Searchers, mostly immigrants, scourthe southwest border for the remains ofthose who tried to cross it. PAGE A11

Combing the Desert for BodiesTrachoma, a major cause of blindness,has been eliminated as a health menacein at least seven poor nations. PAGE D1

Good News for Eyeballs

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 58,026 © 2018 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JULY 17, 2018

C M Y K Nxxx,2018-07-17,A,001,Bs-4C,E2

U(D54G1D)y+$!;!$!=!{

The Trump factor is fueling debates inCharlotte, N.C., over seeking the Repub-lican National Convention. PAGE A12

NATIONAL A11-16

Reluctant Bid to Host G.O.P.Stone tools found in China show thatancestors of humans left Africa earlierthan previously thought. PAGE D1

SCIENCE TIMES D1-6

Hints of an Ancient MigrationThe blow-by-blow account of how Presi-dent Trump’s tariffs ballooned from justsolar panels and washing machines to a$362 billion trade war. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-4

How We Got to 10,000 TariffsA Texas museum realized it overlookedsomething while preparing for a displayof a panorama, below, of an imaginedmodern-day Klan gathering. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Art With a Warning LabelPakistani courts have cleared a numberof candidates who have been includedon terrorism watch lists to run in na-tional elections this month. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-10

Extremists Running for Office

Much has changed in Russia since the1980 Summer Olympics were heldthere, but critics lament that too muchhas not. PAGE B5

SPORTSTUESDAY B5-12

Russia, Post-World Cup

Michelle Goldberg PAGE A21

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A20-21Legalization was a campaign promisefor Gov. Philip D. Murphy, but the Leg-islature is taking its time. PAGE A17

NEW YORK A17-18

Marijuana Stalls in New Jersey

Barack Obama went to Kenya to inau-gurate a sports and training centerfounded by his half sister. PAGE A4

A Visit to His Father’s Land

KENNETT, Mo. — A few hoursafter the only hospital in townshut its doors forever, Kela Aber-nathy bolted awake at 4:30 a.m.,screaming in pain.

Oh God, she remembered think-ing, it’s the twins.

They were not due for anothertwo months. But the contractionsseizing Ms. Abernathy’s lowerback early that June morning toldher that her son and daughterwere coming. Now.

Ms. Abernathy, 21, staggeredout of bed and yelled for hermother, Lynn, who had been lyingawake on the living-room couch.They grabbed a few bags, scoopedup Ms. Abernathy’s 2-year-old sonand were soon hurtling across thispoor patch of southeast Missouriin their Pontiac Bonneville, racingfor help. The old hospital used to

be around the corner. Now, hernew doctor and hospital werenearly 100 miles away.

Medical help is growing dan-gerously distant for women in ru-ral America. At least 85 rural hos-pitals — about 5 percent of thecountry’s total — have closedsince 2010, and obstetric care hasfaced even starker cutbacks as ru-ral hospitals calculate the hardmath of survival, weighing thecost of providing 24/7 deliveryservices against dwindling birth-rates, doctor and nursing short-ages and falling revenues.

Today, researchers estimate

that fewer than half of the coun-try’s rural counties still have ahospital that offers obstetric care,an absence that adds to the obsta-cles rural women face in gettinghealth care. Specialists are in-creasingly clustered in bigger cit-ies. Clinics that provide abortions,long-term birth control and otherreproductive services have beenforced to close in many smallertowns.

“It’s scary,” said Katie Penn,who said she was rejected by eightdoctors before finding an obstetri-cian in Jonesboro, Ark., about anhour from Kennett. “You neverknow what can happen.”

When obstetric services leavetown, a cascade of risks follows,according to experts at the Uni-versity of Minnesota Rural HealthResearch Center who have stud-ied the consequences. Women go

Your Baby Is Coming. Help Is 100 Miles Away.

By JACK HEALY

Kela Abernathy holding her son Kaleb, who was born two months early at 3 pounds 6 ounces.ANDREA MORALES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Obstetric Care Is OftenDangerously Distant

in Rural America

Continued on Page A14

HELSINKI, Finland — PresidentTrump stood next to President VladimirV. Putin of Russia on Monday and pub-licly challenged the conclusion of his ownintelligence agencies that Moscow inter-fered in the 2016 presidential election,wrapping up what he called a “deeplyproductive” summit meeting with an ex-traordinary show of trust for a leader ac-cused of attacking American democracy.

In a remarkable news conference, Mr.Trump did not name a single action forwhich Mr. Putin should be held account-able. Instead, he saved his sharpest criti-cism for the United States and the specialcounsel investigation into the election in-terference, calling it a “ridiculous” probeand a “witch hunt” that has kept the twocountries apart.

Mr. Trump even questioned the deter-minations by his intelligence officialsthat Russia had meddled in the election.

“They said they think it’s Russia,” Mr.Trump said. “I have President Putin; hejust said it’s not Russia,” the presidentcontinued, only moments after Mr. Putinconceded that he had wanted Mr. Trumpto win the election because of his prom-ises of warmer relations with Moscow.

“I will say this: I don’t see any reasonwhy it would be” Russia that was respon-sible for the election hacking, Mr. Trumpadded. “I have great confidence in my in-telligence people, but I will tell you thatPresident Putin was extremely strongand powerful in his denial today.”

The 45-minute news conference of-fered the spectacle of the two presidentsboth pushing back on the notion ofMoscow’s election interference, with Mr.Putin demanding evidence of somethinghe said had never been proved, and Mr.Trump appearing to agree.

When asked directly whether he be-lieved Mr. Putin or his own intelligenceagencies, Mr. Trump said there were“two thoughts” on the matter: one fromAmerican officials like Dan Coats, his di-rector of national intelligence, assertingRussia’s involvement; and one from Mr.Putin dismissing it. “I have confidence inboth parties,” he said.

He then changed the subject, demand-ing to know why the F.B.I. never exam-ined the hacked computer servers of theDemocratic National Committee, andasking about the fate of emails missingfrom the server of Hillary Clinton, hiscampaign rival. “Where are Hillary Clin-ton’s emails?” he said.

His performance drew fierce protestsfrom Democrats and some Republicans,prompting John O. Brennan, a C.I.A. di-rector under President Barack Obama,to suggest that the remarks warrantedMr. Trump’s impeachment.

TRUMP, WITH PUTIN, ATTACKS 2016 INTELLIGENCEBy JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

President Trump, with Vladimir V. Putin on Monday, saved his sharpest criticism for the United States and the special counsel inquiry into the 2016 election.DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.’

PRESIDENT TRUMP, only moments after the Russian president conceded that he had favored Mr. Trump in the election.

Continued on Page A6

WASHINGTON — A Russian woman who tried tobroker a secret meeting between Donald J. Trump andthe Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin, during the2016 presidential campaign was charged Monday andaccused of working with Americans to carry out a se-cret Russian effort to influence American politics.

At the behest of a senior Russian government offi-cial, the woman, Mariia Butina, made connectionsthrough the National Rifle Association, religious orga-nizations and the National Prayer Breakfast to try tosteer the Republican Party toward more pro-Russiapolicies, court records show. Privately comparing her-self to a Soviet Cold War propagandist, she worked toinfiltrate American organizations and establish “backchannel” lines of communication with American poli-ticians.

“These lines could be used by the Russian Federa-tion to penetrate the U.S. national decision-making ap-paratus to advance the agenda of the Russian Federa-tion,” an F.B.I. agent wrote in court documents.

The charges were filed under seal on Saturday, theday after 12 Russian intelligence officers were indictedon a charge of hacking Democratic computers duringthe 2016 campaign. Ms. Butina, 29, was arrested Sun-

Russian Made Secret Push To Sway Policy, Charges Say

Continued on Page A9

This article is by Matt Apuzzo, Katie Benner and SharonLaFraniere.

WASHINGTON — For nearly two years, Republi-cans have watched uncomfortably, and often in silence,as President Trump has swatted away accusations thatRussia interfered in the 2016 presidential race, at-tacked his own intelligence agencies and flatteredPresident Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

On Monday, even for members of his own party, Mr.Trump apparently went too far.

The president’s extraordinary news conferencewith Mr. Putin in Helsinki, Finland, stunned Republi-cans across the ideological spectrum and the party’spolitical apparatus, leaving them struggling to respondafter the president undermined his national intelli-gence director, blamed both the United States and Rus-sia for poor relations between the two countries andseemingly agreed to Mr. Putin’s suggestion that RobertS. Mueller III, the special counsel, cooperate with Rus-sia.

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, de-clared, “No prior president has ever abased himselfmore abjectly before a tyrant.” Newt Gingrich, the for-mer House speaker and Trump adviser, declared thenews conference “the most serious mistake of his pres-idency.” Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential

Measured CondemnationBut No G.O.P. Plan to Act

Continued on Page A9

This article is by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Nicholas Fandosand Thomas Kaplan.

WASHINGTON — President Trump, who glee-fully defies the norms of presidential behavior, wentsomewhere in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday wherenone of his predecessors have ever gone: He ac-cepted the explanation of a hostile foreign leader

over the findings of his own intelligenceagencies.

Mr. Trump’s declaration that he sawno reason not to believe PresidentVladimir V. Putin when he said the

Russians did not try to fix the 2016 election wasextraordinary enough. But it was only one of severalstatements the likes of which no other president hasuttered while on foreign soil.

He condemned the Justice Department’s investi-gation of his campaign’s ties to Russia as a “disasterfor our country.” He suggested that the F.B.I. deliber-ately mishandled its investigation of Russia’s hackingof the Democratic National Committee. And he la-beled an F.B.I. agent who testified about that investi-gation before Congress as a “disgrace to our country.”

In the fiery, disruptive, rules-breaking arc of Mr.Trump’s statecraft, his assertions during a newsconference with Mr. Putin marked a new milestone,

Disdain for U.S. InstitutionsAnd Praise for an Adversary

NEWSANALYSIS

Continued on Page A6

By MARK LANDLER

A WIN Vladimir Putin achieved his goal:affirmation of Russia’s status as a globalpower. News Analysis. PAGE A7

FACT CHECK Numerous claims fromPresident Trump’s news conference withRussia’s leader are disputable. PAGE A8

Late EditionToday, sunshine, few severe after-noon thunderstorms, high 87. To-night, clearing late, low 70. Tomor-row, mostly sunny, less humid, high86. Weather map is on Page A16.

$3.00