It may prove to be the final battle for a governor who for a time seemed to redefine what it meant to be brash in modern politics, at least until President Trump’s emergence as a political figure. It was a style that Mr. Christie thought would punch his ticket to the White House, but with his presidential dreams dashed, he appears nonetheless determined to end his last fight with a win.

New Jersey is one of at least nine states that failed to meet their July 1 budget deadline. That had an immediate effect on residents of three of the states — Illinois, Maine and New Jersey.

The other six states — Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin — either have laws that maintain current spending levels or provide for stopgap measures in case of a budget impasse.

Officials said states without budgets would feel the full effects on Wednesday, after the Fourth of July holiday, when courts, motor-vehicle agencies and other state offices are to resume normal business. Monday is not a holiday, but because it falls between the weekend and the holiday, state officials expected less activity than usual.

In New Jersey, Mr. Christie’s longtime Democratic ally, Stephen M. Sweeney, the State Senate president, pushed through a bill on Thursday that would give state officials substantial authority to strip Horizon of reserves they deemed excessive. Mr. Christie had made clear that if the Horizon bill were not passed, he would use his line-item veto to strike Democratic spending priorities from the budget, including school funding and social welfare programs, in effect rendering the budget useless.

New Jersey’s Constitution requires the government to cease spending on everything except public safety and emergency services if a budget is not signed by July 1, and so state parks closed on Saturday, and government offices were not expected to open on Monday. Thousands of workers have been furloughed, and Mr. Christie said they should not expect to receive back pay when a budget is ultimately approved.

After months of attacking Horizon and its leaders, Mr. Christie blamed the leader of the State Assembly, Vincent Prieto, a Democrat, for the shutdown. The governor’s office adorned buildings around the state with posters showing Mr. Prieto and a caption that said, “This Facility Is CLOSED Because of This Man.”

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

At a news conference on Sunday, Mr. Christie said Mr. Prieto’s suggestion that the Horizon bill should be considered after the passage of a budget was “a fake, phony offer.”

“I haven’t heard from Vinnie Prieto since Friday when he walked out of my office,” the governor said. “He’s the one who dug his heels in and drew a line in the sand.”

At his own news conference, Mr. Prieto said, “This Chris Christie shutdown, it’s atrocious. We’re in Chris Christie hostage crisis Day Two. We can’t keep government shut down. It’s unacceptable.”

Mr. Christie made clear during his news conference that he was not concerned with what anyone thought about the fact that he had enjoyed the holiday weekend at a governor’s residence in Island Beach State Park, a popular beach that was closed to his constituents as a result of the broader shutdown.

Newsletter Sign Up

Continue reading the main story

Thank you for subscribing.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

View all New York Times newsletters.

• See Sample
• Manage Email Preferences
• Not you?
• Privacy Policy
• Opt out or contact us anytime

On Sunday, The Star-Ledger of New Jersey posted aerial photographs of Mr. Christie and his family sunning on the closed beach. Social media users expressed outrage. Beaches not run by the state were packed beyond capacity.

The paper said that when Christie was asked whether his use of the beach was fair, he replied, “Run for governor, and you can have a residence there.”

New Jersey’s government does not have a unique hold over Horizon. Mr. Christie has mentioned Horizon’s “charitable mission” and its nonprofit status, but the company is not a charity and does, in fact, pay taxes. It does not pay dividends; surpluses remain with the company.

The bill passed by the State Senate would make several changes to state law on the operation of health service corporations. (Horizon is the only such entity operating in New Jersey.) The bill would require Horizon to become an insurer of last resort, paying for the medical care of the state’s sickest and poorest residents. Horizon said that would mean that its customers would be forced to shoulder a burden that should be the government’s responsibility.

“We feel sorry for Governor Christie,” Kevin McArdle, Horizon’s public affairs manager, said in a statement. “In the twilight of his failed tenure, Governor Christie is resorting again to bullying and distortions to retaliate against Horizon’s 3.8 million policyholders for opposing his $300 million reserve raid that has been called a shakedown and extortion.”

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

After his budget address in February, Mr. Christie escalated his public attacks on Horizon. Last month, he held an unusual news conference in which he announced that the state had levied fines of $15.5 million against the insurer for incorrectly processing Medicaid claims. Horizon said it would challenge the findings.

In 2005, New Jersey Democrats toyed with raiding Horizon’s reserves but abandoned the move after the state treasurer said such a move would not withstand legal scrutiny. Horizon has not said whether it would challenge the current bill in court.

Horizon has said its reserves are within industry norms and are only enough to cover 75 days’ worth of claims for its members.

Mr. Christie’s effort to take some of the company’s reserves has been met with stark opposition, most vocally by conservative advocates of free-market principles and minimal government.

An editorial in The Wall Street Journal called it “a tax and regulatory mugging masked as public charity.” Steve Forbes, the onetime presidential candidate, said it amounted to a “permanent backdoor tax increase” that “set a dangerous precedent for state government intrusion into the private marketplace.”

In Trenton on Sunday, Shawn Ludwig, the president of Communications Workers of America Local 1038, which represents about 3,000 state workers, called the Horizon situation a “made-up crisis.”

“It’s not a real crisis. The state’s not in real peril,” Mr. Ludwig said. “It’s one thing if the government is being shut down because they’re debating a budget. It’s another thing if the government is being shut down because they want a Horizon deal.”

Continue reading the main story

DOHA, Qatar — A group of Arab nations early on Monday extended a deadline for Qatar to respond to their list of demands in a diplomatic crisis roiling the Gulf, saying Kuwait’s emir requested the delay as part of his efforts to mediate the dispute.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut off ties with 2022 FIFA World Cup host Qatar on June 5, restricting access to their airspace and ports and sealing Qatar’s only land border, which it shares with Saudi Arabia.

They issued a 13-point list of demands to end the standoff June 22 and gave the natural gas-rich country 10 days to comply.

• Qatar rejects demands made by Arab countries 

The joint statement early Monday by the four Arab nations said they expected Qatar to respond to their demands later in the day. The new deadline would expire late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

« The response of the four states will then be sent following the study of the Qatari government’s response and assessment of its response to the whole demands, » the statement said.

The Arab nations presented Qatar with their list of 13 demands on June 23. The list, which U.S. officials said would be « difficult » for Qatar to meet, includes restricting diplomatic ties with Iran, closing a Turkish military base on Qatari territory, severing ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, and shuttering the Al-Jazeera broadcasting network. 

U.S. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, spoke with Qatar’s emir, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi.

The White House said Mr. Trump urged unity and reiterated the importance of stopping terrorist financing and discrediting extremist ideology. A separate statement carried on the official Qatar News Agency said the emir’s discussion with Mr. Trump touched on the need to fight terrorism and extremism in all its forms and sources, and was a chance for the countries to review their bilateral strategic relations.

Qatar, like the countries lined up against it, is a U.S. ally. It hosts the some 10,000 American troops at the sprawling al-Udeid Air Base. The desert facility is home to the forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command and has been a key staging ground for the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the war in Afghanistan.

The four nations cut ties to Qatar over allegations it supports extremists and over worries it maintains too-close ties to Shiite power Iran. Qatar has long denied sponsoring extremist groups and maintains ties to Iran as it shares a massive offshore natural gas field with the country.

« Qatar is not an easy country to be swallowed by anyone. We are ready. We stand ready to defend our country. I hope that we don’t come to a stage where, you know, a military intervention is made, » Qatari Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah told Sky News.

Qatar’s main QE stock index lost more than 3 percent when it reopened Sunday following a weeklong hiatus for the Eid al-Fitr holiday break — its first session since the demands were laid out. It eventually recovered some of its losses later in the trading session to close down 2.3 percent at 8,822.15.

Qatari supermarkets saw panic buying when the four countries initially cut ties. But the capital, Doha, was largely calm Sunday as residents waited to see how the crisis would play out.

Abdelaziz al-Yafaei, a Qatari out for an evening walk along the city’s bayside, said he was reassured that things would be fine, regardless of what happens over the course of the next days.

« We have a government, thank God, that is wise and knows how to provide for all of our needs, how to maintain security, » he said. « We have enough funds in the country, on the economic side. All of the affairs are headed for the better. »

Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, showed no signs of backing down in during a press briefing in Rome on Saturday, saying the demands were never meant to be accepted and that his country « is prepared to face whatever consequences. »

While in Rome, Al Thani met with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano, who gave his backing to ongoing mediation efforts led by Kuwait. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also tried to resolve the dispute, with the U.S. last week urging Saudi Arabia and its allies to stay « open to negotiation » with Qatar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has separately spoken with the leaders of Qatar and Bahrain, urging direct dialogue among all the states involved, according to statements released by the Kremlin on Saturday.

Post Contributor Badge

This commenter is a Washington Post contributor. Post contributors aren’t staff, but may write articles or columns. In some cases, contributors are sources or experts quoted in a story.

More about badges | Request a badge

President Donald Trump delivered a campaign-style speech heavy with patriotic themes and support for American troops on Saturday night, and didn’t spare the news media from another dose of the criticism dished out earlier in the day on social media.

“The fake news media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them, because the people know the truth,” the president said in a speech to the “Celebrate Freedom” event at Washington’s Kennedy Center. “I’m president, and they’re not.”

The program, billed as a tribute to veterans, was staged by Christian broadcasting group Salem Media and the First Baptist Church of Dallas. Trump recycled many of his biggest campaign applause lines, including a vow to “build the wall” on the U.S. border with Mexico, a reminder that he “inherited a mess” upon taking office, and a warning of the dangers of “radical Islamic terrorism.”

Trump used the event, on the weekend before the Independence Day holiday, to attack the free press as “fake” for coverage critical of him. But the First Amendment, the tenet of U.S. democracy that bolsters freedom of religion and speech, also covers freedom of the press — a protection Trump didn’t highlight.

In a stab at inclusiveness late in the 34-minute remarks, Trump said, “We all share one home, and one glorious destiny. And whether we are black or brown or white — we all bleed the same red blood. We all salute the same great flag.”

Law Enforcement

The speech, heavy on praise for the military and law enforcement, and for the role of religion in public life, came days ahead of the nation’s annual Independence Day celebration.

Trump is also considering his administration’s approach toward fighting Islamic State.
He said Saturday that terrorism and extremism can’t be allowed to spread in the U.S., and was the “one of the most grave and dire threats to religious liberty.”

The occasion gave Trump an opportunity to reset his message after a stalled push for a vote on Senate health-care legislation, resistance from several Republican-led states to turning over private voter data for a Trump commission to study fraud, and the now three-day feud with MSNBC morning show hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

Trump has looked to recent rallies to energize his base. At an event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in June, he spoke for more than an hour. In May, he used a commencement address at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, to amplify his own reputation as a political outsider.

People Power

He returned to that theme on Saturday, saying that his administration “is transferring power out of Washington and returning that power back to the people, where it belongs.”

The president made a special return flight to Washington for the event at the Kennedy Center. He’s spending the long weekend with wife Melania, son Barron, and in-laws at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf resort.

Reporters were kept several miles from the property on Saturday, and the White House gave no details about the president’s day. Trump kicked off his day with a series of tweets that continued criticisms of cable TV networks and asking the more than 20 states resisting turning over broad voter data: “What are they trying to hide?”

Trump’s swipes at Brzezinski’s physical appearance and mental state have prompted several Republicans in Congress to call the tweets inappropriate and un-presidential. The back-and-forth also includes a claim by the MSNBC hosts that White House officials suggested the couple could have fended off a negative story about them in the National Enquirer by apologizing to Trump for their negative coverage of him.

“My use of social media is not Presidential – it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL,” Trump tweeted to his 33 million followers Saturday.

Wounded Warriors

Organizers of Saturday’s event, an event with a voice and orchestral show, said the audience was to include hundreds of veterans from around the country including wounded warriors receiving care at Walter Reed Medical Center in suburban Bethesda, Maryland.

The church’s pastor, Robert Jeffress, host of “Pathway to Victory,” an internationally distributed radio and television program, said in a statement ahead of the event that he was “honored” but “not surprised” that Trump had agreed to participate. “I’m grateful that President Trump has created an atmosphere in which evangelical Christians feel at home once again in our nation’s capital,” Jeffress said.

“My administration will always support and defend your religious liberty,” Trump said in his prepared remarks.

The first family will return to Washington Monday night in preparation for a July 4 gathering at the White House that’s become tradition for U.S. presidents. Later next week, Trump embarks on his second foreign trip as commander in chief, which will include stops in Poland and Germany, where he’ll participate in a Group of 20 summit and meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders.

Senate Republicans are working the referee as they try to salvage their shot at repealing and replacing ObamaCare.

They are specifically turning up the heat on the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), hoping to get a more favorable analysis on the next version of their healthcare bill.

The CBO’s initial score of the GOP’s healthcare bill found that 22 million more people would be left without health insurance over the next decade compared to under present law.

It was a terrible number for GOP leaders, dealing a blow to their hopes of winning over centrist Republicans.

GOP senators wanted a better number than the House bill, which the CBO found would leave 23 million more people without insurance. What they got was a similar number, which underscored fears from Sen. Susan CollinsSusan CollinsSenate GOP pressures budget refs for better ObamaCare score ObamaCare fight moves from Washington to local districts Dem rep to Trump: Media isn’t trying to get you to stop tweeting MORE (R-Maine) and others that the legislation would leave many vulnerable people without affordable health insurance.

Now Republicans revamping their bill are pressuring the CBO to use a different benchmark for its next score.

They say the CBO used data from March 2016 in coming up with the analysis that 22 million people would lose health insurance.

By using a more recent benchmark from this year, Sen. Ron JohnsonRon JohnsonSenate GOP pressures budget refs for better ObamaCare score The party of Lincoln has no soul — the GOP and its toxic healthcare bill Tea Party chief on McConnellCare: Amend it or kill it MORE (R-Wis.) argues that number might come down by as much as 6 million.

He says that the individual insurance market is “in way worse shape today” than it was in March 2016 because many people have since dropped insurance because of rising premiums and insurance companies pulling out of markets.

“It’s completely unfair,” he said of the CBO baseline. “It’s completely penalizing the evaluation of what the Senate bill really does compared to current reality.”

CBO acknowledges that it is using the March 2016 data. But it says it is following standard procedure in doing so.

Republicans are moving their healthcare bill through the Senate under special budget reconciliation rules that prevent Democrats from filibustering the legislation. As part of that process, they passed a budget for fiscal year 2017 in January. That budget was based on CBO’s March 2016 baseline.

CBO traditionally uses the same baseline for bills passed under reconciliation as is used for the budget. This is why it used the March 2016 data as a baseline for its score on the Senate’s healthcare bill.

Senate aides agreed that the CBO used the older data based on instruction by House GOP leaders, who did not expect the process of passing the healthcare bill to drag on for so long. At a GOP retreat in Philadelphia in January, Speaker Paul RyanPaul RyanSenate GOP pressures budget refs for better ObamaCare score Kasich: Trump tweets ‘unacceptable’ Trump, GOP lawmakers struggle with messaging MORE (R-Wis.) outlined a 200-day agenda that anticipated repealing and replacing ObamaCare in April.

But as the Senate continues to struggle to pass its own healthcare bill, and as centrists worry over the CBO’s findings, that is looking like a costly error.

Republican senators grilled CBO Director Keith Hall over the issue when he spoke to the GOP conference on Tuesday, the day after it issued its damning report.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) said the March 2016 data was a big part of the conversation.

“Why not use updated information?” Daines said.

Daines also criticized the CBO for not being more transparent about its methodologies.

“Let’s just say the CBO did not serve themselves very well when they were questioned by numerous Republicans including myself. It was frankly very disappointing.”

Hall, the CBO director, pushed back against GOP senators in the meeting, arguing that it could take weeks to build new models based on more recent data, setting up a contest of wills between Senate Republicans and Congress’s official scorekeeper.

“They say they haven’t done it and it will take them a while to do it. I think we’ll put a lot of heat on them to get it — at least, at least look at that,” Johnson said.

Republicans are also considering other changes to their bill to improve the insurance numbers, but the fight over the CBO baseline could be key to winning support from the conference. 

Republicans need to win 50 votes from their own conference to clear their legislation through the Senate, but face defections from the left and the right. Collins and Sens. Lisa MurkowskiLisa MurkowskiSenate GOP pressures budget refs for better ObamaCare score ObamaCare fight moves from Washington to local districts The party of Lincoln has no soul — the GOP and its toxic healthcare bill MORE (Alaska), Dean HellerDean HellerSenate GOP pressures budget refs for better ObamaCare score ObamaCare fight moves from Washington to local districts Democrats go in for the kill on ObamaCare repeal MORE (Nev.), Rob PortmanRob PortmanSenate GOP pressures budget refs for better ObamaCare score ObamaCare fight moves from Washington to local districts The party of Lincoln has no soul — the GOP and its toxic healthcare bill MORE (Ohio) and Shelley Moore CapitoShelley Moore CapitoSenate GOP pressures budget refs for better ObamaCare score ObamaCare fight moves from Washington to local districts The party of Lincoln has no soul — the GOP and its toxic healthcare bill MORE (W.Va.) are among the Republicans worried their bill would leave too many people with unaffordable paths to insurance.

The GOP can only afford to lose two votes, and also faces pressure from conservatives, who have other demands about the healthcare bill.

Deborah Kilroe, the associate director for communications at CBO, said the agency typically uses the same baseline as the congressional budget resolution when scoring a bill that is protected by the reconciliation instructions. 

Kilroe noted that when Congress passed its budget resolution shortly after New Year’s Day, CBO had not yet issued the January 2017 benchmark that Johnson is now using in his updated analysis. 

She said agencies “have not had time to undertake a follow-on analysis” of the GOP legislation using the more recent baseline.

Kilgore explained that CBO’s January projections of the total number of people who will be uninsured in future years under ObamaCare are “similar” to the estimate based on the data from March of last year.

She conceded, however, that the number of people who were projected in January to buy subsidized health insurance through government-regulated marketplaces in future years was smaller compared to the March of 2016 estimate.

If CBO uses a more recent baseline to evaluate the legislation, “it is unclear how different categories of insurance would be affected and whether the budgetary effects would differ noticeably,” Kilroe said. 

Daines says the stakes are too high to let the healthcare debate be decided by what he sees as an errant score.

“It’s like these guys are reffing a football game and we’re playing basketball. I just want to have the right referee,” he said.

Clubgoers screamed and scrambled for cover as dozens of gunshots rang out during a rap concert in downtown Little Rock early Saturday, leaving 28 people injured from an 11-second melee that police said may be gang-related.

Police Chief Kenton Buckner said investigators believe multiple people fired shots and that the shooting could be connected other violence in the city in recent days. All of the victims were expected to survive the shooting at the Power Ultra Lounge, and Buckner credited the work of first responders for that.

Twenty-five people between the ages of 16 and 35 suffered gunshot wounds, and three others had unrelated injuries. Two people were in critical condition Saturday afternoon, Buckner said.

Courtney Swanigan, 23, told The Associated Press that when the gunfire rang out, « I just closed my eyes, got down on the ground and put my hands on my head. »

Mayor Mark Stodola said the city would shut down the club under a « criminal abatement » program. State regulators suspended the club’s liquor license earlier Saturday and Stodola said the property’s manager was delivering an eviction notice.

« We know we’ve got to use a hammer, we’ve got to use a big hammer on the people who would do violence with guns and hurt people, » the mayor said at an afternoon news conference.

He said the city must do more to « keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people » and suggested that people refuse to patronize clubs that seem to promote violence. Material advertising the concert by Tennessee rapper Finese 2Tymes showed a man pointing a gun at a camera.

« A promotional video with a gun on the front cover inviting people to a concert … should also be totally unacceptable in our community, » Stodola said.

The shooting capped a violent week in Arkansas‘ largest city. Police had responded to a dozen drive-by shootings over the previous nine days.

« This does appear to be a continuation of disputes from some of our local groups, » Buckner said. « You’ve seen some of the things playing out in our streets that has resulted in drive-by shootings. »

The shooting occurred about 2:30 a.m. to the club about 1 mile (1.61 kilometers) east of the state Capitol building. Top state officials offered to aid the city respond to an increasing number of incidents.

« Little Rock’s crime problem appears to be intensifying, » Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in a statement. « Every few days it seems a high-profile shooting dominates the news, culminating with this morning’s event. I have spoken this morning with Mayor (Mark) Stodola and I have offered both my heart felt concern over this senseless violent tragedy and state assets as needed to address the continued threat of violence in our community. »

A Facebook video posted from inside the club included audio of at least 24 rounds fired in about 11 seconds. Darryl Rankin, who posted the video, said a friend of his who attended the Finese 2Tymes concert with him had a bullet « stuck in his spine. »

Calls to a number listed for Finese 2Tymes’ booking agent wasn’t returned Saturday, but a message was posted on the artist’s Facebook page offering thoughts and prayers for those injured: « THE VIOLENCE IS NOT FOR THE CLUB PEOPLE. WE ALL COME WITH 1 MOTIVE AT THE END OF THE DAY, AND THATS TO HAVE FUN. »

Police cordoned off the area as technicians collected evidence from the scene, which is near a Roman Catholic cathedral and a First United Methodist Church center. A number of worshippers gathered for a funeral at St. Andrew’s while police continued their work.

Glass from the Power Ultra Lounge’s second story windows littered the ground, along with empty drink cups. In the parking lot, a silver Toyota had what appeared to be a streak of blood on the front passenger-side door.

« I’m sick of all the killing and I’m tired of all the shooting. The kids getting hurt, » said Raida Bunche, who was waiting outside the club after hearing from a friend that her son had been inside. She found out later that he had run from the club when the shooting started and was not hurt.

Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control officials suspended the club’s alcohol license and set a hearing for July 10 on three potential charges: disorderly conduct, allowing possession of weapons on the premises and « failure to be a good neighbor. »

The club’s license has been suspended 11 times for failing to pay taxes, and it has been cited seven times for 14 various violations including unknowingly furnishing alcohol to minors and allowing alcohol to leave the premises since 2012, ABC Director of Enforcement Boyce Hamlet said.

In May, one person was killed and six people were hurt in a mass shooting at a downtown concert in Jonesboro, Arkansas, about 115 miles (185 kilometers) northeast of Little Rock. In that case, two men were charged with first-degree murder and six counts of first-degree battery.

Arkansas lawmakers earlier this year approved a measure expanding where concealed handguns can be carried, including bars if allowed by owners, for licensees who undergo additional training. The law takes effect in September, but the training likely won’t be available until early next year.

———

Follow Andrew DeMillo and Tafi Mukunyadzi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo and www.twitter.com/tafimukunyadzi

———

This story has been updated to correct the name of the nightclub to Power Ultra Lounge instead of Power Lounge and to correct spelling of mother’s name who waited outside club to Raida Bunche.

With gunfire thundering through the hospital, doctors dragged their colleagues and patients out of harm’s way and put them on elevators.

“Wherever the doctors found them, they grabbed them, took them out,” Dr. Sridhar Chilimuri, Bronx-Lebanon’s physician in chief, said on Saturday. “The active shooting was still happening while we had them in the operating room. It’s pretty remarkable how well everybody functioned.”

Had doctors and nurses not treated the victims where they fell, those who were shot might not have lived.

By Saturday, two victims — those with the brain and liver injuries — remained in critical condition, while the rest had been stabilized. The victim with the liver wound was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan for specialized surgery. The victim with the head wound was expected to remain at Bronx-Lebanon.

Dr. Tam, 32, who the police said lived in Jamaica, Queens, appeared from online records to also have worked at a family medical center on Fulton Avenue in the Bronx.

Some hospital workers, still working furiously to aid the wounded, had hardly slept since the shooting. Dr. Chilimuri allowed himself a two-hour break, during which he lay down and thought about all that had happened. Calls poured into the hospital from overseas, with families wanting to make sure that doctors and nurses — many of them immigrants — were safe.

The shooting had torn through a close-knit staff on a routine afternoon. On the third floor, where Ana Nuñez had been waiting to undergo a surgical procedure, some patients were under anesthesia and unconscious. They stayed that way through the attack.

“There were people under anesthesia that are still asleep in there,” Ms. Nuñez, 49, said in Spanish, as she left the hospital on Friday with her husband. She recalled an alarm sounding and nurses closing the door to her room and saying, “Don’t open it! Don’t open it!” When she was finally allowed to leave, all that was on her feet were hospital-issued socks.

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

Workers hid in closets, called the police and ordered patients and their relatives to hide under beds. Some described especially scary moments. Alex Peñalosa, one of many hospital employees streaming out of the hospital and ducking under police tape on Friday, said he worked in the obstetrics and gynecology unit.

“Someone tried to open the door and get in,” he said, making shaking motions with his arms, “and we locked it.” He added: “Someone was trying to get in.”

Newsletter Sign Up

Continue reading the main story

Thank you for subscribing.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

View all New York Times newsletters.

• See Sample
• Manage Email Preferences
• Not you?
• Privacy Policy
• Opt out or contact us anytime

By Friday night, as journalists lingered outside, workers sat in silence in the hospital chapel. A woman in green scrubs stared off in silence. A colleague in blue scrubs leaned against a wall and covered her face with a hand. They worked on the 16th floor, where part of the rampage had happened. Around them in the chapel were stained-glass windows, water jugs, empty cups and a bare altar.

Leslie Lind, Bronx-Lebanon’s director of social work and mental health administration, told the women that they would have to wait longer before they could go upstairs to get their things.

“It’s still a crime scene,” Ms. Lind said. The women sat motionless.

By Saturday morning, investigators had cleared the 16th floor and were letting hospital workers begin the long process of cleaning up. Blood was splattered on the floor and computers showed damage caused by a fire set by the suspect, Dr. Henry Bello, as he tried to kill himself. The hospital’s 17th floor remained an active crime scene, and part of the 15th floor had also been closed off.

The 11th floor was designated for victims’ families to wait and grieve.

By late Saturday morning, after doctors had stabilized three of their colleagues in the coronary care unit, physicians from the family medicine department huddled together. The hospital’s website said Dr. Bello had worked in that unit.

Some embraced, their hands wrapped around their colleagues’ scrubs. A few whispered with one another about whom they had known, and for how long. At some point since 3 p.m. Friday, each had taken a two-hour break. Few of them, though, had slept.

“It’s still sinking in today,” said Dr. Chilimuri. “Many have not called home.”

Downstairs, at the hospital’s cafe, Marsela Caushaj, a technician who works on the ninth floor, waited in line for coffee. A neon light spelling out Grand Cafe threw off a red glow above a beige counter. A Winnie the Pooh balloon with wishes for a quick recovery bobbed at the entrance. Another woman in green scrubs, tears in her eyes, leaned across the counter and whispered to a worker.

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

Dr. Chilimuri said the hospital had been prepared, with two hand surgeons ready to operate and a brain surgeon in the building to treat the head injury. Five operating rooms were up and running within minutes.

Even those victims who had been stabilized by Saturday faced long recoveries. Still, there were some hopeful signs. One man, a gastrointestinal fellow, underwent surgery for a severe gunshot wound to the hand and needs two more surgeries. He had woken up and was at Bronx-Lebanon with his wife, a medical resident at the hospital.

Another man, a medical student shot in the abdomen, had been removed from a ventilator and was awake and talking with his family, including his wife, who is also a medical student.

A fifth victim, a medical resident shot in the neck, had woken up and was talking with her family, Dr. Chilimuri said.

Continue reading the main story

Mr. Trump fired back on Twitter that it had been Mr. Scarborough who asked him to quash the story. “I said no!” the president wrote.

The bizarre back-and-forth, which has drawn blanket coverage on cable news, left Washington veterans stupefied. “I don’t remember anything quite like this,” said Vin Weber, a Republican lobbyist and former congressman from Minnesota.

But the episode also underscores several truths about a president who has yet to shed the habits of his pre-political life. After five months in office, Mr. Trump still kibitzes with television stars, keeps close tabs on his news coverage, and is unafraid to lash out in public against journalists he deems disloyal.

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

In his years as a real estate developer and socialite, Mr. Trump leaned on gossip outlets to burnish his image — and place news items to harm his enemies. Mr. Scarborough’s account on Friday raised the question of whether Mr. Trump has brought those tactics into the West Wing, using The Enquirer and its wealthy publisher, the president’s close friend David Pecker, as a collaborator.

On the air Friday, Mr. Scarborough said that three White House aides had repeatedly “begged” him to apologize to Mr. Trump for his critical commentary, so that the president would stop the Enquirer story from running.

Allies of Mr. Trump, who has fumed over the often-scathing coverage of him on “Morning Joe,” rejected that interpretation of the exchanges, saying that no ultimatum was issued.

The exact nature of the discussions remained murky. But at one point, Mr. Scarborough contacted Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and one of his top advisers, after learning that The Enquirer was pursuing a story about him and Ms. Brzezinski.

Mr. Kushner told the host that he needed to speak with Mr. Trump about his concerns, according to three people familiar with the conversation who requested anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

When Mr. Scarborough, who has taken to questioning Mr. Trump’s mental fitness on-air, noted that he and the president were not on good terms, Mr. Kushner suggested an apology may be in order, the people said.

On Friday, Mr. Scarborough said that he had text messages and emails to back up his account, but he declined to release them, citing the privacy of his sources.

For its part, the Enquirer — which endorsed Mr. Trump for president and often runs stories favorable to him and critical of his opponents — said it wanted nothing to do with the fight. “We have no knowledge of any discussions between the White House and Joe and Mika about our story, and absolutely no involvement in those discussions,” its editor, Dylan Howard, wrote in a statement.

Newsletter Sign Up

Continue reading the main story

Thank you for subscribing.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

View all New York Times newsletters.

• See Sample
• Manage Email Preferences
• Not you?
• Privacy Policy
• Opt out or contact us anytime

The story in question was published in early June, under the headline “Joe Mika: TV Couple’s Sleazy Cheating Scandal.’’ Ms. Brzezinski said in a phone interview that she was rattled when her children and friends received calls from Enquirer reporters before it ran. But she added, “We never once considered calling Donald, let’s just put it that way.”

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

The Enquirer incident came to light as the “Morning Joe” stars reacted to a furor that broke out on Thursday, when Mr. Trump tweeted that Mr. Scarborough was a “psycho” and claimed he had once seen Ms. Brzezinski “bleeding badly from a face-lift.”

His comments were met with a bipartisan backlash, including from Republican lawmakers crucial to his legislative agenda, and revived a broader discussion of the president’s habit of making insulting remarks about women’s appearances.

Ms. Brzezinski and Mr. Scarborough were once friendly with Mr. Trump, visiting him and his family at his Florida estate. But they are now blistering critics, a reversal that Mr. Trump took as an insulting and personal betrayal.

The controversy spilled into Friday, overshadowing the White House’s plans. The hosts wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post. A meeting between the president and his South Korean counterpart, Moon Jae-in, a sober discussion about North Korean aggression, shared coverage on cable news with segments about the Enquirer’s disreputable past and onscreen graphics including “TV Hosts: White House Used Tabloid Story to Threaten Us.”

By nightfall, CNN — which has engaged in its own war of words with Mr. Trump this year — was airing a discussion of whether the White House had veered into the realm of extortion.

Mr. Pecker, The Enquirer’s publisher, was the subject of a recent profile in The New Yorker examining his decades-long friendship with Mr. Trump, which included allegations that he had quashed stories critical of Mr. Trump during the presidential race. (Mr. Pecker denied this.) The Enquirer endorsed Mr. Trump last year and ran questionable articles about his Republican opponents, including a piece that falsely linked Senator Ted Cruz’s father to the Kennedy assassination.

Dick Morris, a former political consultant who now writes for The Enquirer, said in an interview that the criticism of the president on “Morning Joe”’ was a sign of “the media itself becoming Donald Trump’s political opponent.”

“He’s no longer opposing the Democratic Party,” Mr. Morris said. “He’s opposing the media.”

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story

Presidents before Mr. Trump often griped about their coverage, but took a more hands-off approach in responding to journalists. Barack Obama prided himself on ignoring cable news, and George W. Bush preferred his television tuned to ESPN, said Alex Conant, a former spokesman for Mr. Bush.

“Trump is not the first politician to have a thin skin when it comes to bad media coverage,” said Mr. Conant, who led communications for Senator Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign. “It’s his reaction to it that’s so unusual, and counterproductive.”

The talk-show host Dick Cavett, reached by telephone on Friday, recalled his brush with a president’s ire. Richard Nixon was recorded in the Oval Office complaining about Mr. Cavett’s commentary, and asking his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, what to do.

“Is there any way we can screw him?” Mr. Nixon can be heard asking of Mr. Cavett.

So would Mr. Cavett offer any advice for Ms. Brzezinski and Mr. Scarborough?

“It’s a considerable honor,” he said, laughing. “I would say, sit back and enjoy it.”

Continue reading the main story