

We talk to women who accused the singer-songwriter Ryan Adams of emotional and verbal abuse; look at the secret history of women in coding; and say goodbye to the NASA Mars rover Opportunity.

For more suggestions on what to read, watch and listen to, may we suggest these nine new books our editors liked, a glance at the latest small-screen recommendations from Watching, and our music critics’ latest playlist.

Have a great week.

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