Russia, Roger Stone, Dan Brown
Your Thursday Evening Briefing |
Good evening. Here’s the latest. |
 | | Thomas Kienzle/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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1. Russia is aiding President Trump in the 2020 election, intelligence officials told the House Intelligence Committee in a secret briefing last week. |
Five people described the briefing to our reporters, who also learned that Mr. Trump had been angered by the briefing, saying that Democrats would use it against him. The Intelligence Committee ran the impeachment investigation, and its chairman, the Democrat Adam Schiff, led the impeachment proceedings. |
Our reporters were told that Mr. Trump then berated Joseph Maguire, the acting director of national intelligence, for allowing the briefing. This week, the president announced that he was replacing Mr. Maguire with Richard Grenell, the ambassador to Germany and a vocal Trump supporter. That’s Mr. Grenell above, in Munich last week. |
Two administration officials said the timing of the replacement was coincidental. We’re still reporting it out. |
 | | Erin Schaff/The New York Times |
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2. Last night’s debate was the most watched Democratic primary debate ever, drawing 19.7 million viewers and beating this year’s Golden Globes and the Grammys. |
The debate may have generated interest thanks to the addition of a newcomer, Michael Bloomberg, who seemed sluggish as he tried to fend off frequent attacks from his rivals, most notably Elizabeth Warren. |
 | | Blair Zong |
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3. Blair Zong, 33, lives in San Jose, Calif., but was visiting her relatives in Wuhan, China, when the coronavirus outbreak became an epidemic. |
Meanwhile, public health officials are rushing to study the growing number of clusters of coronavirus cases. For example, a Tokyo party where one case spread to a dozen, or the church in Daegu, South Korea, where 43 people were infected. |
 | | Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images |
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4. January was the warmest ever in 141 years of record keeping. Above, it was shirtsleeve weather in Washington last month. |
And 2020 is already “virtually certain” to be among the 10 warmest years on record, and has nearly a 50 percent chance of being the warmest ever, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. |
Global average temperatures last month were 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit (1.14 degrees Celsius) above average, slightly higher than in January 2016, the previous record-holder. |
 | | Sascha Steinbach/EPA, via Shutterstock |
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5. “Racism is a poison. Hatred is a poison.” |
The rampage took place deep in the heart of a region that prides itself on its diversity and tolerance. |
Security officials identified the killer as a 43-year-old German who had posted a racist video and screed on the internet. Hours after the attack, he was found dead from a gunshot, along with his mother, at his home. |
 | | Lucas Jackson/Reuters |
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6. There were multiple shuffles in the business world. |
And in retail, the departure of Leslie Wexner from L Brands signifies the end of an era in retail. But beyond a failure to keep up with changing trends, what led to his downfall were his close ties to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and an entrenched culture of misogyny at the crown jewel of his business empire, Victoria’s Secret. |
 | | Joshua Bright for The New York Times |
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An investigation by the attorney general’s office found that the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission marketed the medallions — city-issued permits required to own a yellow cab — as “a solid investment with steady growth” and reaped a profit from the sale of thousands of them at artificially high prices over a 14-year period. |
The attorney general began her inquiry in response to an investigation by The Times last year, which found that a group of taxi industry leaders earned hundreds of millions of dollars by deliberately inflating the prices of medallions. |
 | | Emiliano Granado for The New York Times |
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8. A few exhibits of note in New York City. |
A “stupendous,” and complicated, show at the Whitney featuring Mexico’s great muralists explores the profound impact of Mexican painters on the U.S. — and the meeting and mingling that enriched American culture, too, our critic writes. |
At the Guggenheim, a new six-month installation by Rem Koolhaas, a Dutch architect and longtime champion of cities, spotlights the other 98 percent of the world: the countryside. |
And on a quiet residential block in Queens, you’ll find one of the country’s great unheralded design museums: Louis Armstrong’s meticulously preserved house. Take a peek. |
 | | Helge Svela |
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9. This is a very smart dog. |
There are few canine prodigies with larger vocabularies, and they had intensive training. Whisky learned just by playing a game with her humans. |
 | | G.W. Brown |
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10. And finally, from “The Da Vinci Code” to an animal orchestra. |
Before he became a best-selling writer, Dan Brown was an aspiring musician. Now he’s giving it another shot with “Wild Symphony,” a children’s album and picture book for 3- to 7-year-olds. The story features a mouse conductor who recruits other animals to perform in his orchestra. Musical accompaniments for each page are available with a smartphone app. |
The suspense writer says the story and music were inspired by classical works like “Peter and the Wolf” and “The Carnival and the Animals.” But the book still bears some resemblance to his other novels: His trademark clues and puzzles are sprinkled throughout. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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