The Washington Post - 30.08.2019

ain’s elected representatives dur-

ing one of the biggest political

crises in generations.

Elsewhere in Europe, policy-

makers were jolted by the move to

suspend Parliament for five

weeks, which some of them said

brought Britain closer to a sud-

den, cliff-edge Brexit that ana-

lysts say could spark food and

medicine shortages. Some diplo-

mats said they were increasingly

convinced Johnson would stop at

little in a risky gambit to force

both Europe and his own rebel-

lious lawmakers into a compro-

mise.

The resignations came after

protesters jammed streets in cit-

ies around the country, including

London, Edinburgh and Man-

chester. Outside Parliament,

demonstrators chanted “Stop the

coup!” A petition calling for the

government to stop the suspen-

sion surged past 1.5 million sig-

SEE BREXIT ON A

BY KARLA ADAM

AND MICHAEL BIRNBAUM

london — British Prime Minis-
ter Boris Johnson faced defec-
tions from senior Conservative
lawmakers Thursday as a back-
lash built and opponents planned
legal challenges to his decision to
suspend Parliament to push his
Brexit plans.
The resignation of Ruth David-
son, who quit her role as leader of
the Scottish Conservatives, along
with a senior Conservative in the
House of Lords, was a sign of
rising worry within Johnson’s
ranks that the move to suspend
Parliament was sidelining Brit-

ABCDE

Prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington. SU V1 V2 V3 V

Sunny, warm 89/71 • Tomorrow: Mostly sunny 86/69 B8 Democracy Dies in Darkness FRIDAY, AUGUST 30 , 2019. $

X-15 in storage About 40 aircraft have been

moved as the National Air and Space Museum

undergoes a seven-year renovation. B

Dorian churns The hurricane is expected to

strengthen, and President Tr ump canceled a

trip to Poland to monitor the storm. A

WEEKEND

The yummiest

game of chicken

There’s no shortage of

fried chicken available in

the D.C. area. Here’s our

pecking order of the best

chicken at chains.

STYLE

No regrets

John Tr avolta is in the

Rotten Tomatoes clunker

stage of his career, and

loving it. C

In the News

THE NATION

Genetics and environ­

ment are connected

with sexuality, but there

is no “gay gene,” accord­

ing to a study. A

President Trump for­

mally established the

U.S. Space Command

and called space “the

next warfighting do­

main.” A

Former defense secre­

tary Jim Mattis has bro­

ken months of silence

with indirect criticism

of President Trump’s

leadership. A

An Ohio woman who

purchased bomb ma­

terials in a plot to com­

mit mass violence

pleaded guilty to a ter­

rorism charge. A

President Trump is re­

viving his false claims of

widespread voter fraud

in New Hampshire,

drawing the ire of some

GOP officials. A

Ten Democratic presi­

dential candidates qual­

ified to appear on a sin­

gle debate night next

month. A

THE WORLD

Amid Hong Kong’s

turmoil, questions grow

over its leader’s refusal

to offer concessions to

protesters. A

The former leaders of

Colombia’s FARC rebel

group blamed the gov­

ernment as it broke with

a 2016 peace accord. A

Israel sought to justify

recent airstrikes by

pointing to Iranian ef­

forts to supply Hezbol­

lah with the tools to ac­

quire precision­guided

missiles. A

THE ECONOMY

Amid warning signs of

a coming recession, the

nation’s economic for­

tunes largely will hinge

on consumer spending,

experts said. A

Alibaba founder Jack

Ma, known for support­

ing a 12­hour workday,

says technological ad­

vancements may enable

people to work only

12 hours a week. A

THE REGION

A man with a history of

mental illness was or­

dered jailed on a murder

charge over an appar­

ently random stabbing

of a woman in North­

west Washington. B

The District will not

meet the mayor’s goal of

slashing the number of

new HIV cases in half by

2020, health officials

say. B

Local governments are

expanding legal defense

funds for immigrants

facing deportation, re­

viving a debate in Mary­

land’s largest jurisdic­

tion. B

At D.C. libraries, a for­

merly homeless woman

helps those who are

struggling now. B

Inside

JIM PRESTON/SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

BUSINESS NEWS ....................... A

COMICS .......................................C

OPINION PAGES.........................A

LOTTERIES...................................B

OBITUARIES ................................ B

TELEVISION ................................. C

WORLD NEWS............................A

CONTENT © 2019

The Washington Post / Year 142, No. 268

BY JULIET EILPERIN

AND BRADY DENNIS

The Environmental Protection

Agency announced Thursday that

it plans to loosen federal rules on

methane by allowing oil and gas

operators to largely police them-

selves when it comes to prevent-

ing the powerful greenhouse gas

from leaking out of new oil and

gas wells, pipelines and other

infrastructure.

The plan challenges the notion,

championed under the Obama

administration, that the federal

government has the authority to

regulate methane without first

making a detailed determination

that it qualifies as a pollutant

under the Clean Air Act.

If successful, that change could

hamper future administrations

from enacting tougher restric-

tions on methane. Already, the

Trump administration has taken

several steps to limit the govern-

ment’s ability to regulate other

greenhouse gases in the future,

including in a recently finalized

rule on carbon dioxide emissions

from power plants.

EPA Administrator Andrew

Wheeler said in a statement

Thursday that the latest proposal

removes “unnecessary and dupli-

cative” regulatory burdens. “The

Trump administration recognizes

that methane is valuable, and the

industry has an incentive to mini-

mize leaks and maximize its use.”

The move is the latest in a

series of Trump actions aimed at

undoing previous efforts to com-

bat climate change in the interest

of unburdening companies from

regulation and reducing their

SEE METHANE ON A

EPA set

to relax

rules on

methane

PLAN SPLITS OIL

AND GAS INDUSTRY

Potent greenhouse gas is

BY MATT ZAPOTOSKY a factor in climate change

Former FBI director James B.
Comey violated FBI policies in
how he handled memos that de-
tailed his controversial interac-
tions with President Trump, set-
ting a “dangerous example” for
bureau employees about substi-
tuting personal righteousness for
established rules, the Justice De-
partment’s internal watchdog
found in a report released Thurs-
day.
The inspector general criti-
cized Comey for keeping the gov-
ernment documents at his home,
engineering the release of some of
their contents to the news media
and not telling the bureau to
whom he had given them — even
after he was aware that some
contained classified information.
Comey told investigators that
he felt the memos were personal
and that he was acting in the best
interests of the country. But the
inspector general rejected that
defense, writing that Comey’s
senior FBI leaders all agreed the
memos were government docu-
ments, and that the former direc-
tor’s “ own, personal conception of
what was necessary was not an
appropriate basis for ignoring the
policies and agreements govern-
ing the use of FBI records.”
“The responsibility to protect
sensitive law enforcement infor-
mation falls in large part to the
employees of the FBI who have
access to it through their daily
duties,” the inspector general
wrote. “Former Director Comey
failed to live up to this responsi-
bility.”
By now, Comey’s memos are
well-known. They described,
among other things, how Trump
had pressed Comey for loyalty
SEE COMEY ON A

Watchdog:

Comey

violated

FBI policy

DOJ report criticizes how

former director handled

memos on Trump talks

BY MATT VISER

AND GREG JAFFE

hanover, n.h. — Joe Biden

painted a vivid scene for the

400 people packed into a college

meeting hall. A four-star general

had asked the then-vice president

to travel to Konar province in Af-

ghanistan, a dangerous foray into

“godforsaken country” to recog-

nize the remarkable heroism of a

Navy captain.

Some told him it was too risky,

but B iden said he brushed off their

concerns.

“We can lose a vice president,”

he said. “We can’t lose many more

of these k ids. Not a joke.”

The Navy captain, Biden re-

called Friday night, had rappelled

down a 60-foot ravine under fire

and r etrieved the body o f an Amer-

ican comrade, carrying him o n his

back. Now the general wanted

Biden to pin a Silver Star on the

American hero who, despite his

bravery, f elt like a failure.

“He said, ‘Sir, I don’t want the

damn thing!’ ” Biden said, his jaw

clenched and his voice rising to a

shout. “ ‘Do not pin it on me, Sir!

Please, Sir. Do not do t hat! He d ied.

He d ied!’ ”

The room w as silent.

“This is the God’s truth,” Biden

had said as he told the story. “My

word as a Biden.”

Except almost every detail in

the story appears to be incorrect.

Based on interviews with more

than a dozen U.S. troops, their

commanders a nd Biden campaign

officials, it appears as though the

former v ice president has j umbled

elements of at least three actual

events into one story of bravery,

compassion and regret that never

happened.

Biden visited K onar province i n

2008 as a U.S. senator, not as vice

president. The service member

who performed the c elebrated res-

cue that Biden described was a

20-year-old Army specialist, not a

much older Navy captain. And

that soldier, Kyle J. White, never

had a Silver Star, or any other

medal, p inned o n him b y Biden. At

SEE BIDEN ON A

For Biden, a moving — but inaccurate — war story

In repeated tale of

heroism, he appears to

combine several events

Johnson allies resign amid

uproar over his latest move

BY PETER HOLLEY

When Andrew Kaplan reminisces, his en-

grossing tales leave the impression that he’s

managed to pack multiple lives into a single

existence: g lobe-trotting war correspondent i n

his 20s, a member of the Israeli army who

fought i n the Six-Day War, s uccessful entrepre-

neur and, later, the author of numerous spy

novels and Hollywood scripts.

Now — as the silver-haired 78-year-old

unwinds with his wife of 39 years in a

suburban oasis outside Palm Springs — he has

realized he would like his loved ones to have

access to those stories, even when he’s no

longer alive to share them. Kaplan has agreed

to become “A ndyBot,” a virtual p erson w ho will

be immortalized in the cloud for hundreds,

perhaps thousands, of years.

If all goes according to plan, future genera-

tions will be able to interact with him using

SEE LEGACY ON A

Te ch firms strive to extend life beyond the last breath

Is the rise of virtual beings the

next step in quest for immortality?

BRINSON+BANKS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Andrew Kaplan, 78, agreed to become an emotionally intelligent virtual person for

the tech start-up HereAfter. He will be immortalized digitally, years after he is dead.

JORGE GUERRERO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Migrants rescued in the Mediterranean line up in Malaga, Spain. The country’s rescue agency said Thursday it

had picked up 208 migrants in 24 hours east of the Strait of Gibraltar, a common route for crossing from Africa.

Meanwhile, Spain’s deputy prime minister called for all European Union countries to help on the migrant issue.

On dry land once more

Protests grow over plan

to suspend Parliament

ahead of Brexit deadline