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Gail Collins PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

BENGHAZI, Libya — The fieldmarshal stares from billboardsinto the wreckage of the Libyancity of Benghazi. His uniform isfestooned with epaulets and hon-ors, even as the civil war he iswaging has stalled into a bloodystalemate.

His plainclothes securityagents loiter and listen in cafesand hotel lobbies. He has handedcontrol of the mosques to extre-mist preachers. And he has show-ered patronage on a tribal deathsquad called the Avengers ofBlood, blamed for a long string ofdisappearances and killings of hispolitical opponents.

“We are living in a prison,” saidAhmed Sharkasi, a liberal activistfrom Benghazi who fled to Tunisbecause of threats on his life.

Khalifa Hifter, the 76-year-oldcommander known in his domi-nion as “the marshal,” is the mili-tary ruler of eastern Libya. He hasbeen fighting for nearly six yearsto take control of the country, andhe has been waging an assault onthe capital, Tripoli, for the last 10months.

The United Arab Emirates,Egypt and others have lined upbehind him, and Russia has sentmercenaries. The largely power-less United Nations-sponsoredgovernment in Tripoli is defended

mainly by regional militias and,recently, Turkey, which has flownin hundreds of paid Syrian fight-ers.

Mr. Hifter has cut off Libya’s oilproduction for the past month totry to deprive the Tripoli govern-ment of revenue. This week he be-gan shelling its civilian port,killing three people, narrowlymissing a ship loaded with lique-fied natural gas and derailing

United Nations-sponsored cease-fire talks.

Mr. Hifter has promised to builda stable, democratic and secularLibya, but he has largely shutWestern journalists out of his ter-ritory. A rare visit there by a NewYork Times correspondent andphotographer revealed an un-wieldy authoritarianism that inmany ways is both more puritani-cal and more lawless than Libya

was under its last dictator, Col.Muammar el-Qaddafi.

In Mr. Hifter’s Benghazi strong-hold, we found a half-ruined citybeset by corruption, where securi-ty agents trailed foreign journal-ists, residents cowered in fear ofarbitrary arrest, and pro-govern-ment militias answered to no one.

Residents complain of corrup-

Police State With Islamist Twist: Inside the Libya of ‘the Marshal’By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Libyan cadets being put through the paces at a military academy in eastern Libya last month.IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A9

Oil and gas extraction may produce farmore methane emissions than previ-ously realized, researchers say. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A4-10

Fossil Fuels’ Climate ThreatPop Smoke was found shot after intrud-ers fled the Los Angeles home he hadrented from a reality TV star. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A11-21

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NEW YORK A22-23

Go Up in Vapor or Rebrand?

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SPORTSTHURSDAY B7-10

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BUSINESS B1-6

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ARTS C1-8

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‘West Side Story’ Standoff

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Trump Names New Spy Chief

VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,609 + © 2020 The New York Times Company THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2020

YOKOHAMA, Japan — Hun-dreds of passengers walked off acoronavirus-stricken cruise shipWednesday after getting the all-clear from the Japanese authori-ties, but the scene that greetedthem as their feet touched solidground for the first time in weekssuggested that some found the as-surances less than reassuring.

The taxi drivers who would or-dinarily flock to meet arrivingcruises were in short supply.There were yellow city buses toferry passengers to airports andtrain stations, but their driverswere blocked off by plastic sheet-ing and tape. Even workers justwalking around the terminal worehazmat suits.

That was perhaps unsurpris-ing: The very day the 443 pas-sengers were released to the portcity and the world beyond, thenumber of confirmed infectionson the Diamond Princess roseagain, to 621, as 79 new cases wereannounced.

And just a day before the massdisembarking, a Japanese infec-tious disease specialist who vis-ited the cruise ship offered adamning assessment of what hehad seen: “Completely chaotic.”

“I would not be surprised if theyspread infections,” the doctor,Kentaro Iwata of Kobe UniversityHospital, said of the passengerslet off the ship.

In notifying the passengers thatthey were free to return to theirfamilies, the Japanese govern-ment declared that they had satis-fied the terms of a two-week quar-antine imposed when the Dia-mond Princess arrived in portearlier this month.

But outside health experts haveexpressed deep concerns abouthow well Japan has handled theoutbreak. On Tuesday, the UnitedStates ordered American citizenswho have been on the ship not toreturn home for at least twoweeks, “to protect the health of theAmerican public.”

In recent days, some of the pas-sengers from the Diamond Prin-cess who were repatriated andplaced into quarantine have be-

After 2 Weeks,Free to EscapeStricken Cruise

Leaving a Ship, Only toFace a Wary World

By MOTOKO RICH and EIMI YAMAMITSU

Continued on Page A7

SAN FRANCISCO — With tensof thousands of people living onthe streets of California, the home-lessness crisis has become thestate’s defining issue. For Gov.Gavin Newsom, the emergencyhad become so dire that he de-voted his entire State of the Stateaddress on Wednesday to the150,000 Californians withouthomes.

“Let’s call it what it is: It’s a dis-grace that the richest state in therichest nation, succeeding acrossso many sectors, is falling so farbehind to properly house, healand humanely treat so many of itsown people,” Mr. Newsom toldlawmakers in Sacramento. “Ev-

ery day, the California dream isdimmed by the wrenching realityof families and children and sen-iors living unfed on a concretebed.”

Vulnerable to the charge thatthe problem has exploded underDemocratic rule in California, Mr.Newsom, a former mayor of SanFrancisco, pleaded with — and attimes admonished — legislatorsto take action.

“The hard truth is for too longwe’ve ignored this problem,” Mr.Newsom said. “We turned away.”

Homelessness has become per-vasive in California, from the ruralnorth to the sun-kissed coastal cit-

Governor’s Plea in California:End Homeless Crisis ‘Disgrace’

By THOMAS FULLER

Continued on Page A19

LAS VEGAS — The Democraticpresidential candidates turned onone another in scorching and per-sonal terms in a debate onWednesday night, with two of theleading candidates, SenatorBernie Sanders and Michael R.Bloomberg, forced onto the defen-sive repeatedly throughout theevening.

In his first appearance in a pres-idential debate, Mr. Bloomberg,the former mayor of New YorkCity, struggled from the start toaddress his past support for stop-and-frisk policing and the allega-tions he has faced over the yearsof crude and disrespectful behav-ior toward women. Time andagain, Mr. Bloomberg had obviousdifficulty countering criticismthat could threaten him in a Dem-ocratic Party that counts womenand African-Americans among itsmost important constituencies.

Two candidates who have shiedaway from direct conflict in past

debates, Senator Elizabeth War-ren of Massachusetts and formerVice President Joseph R. BidenJr., mounted something of a tag-team onslaught against Mr.Bloomberg, several times leavinghim visibly irked and straining torespond.

From the first seconds, whenMr. Sanders used the initial ques-tion to attack what he called Mr.Bloomberg’s “outrageous” polic-ing record, it was clear that thisdebate would be far more heatedthan any of the previous forums.The unrelenting attacks reflectedthe urgency of the moment, as Mr.Sanders gains strength and thosehoping to slow his candidacy areincreasingly crowded out by Mr.Bloomberg and his unprecedent-

DEMOCRATS HURL STINGING ATTACKS ACROSS THE STAGE

WARREN SHOWS URGENCY

Rivals Force Sanders andBloomberg to Defend

Their Records

By ALEXANDER BURNSand JONATHAN MARTIN

Continued on Page A17

Michael R. Bloomberg, left, fended off criticism Wednesday in Las Vegas during a debate that was more heated than previous forums.ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES

The debate came three daysbefore the Nevada caucuses.

CALLA KESSLER/THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Early Tues-day morning, Bernard B. Kerik’stelephone rang. On the line wasDavid Safavian, a friend and fel-low former government officialwho like Mr. Kerik was once im-prisoned for misconduct. Mr. Safa-vian had life-changing news.

Mr. Safavian, who had ties tothe White House, said that he wasputting together a letter askingPresident Trump to pardon Mr.Kerik, the former New York Citypolice commissioner who pleadedguilty to tax fraud and othercharges. Mr. Safavian needednames of supporters to sign theletter. By noon.

Mr. Kerik hit the phones.Shortly after 10 a.m., he reachedGeraldo Rivera, the Fox Newscorrespondent and a friend of Mr.Trump’s. Mr. Rivera, who de-scribed Mr. Kerik as “an Americanhero,” instantly agreed to sign theone-page letter. Mr. Kerik called

Representative Peter T. King, Re-publican of New York, and whenMr. Safavian reached Mr. Kingaround 10:30, he too agreed tosign.

At 11:57 a.m., Mr. Kerik’s phonerang again. This time it was thepresident.

“He said, ‘As we speak, I amsigning a full presidential pardonon your behalf,’” Mr. Kerik re-called in an interview on Wednes-day. “Once he started talking and Irealized what we were talkingabout, I got emotional.”

At 1:41 p.m., Mr. Trump ap-proached reporters before board-ing Air Force One and mentionedthat he had pardoned Mr. Kerik. At2:10, the White House announcedthat Mr. Safavian had been par-

doned as well.The clemency orders that the

president issued that day to celeb-rity felons like Mr. Kerik, Rod R.Blagojevich and Michael R.Milken came about through a typi-cally Trumpian process, an ad hocscramble that bypassed the for-mal procedures used by past pres-idents and was driven instead byfriendship, fame, personal empa-thy and a shared sense of persecu-tion. While aides said the timingwas random, it reinforced Mr.Trump’s antipathy toward the lawenforcement establishment.

All 11 recipients had an insideconnection or were promoted onFox News. Some were vocal sup-porters of Mr. Trump, donated tohis campaign or in one case had ason who weekended in the Hamp-tons with the president’s eldestson. Even three obscure womenserving time on drug or fraudcharges got on Mr. Trump’s radarscreen through a personal con-nection.

While 14,000 clemency peti-

Trump’s Pardons Illustrate Value of ConnectionsThis article is by Peter Baker, J.

David Goodman, Michael Rothfeldand Elizabeth Williamson.

Pushing Protocol Asidein Ad Hoc Scrambleto Help Supporters

Continued on Page A14

Mexico’s president is being tested bythe grisly murders of a 25-year-oldwoman and a 7-year-old girl. PAGE A10

Fury at Gender-Based Killings

Michael R. Bloomberg bobbedbehind his lectern, as if the mo-tion might deliver him some-where more comfortable. Heblinked, then blinked some more.He appeared unsteady — for allthe preparation his billions mightbuy him — on questions of raceand gender that could not havecome as a surprise.

Pressed about allegations of ahostile workplace at his com-pany, Mr. Bloomberg wanderedinto a legalistic defense ofnondisclosure agreements, add-ing that perhaps women “didn’tlike a joke I told.” Questioned onhis longstanding support forstop-and-frisk policing, a signa-ture policy of his mayoralty inNew York, he professed himself“embarrassed” before suggest-ing others onstage also hadplenty to apologize for.

“Remember,” he said in oneexchange, explaining why he hadnot yet released full tax docu-ments. “I only entered into thisrace 10 weeks ago.”

That much was clear.Until Wednesday, as Mr.

Bloomberg spent heavily andcampaigned atypically, bypass-

A Foil for AllAs BloombergJoins the Fray

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER

NEWS ANALYSIS

Continued on Page A16

Printed in Chicago $3.00

Clouds breaking for sunshine south.Sunny north. Cold. Highs in teens to30s. Clear tonight. Lows below zeroto upper teens. Sunny tomorrow.Not as cold. Weather map, Page B12.

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