| We’re covering a warning from Congress over Russian election interference and looking at what’s next for Puerto Rico. It’s also Friday, so there’s a new news quiz. | |  By Chris Stanford | | | Leslie Wexner, left, once praised Jeffrey Epstein as "a most loyal friend" with "excellent judgment and unusually high standards." Fred Squillante/The Columbus Dispatch, via Associated Press | | | Mr. Epstein first met Leslie Wexner, the chief executive of the lingerie and women’s wear company, in the 1980s. Within years, Mr. Wexner had given Mr. Epstein sweeping powers over his finances and private life, according to interviews with people who knew the men and to court documents and financial records. | | | Mr. Epstein became extraordinarily rich, obtaining a New York mansion, a private plane and a luxury estate in Ohio that were previously owned by Mr. Wexner or his companies. Mr. Epstein also gained access to young women, including by trying to involve himself in the recruitment of lingerie models for the Victoria’s Secret catalog. | | | Response: Through a spokesman, Mr. Wexner, the longest-serving chief executive in the S&P 500, declined repeated requests for an interview. In a letter this month to employees, he said he was “NEVER aware of the illegal activity charged in the indictment.” | | | The Daily: Today’s episode is about Ghislaine Maxwell, Mr. Epstein’s longtime partner. | | | A section of the report recommending actions before next year's election was almost completely redacted. | | | Moscow’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections were more widespread than previously acknowledged and went largely undetected by state and federal officials at the time, according to a report released on Thursday by the Senate Intelligence Committee. | | | The bipartisan report warned that voting remains vulnerable, but its findings, including key recommendations for 2020, were heavily redacted at the insistence of American intelligence agencies. | | | Related: Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, moved again on Thursday to block election security legislation put forward by Democrats. He has long opposed giving the federal government more control over a process typically run by the states. | | | Another angle: The report came a day after Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, warned that Russia was interfering “as we sit here.” His testimony has deepened Democrats’ divisions over whether to pursue impeachment proceedings against President Trump. | | | Protesters in San Juan, P.R., celebrated this week after Gov. Ricardo Rosselló announced his resignation. Victor J. Blue for The New York Times | | | When Gov. Ricardo Rosselló steps down next week, his successor will be left with the biggest governmental bankruptcy in U.S. history and an economy propped up by emergency aid. | | | As it recovers from Hurricane Maria, the island is in the middle of restructuring about $129 billion in debt and unfunded pensions, and there is no resolution in sight. We looked at some of the challenges. | | | Voices: We asked Puerto Ricans how years of economic mismanagement, cuts to public services and a 12-year recession have affected their lives. “The anger and frustration is everywhere,” one said. Read more here. | | | The two senators have accused the former vice president of reframing his history, while Mr. Biden and his campaign have defended his record and drawn contrasts on issues like health care and policing. | | | Related: The debates on Tuesday and Wednesday will feature 20 candidates, many of whom have struggled to connect with voters. John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor, is one of them, but he’s not ready to call it quits. | | | Emin Ozmen/Magnum, for The New York Times | | | President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to dismantle his country’s academic sector to consolidate his grip on power. | | | Since 2017, about 6,000 academics have been fired, including Ilhan Uzgel, pictured above. Many have had their passports canceled, and some face legal proceedings as Turkey swerves toward an authoritarian state. | | | PAID POST: A MESSAGE FROM CAMPAIGN MONITOR | | Email Marketing 102: Work smarter, not harder. | | Working smarter means running beautiful, results-driven email marketing campaigns – without sacrificing any bandwidth along the way. And with Campaign Monitor, you'll have access to a drag-and-drop email builder, a gallery of templates, and personalized customer journeys – all the tools you need to replace ‘harder’ with ‘smarter.' | | | Learn More | | | | Budget deal advances: A divided House passed a two-year agreement that would raise spending and let the government keep borrowing. The Senate is expected to approve the measure next week. | | | Andrea Mantovani for The New York Times | | | Snapshot: Above, cooling off in Paris on Thursday, when the city recorded its hottest-ever temperature: 42.6 degrees Celsius (108.7 Fahrenheit). As a dangerous heat wave scorched Western Europe, records were also broken in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. | | | In memoriam: President Béji Caïd Essebsi of Tunisia steered the country through a democratic transition after the Arab Spring of 2011. He died on Thursday at 92. | | | News quiz: Did you follow the headlines this week? Test yourself. | | | Modern Love: In this week’s column, a woman’s short-term amnesia helps her daughter realize what long-term love is all about. | | | Late-night comedy: The hosts noted that Robert Mueller’s testimony this week left some in Washington unimpressed: “We can’t determine the value of Mueller’s testimony by ratings!” Stephen Colbert said. “If that were the case, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ would be president of the United States.” | | | What we’re listening to: This mini-series from Radiolab on intelligence. “From the dark side of I.Q. tests to a scavenger hunt for Albert Einstein’s brain, ‘G’ highlights the power, and fragility, of humanity,” writes Remy Tumin of the briefings team. | | | Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food stylist: Simon Andrews. | | | Cook: Banoffee pie — its name is a mash-up of banana and toffee — has generous layers of dulce de leche, bananas and whipped cream. | | | Read: Max Porter’s “Lanny,” a Booker Prize nominee, is equal parts fairy tale, domestic drama and fable. It’s one of six new books we recommend. | | | Watch: Our TV critic has recommendations for the weekend, including an Icelandic cop drama, a dog documentary and the final season of “Orange Is the New Black.” | | | Go: “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” featuring fragments of what feels like every pop hit ever written, “is a cloud-surfing, natural high of a production,” our critic writes. It’s playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theater in Manhattan. | | | Smarter Living: Flying greatly increases your carbon footprint. But you can compensate by buying carbon offsets, which lower greenhouse gas emissions elsewhere. Here’s our guide to buying and using them. (They cost less than you might think.) | | | The world’s biggest garlic festival starts today in Gilroy, Calif., serving up more than two tons of the pungent vegetable in dishes like calamari, pesto, french fries and bread. | | | Garlic — a close cousin to onions and leeks — has been consumed by humans for thousands of years as both food and medicine. Hippocrates prescribed garlic to treat a variety of conditions, and the ancient Greeks gave garlic to Olympic athletes and to fighting gamecocks to help their performance. | | | A visitor at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in 2014. | | | The jury is still out on many health claims (one meta-analysis concluded the “evidence is not strong” that garlic eases high blood pressure), but any benefits are most likely linked to the antioxidant effects of the sulfur compounds that form when a garlic clove is crushed. That’s also what creates the powerful aroma. | | | That’s it for this briefing. See you next time. | | Thank you
To Mark Josephson and Eleanor Stanford for the break from the news. Victoria Shannon, on the briefings team, wrote today’s Back Story. You can reach the team at briefing@nytimes.com. | | | Were you sent this briefing by a friend? Sign up here to get the Morning Briefing. | | |
