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Venezuela, Amy Klobuchar, Academy Awards: Your Weekend Briefing

Ashley Calloway-Blatch and

Here are the week’s top stories, and a look ahead.

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Credit...Sarah Silbiger/The New York Times

1. President Trump has openly criticized the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, calling it a “witch hunt” and those who cooperate with investigators “rats.”

But our team of Washington reporters uncovered a more secretive layer of Mr. Trump’s public war on the investigations encircling him. Dozens of interviews and a review of confidential White House documents revealed numerous unreported episodes in a two-year drama.

The special counsel is expected to deliver a report on the results of his investigation within weeks. Once the report is submitted, it is not certain how much of it will become public or when.

Have you been keeping up with the headlines? Test your knowledge with our news quiz. And here’s the front page of our Sunday paper, the Sunday Review from Opinion and our crossword puzzles.

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Credit...Guillermo Arias/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

2. A group of 16 states, led by California, challenged President Trump in court on Monday over his plan to use emergency powers to spend billions of dollars on his border wall. The lawsuit argues that the president does not have the power to divert funds for constructing the wall because Congress controls spending. Above, the border fence seen from Tijuana, Mexico.

A day later, the Transportation Department said that it was exploring legal options to get back $2.5 billion in federal funds it had already spent on California’s high-speed rail network, and that it was terminating a $929 million federal grant to the California High-Speed Rail Authority.

“This is clear political retribution by President Trump, and we won’t sit idly by,” Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said in a statement. “This is California’s money, and we are going to fight for it.”

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Credit...Tim Gruber for The New York Times

3. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, embarked Tuesday on a second run for president. His bid will test whether he can retain his anti-establishment appeal or will lose ground to newer faces who have adopted many of his ideas.

One of those ideas, “Medicare for all,” would create a single-payer health care system. While it is sometimes mocked publicly, the health care and insurance industries are taking it as a serious threat.

Another 2020 candidate, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, above, has been under scrutiny about how she treats her staff. Several former aides told us she was not just demanding but often dehumanizing. Other former and current staff members spoke fondly of their experiences.

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Credit...Pool photo by Vincenzo Pinto

4. Pope Francis called “for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors,” capping off an unprecedented meeting in Rome that yielded a first step to holding bishops accountable for sexual abuse in their diocese.

Eradicating the scourge required more than legal processes and “disciplinary measures,” Francis said, though his landmark speech offered no policy remedies.

Victims’ advocates want uniform church laws to impose zero tolerance for priests who abuse minors and for the bishops who cover up for them, but Vatican officials say putting in place one world standard is virtually impossible.

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Credit...Edgard Garrido/Reuters

5. The standoff between President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and his political opponents has reached a head with disagreement over whether to allow tons of humanitarian aid, donated mostly by the United States, into Venezuela across the Colombian border.

Venezuela’s opposition, led by Juan Guaidó, had an ambitious plan to peacefully import foreign aid in truck convoys, but it degenerated into deadly skirmishes Saturday along the country’s borders. A smattering of supplies made it through, but most of them were blocked by armed loyalists of Mr. Maduro. Above, opposition supporters in the outskirts of Cúcuta, Colombia, on Saturday.

Mr. Maduro has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela and called the American aid a “Trojan horse” aimed at overthrowing his government. Opposition leaders have described the delivery of the aid as part of a plan to oust Mr. Maduro. Patients in critical condition or with serious chronic diseases told us the political theater is eclipsing their needs — with dire consequences.

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Credit...Getty Images

6. A Coast Guard lieutenant and self-described white nationalist was plotting to kill a long list of prominent journalists and Democratic politicians, as well as professors, judges and what he called “leftists in general,” federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson was arrested in Maryland on Feb. 15 on gun and drug charges, but prosecutors said those charges were just the “proverbial tip of the iceberg” and described Lieutenant Hasson as a “domestic terrorist.” From an office in Coast Guard headquarters, he took illicit opiates and plotted terror attacks, the authorities said.

A judge on Thursday ordered that Lieutenant Hasson remain in custody for at least 14 days while prosecutors consider further charges.

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Credit...Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

7. More than 100 Airbnb host accounts and 18 corporations were created to run an illegal hotel business in New York City that made more than $20 million in revenue. Above, a building where two apartments were illegally offered through Airbnb.

The crackdown on the empire last month was a milestone in the escalating battle between Airbnb and New York City, the company’s largest market in the country.

Airbnb condemned the exploitation of its platform, but the case shows how the site has given opportunists a new kind of hustle. We looked at the rise and fall of the elaborate real estate scheme.

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Credit...Nuccio Dinuzzo/Getty Images

8. The “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett, above, was arrested Thursday morning on charges of staging the assault he reported to the Chicago police in January.

Mr. Smollett, who is black and gay, had told the police he was attacked by masked men who hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him and said he was in “MAGA country,” a reference to President Trump’s campaign slogan.

The Chicago police said Mr. Smollett had staged the assault because he was upset by his salary and seeking publicity. The producers of “Empire,” a drama on Fox, announced Friday that Mr. Smollett’s character would not appear in the final two episodes of the show’s fifth season.

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Credit...Patrick T. Fallon for The New York Times

9. The 91st Academy Awards are Sunday night. Our awards season columnist offers his predictions for best picture, actress, actor and more.

We also look back on a year at the movies and break down the controversies, firestorms and outright debacles surrounding this year’s best picture nominees.

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Credit...Caroline Seidel/DPA, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

10. Finally, don’t miss our Best Weekend Reads.

We revisit the sites that tell the story of the murder of Emmett Till, one of the most hideous hate crimes of the 20th century; we remember Karl Lagerfeld, above, the designer who defined luxury fashion; and we talk to Nigella Lawson about her culinary career and the international celebrity — and scrutiny — that came with it.

For more suggestions on what to read, watch and listen to, may we suggest these 10 new books our editors liked, a glance at the latest small-screen recommendations from Watching, and our music critics’ latest playlist.

Have a great week.

Your Weekend Briefing is published Sundays at 6 a.m. Eastern.

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What did you like? What do you want to see here? Let us know at briefing@nytimes.com.

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