VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,399 + © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2019

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WASHINGTON — Robert S.Mueller III warned lawmakers onWednesday that Russia was againtrying to sabotage American de-mocracy before next year’s presi-dential election, defended his in-vestigation’s conclusions aboutMoscow’s sweeping interferencecampaign in 2016 and publicly re-jected President Trump’s criti-cism that he had conducted a“witch hunt.”

The partisan war over Mr.Mueller’s inquiry reached aheated climax during nearly sev-en hours of his long-awaited testi-mony before two congressionalcommittees. Lawmakers huntedfor viral sound bites and tried toscore political points, but Mr.Mueller consistently refused toaccommodate them, returningover and over in a sometimes halt-ing delivery to his damning andvoluminous report.

Mr. Mueller remained a spec-

tral presence in Washington overthe past two years as the presi-dent and his allies subjected thespecial counsel and his team oflawyers to withering attacks.Speaking in detail for the first timeabout his conclusions producedoccasionally dramatic momentsin which he ventured beyond hisreport to offer insights about Mr.Trump’s behavior.

When asked whether Mr.Trump “wasn’t always beingtruthful” in his written answers tothe special counsel’s questions,Mr. Mueller responded, “I wouldsay generally.” He called Mr.Trump’s praise of WikiLeaks dur-ing the 2016 campaign “problem-atic” and said it “gave a boost towhat is and should be illegal activ-ity.”

He said that he and his teamchose not to subpoena Mr. Trumpout of concern that a battle over apresidential interview mightneedlessly prolong the investiga-

MUELLER DEFENDS INQUIRY AND SAYS

RUSSIA ISN’T DONERejects ‘Witch Hunt’

Claim and Warnsof New Meddling

By MARK MAZZETTI

NO COLLUSION, NOOBSTRUCTION!7:55 AM . 7/24/19

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump

GARY HE/EPA, VIA SHUTTERSTOCK

The company might halt production of the 737 Max as it handles the fallout of two crashes. Page B1.Still Parked at Boeing

COMPTON, Calif. — It was bathtime, and Rosalba Moralez hearda cry. She rushed to the bathroomand found her 7-year-old daugh-ter, Alexxa, being doused withbrown, putrid water.

“We kept running the tub, weturned on the sink, we flushed thetoilet. All the water was comingout dirty,” Ms. Moralez said.

For more than a year, discoloredwater has regularly gushed from

faucets in the family’s bathroomand kitchen, as it has in hundredsof other households in Willow-brook, Calif., an unincorporatedcommunity near Compton inSouth Los Angeles.

The brown water, provided bythe Sativa Los Angeles CountyWater District, first drew publicoutrage and local news media at-tention last year when customersbegan protesting over unex-plained stomach pains and skin soitchy it had scarred from thescratching.

Elected officials were soonjolted into action. Sativa’s electedboard of directors was disbanded,and Los Angeles County took con-trol of the water district. Thecounty is working furiously to re-place dilapidated pipes and wells,and this week began new con-

struction to reinforce Sativa’s sys-tem. But problems persist. Over-hauling the district has taken farmore time and money than any-one had expected because, by thetime the county stepped in lastfall, the district’s infrastructurewas on the brink of collapse.

Sativa is just one case, whicherupted into public view after dec-ades of neglect. The rot in Califor-nia’s water system probably ex-tends far beyond it.

As many as 1,000 community

Water That Leaves Scars: A Crisis Lurking in Californians’ TapsBy JOSE A. DEL REAL Rotting Pipes and Wells

Endanger the Poorest

Continued on Page A21

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebookcame under siege on multiplefronts on Wednesday, agreeing tonew layers of oversight and twofines to settle privacy and disclo-sure violations, even as it ac-knowledged that it was under in-vestigation from the FederalTrade Commission for antitrustconcerns.

Early in the day, the companywas penalized by the F.T.C. with arecord $5 billion fine for deceiving

users about their ability to controlthe privacy of their personal data.As part of a settlement, the com-pany was also ordered to create anew privacy committee on itsboard and to make other structur-al changes to increase the trans-parency and accountability of its

data practices.But the agreement was criti-

cized for failing to limit Face-book’s gathering, sharing and useof people’s personal information, apractice that has repeatedlyraised privacy questions. And theF.T.C.’s commissioners were divid-ed on partisan lines this monthwhen they voted 3-to-2 to approvethe measures, which provide im-munity to Facebook’s officers anddirectors and shield the companyfrom known claims of violationsthrough last month — essentiallygiving it a pass on its past.

Facebook, Penalized in 2 Inquiries, Faces a 3rdBy MIKE ISAAC

and NATASHA SINGERAfter Fines Over Data,

a New AntitrustInvestigation

Continued on Page A20

Continued on Page A12

Allergan will stop selling a type oftextured implant linked to a rare cancerthat has caused 33 deaths. PAGE A20

NATIONAL A10-21

Breast Implants RecalledThe delivery company ended a practicethat effectively meant tips were goingto it rather than to workers. PAGE B6

BUSINESS B1-7

DoorDash Changes Tip PolicyKristof Milak, 19, used to watch old tapesof his hero Michael Phelps. On Wednes-day, he broke Phelps’s world record inthe 200-meter butterfly. PAGE B11

SPORTSTHURSDAY B8-11

New King of the Butterfly

The South Korean military said theNorth had fired two missiles off its eastcoast on Thursday amid stalled effortsto resume nuclear talks. PAGE A9

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

More Launches in North KoreaAfter years of struggle, the writingteam of Bashir Salahuddin and DialloRiddle is debuting TV shows on Com-edy Central and IFC. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-7

Writing Duo Strikes Twice

A federal judge said the Trump adminis-tration must keep taking asylum claimsfrom all eligible migrants. PAGE A21

Court Blocks Curbs on AsylumAfter two more cyclists died, the mayorsaid the city would add protected lanesand alter risky intersections. PAGE A22

NEW YORK A22-23

$58.4 Million Bike Safety PlanFederal and state efforts to end “sur-prise” medical expenses have left outthe ambulance industry. PAGE B1

A Bill Due After the Sirens

Across the country, those paid for shed-ding their clothes are organizing forfairer labor practices and entertainingnew types of customers. PAGE D1

THURSDAY STYLES D1-6

Stripping in a New Era

Doug Collins PAGE A25

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A24-25

WASHINGTON — In the daysleading up to the special coun-sel’s much-anticipated appear-ance before Congress, Demo-crats argued that hearing fromRobert S. Mueller III on televi-sion could transform the im-peachment debate. While Ameri-cans might not read the book, theargument went, they wouldwatch the movie.

If so, the movie Americanstuned into on Wednesday wasnot the blockbuster Democratshad sought nor was Mr. Muellerthe action star they had cast.Dignified but shaky, and at timesstruggling to keep up, he largelystuck to “yes” and “no” and“refer you to the report” an-swers, steadfastly refusing todramatize his conclusions asPresident Trump’s critics wantedhim to do.

By the time he finished nearlyseven hours later, Democratswere disappointed they did notget the made-for-TV accusatorymoment they wanted, and theprospect for impeachment ap-peared far more difficult. Al-though the president’s criticsvowed to persist, a gleeful Mr.Trump claimed he was com-pletely cleared while shoutingangry insults at reporters on theSouth Lawn.

“Much as I hate to say it, thismorning’s hearing was a disas-ter,” Laurence Tribe, the Harvardlaw professor who has arguedthat the House should pursueimpeachment, wrote on Twitter.“Far from breathing life into hisdamning report, the tired RobertMueller sucked the life out of it.The effort to save democracy

Refusal to Dramatize FindingsPrevents Blockbuster Moment

By PETER BAKER

NEWS ANALYSIS

Continued on Page A14

WASHINGTON — Soon afterthe special counsel’s office openedin 2017, some aides noticed thatRobert S. Mueller III kept notice-ably shorter hours than he had asF.B.I. director, when he showed upat the bureau daily at 6 a.m. andoften worked nights.

He seemed to cede substantialresponsibility to his top deputies,including Aaron Zebley, who man-aged day-to-day operations andoften reported on the investiga-tion’s progress up the chain in theJustice Department. As negotia-tions with President Trump’s law-yers about interviewing himdragged on, for example, Mr.Mueller took part less and less, ac-cording to people familiar withhow the office worked.

That hands-off style was on dis-play on Wednesday when Mr.Mueller testified for about sevenhours before two House commit-tees. Once famous for his laserlikefocus, Mr. Mueller, who will turn75 next month, seemed hesitantabout the facts in his own 448-page report. He struggled at onepoint to come up with the word“conspiracy.”

At one excruciatingly awkwardmoment, he stumbled over apoorly worded question aboutwho was president when heserved as a top federal prosecutorin 1986, apparently assuming thequestioner meant his subsequentJustice Department post.

“He didn’t have the fight in himthat he used to have,” said GlennKirschner, who worked with Mr.Mueller as a homicide prosecutorin the mid-1990s.

Mr. Mueller delivered a strong-er performance in the afternoon,when the questioning focused onRussia’s interference in the 2016election instead of whether thepresident had obstructed justice,noted John S. Pistole, a formerdeputy F.B.I. director. Mr. Muellercalled forcefully for the govern-ment to do more to combat Rus-sia’s continued efforts to meddlein American elections.

Still, Mr. Pistole acknowledged,he was not “as precise as he was inhis dozens of previous appear-ances as director.”

For Mr. Mueller’s many Demo-cratic and Republican fans, who

A Halting Delivery atOdds With a Laser

Focus of the Past

This article is by Sharon LaFra-niere, Michael S. Schmidt, NoahWeiland and Adam Goldman.

Robert S. Mueller III, the former special counsel, testified before two congressional committees in back-to-back hearings Wednesday.ERIN SCHAFF/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A16

SAN JUAN, P.R. — Gov. Ricar-do A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico an-nounced his resignation onWednesday, conceding that hecould no longer credibly remain inpower after an extraordinary pop-ular uprising and looming im-peachment proceedings had de-railed his administration.

In a statement posted onlinelate Wednesday, Mr. Rosselló, 40,said he would step down on Aug. 2.

He said his successor for themoment would be the secretary ofjustice, Wanda Vázquez, a formerdistrict attorney who once headedthe island’s office of women’s af-fairs. Ms. Vázquez was next in lineunder the territory’s Constitutionafter the secretary of state, whowould have succeeded as gover-nor, resigned last week when healso was caught up in a chat scan-dal that enveloped Mr. Rosselló’sadministration.

San Juan, the capital, which hadseen protesters arrive on foot, onhorseback and even on motorizedwater scooters over the pastweek, burst into celebration afterMr. Rosselló’s announcement.People cheered outside La Fort-aleza, the governor’s official resi-dence. They banged drums, tam-bourines and kitchen pots, nownot in anger but in revelry. “We’renot a small group. We’re PuertoRico!” they chanted.

The governor began his an-

GOVERNOR IS OUTIN PUERTO RICO

Quits Amid Protests andImpeachment Threat

By PATRICIA MAZZEIand FRANCES ROBLES

Continued on Page A19

China hinted that its troops could beused to quell protests that challenge thecentral government’s authority. PAGE A8

A Warning for Hong Kong

Late EditionToday, mostly sunny skies, low hu-midity, high 83. Tonight, clear skies,low 70. Tomorrow, mostly sunnyskies continuing, light winds, high86. Weather map, Page A26.

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