Tag: The Times

Citing “confidential financial records” it obtained, the Times reported that Kushner, 37, a senior White House adviser, for years minimized his tax bills by booking heavy losses on reported depreciation of his real estate holdings that overwhelmed his reported income. The Times noted that nothing in the documents indicate that Kushner or his company broke the law. In a 2015 example, Kushner booked $8.3 million in losses driven by “significant depreciation” of real estate owned by Kushner and his company. The loss offset Kushner’s income of $1.7 million in salary and investment gains, the Times reported, citing the documents. More than a dozen tax accountants and lawyers reviewed the records for the Times. One told the paper that the records indicated that Kushner paid little or no federal income taxes in five of the last eight years. The documents reviewed by the newspaper describe Kushner’s business dealings and finances from 2009 to 2016, according to the paper. They were drafted with Kushner’s participation as part of a review of his finances by a prospective lender and contain information from his federal tax filings in addition to other data provided by advisers, according to the report. The records were given to the paper by “a person who has had financial dealings with Kushner and his family,” it said. He said, without offering proof, that the documents were obtained in violation of the law and business confidentiality agreements.

ORLANDO (The Borowitz Report)—Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Vice-President Mike Pence ripped the New York Times and vowed never to write for it again. “I think the New York Times is reprehensible and disgraceful, and should apologize to the American people,” Pence said. “As for me, I’m going to show my disgust with the Times by never, ever submitting another piece of writing to it.” Pence said that, in addition to the Times’ irresponsible decision to publish incendiary articles, “The editors over there are really hard to deal with if you’re a freelance opinion writer.” “People see the New York Times as a biased publication with a blatant agenda to take down Donald Trump,” Pence said. “What people don’t realize is that the editors over there make a freelance writer’s life miserable—suggesting changes in words, moving paragraphs around, and cutting lines that you thought were really good.” In addition to those criticisms, Pence said that the Times insists that writers sign a contract and submit a W-9 before they can get paid. “The Times says that it pays writers promptly, but when I look at their behavior up to this point, color me skeptical,” Pence said. “I’ll believe it when I get the check.”

American politics have become more racialized over the last decade. Over the long term, that trend will probably help the Democrats — the party of the country’s growing demographic groups. First, a little history: The Obama presidency started the new era of racialized politics. But the mere fact that Obama was black made voters think more about race. And when white people are frequently reminded of their racial identity, they tend to become more politically conservative, as Ezra Klein explains in a new Vox piece, “White threat in a browning America.” I think the Democrats are favored to retake the House this year and the White House in 2020, as I wrote yesterday. Yet despite the risks of racialized politics for the Democratic Party, it often finds itself incapable of de-emphasizing the issue. “The Democratic Party will not be able to win elections without an excited, diverse coalition. So what should Democrats do? Manafort trial. The trial of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, is set to begin this morning in Virginia.

(CNN)Donald Trump is giving Americans a glimpse of the fury raging inside him as a pivotal moment nears for special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, and different strands of political and legal vulnerability swirling around the President become ever more threatening. The Robert Mueller Rigged Witch Hunt, headed now by 17 (increased from 13, including an Obama White House lawyer) Angry Democrats, was started by a fraudulent Dossier, paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC. Trump tweeted Sunday. Trump's tweets on Sunday represented his most specific attempt yet to discredit any findings of the Mueller investigation into alleged election collusion with Russians, following clear signs that his previous assaults have been effective in hardening the opinion of GOP voters against the probe. And ironically, given the President's chosen method of attack Sunday, The New York Times reported last week that Mueller was examining Trump's tweets to see whether they show malicious intent to obstruct justice in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. "Is Robert Mueller ever going to release his conflicts of interest with respect to President Trump, including the fact that we had a very nasty & contentious business relationship, I turned him down to head the FBI (one day before appointment as S.C.) & Comey is his close friend," Trump said in a second tweet. Trump's attacks on Mueller followed yet another extraordinary assault on the media by the President after he broke details of a private meeting he had with A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times on July 20. Trump tweeted on Sunday afternoon. Taken together with the Mueller offensive, the tweet represented an escalation of Trump's strategy to discredit the integrity and moral standing of any institution that will ultimately help to shape a national consensus on his conduct. The 4.1% GDP growth rate figure will form the centerpiece of Trump's midterm election argument to voters that he has unleashed a new age of American prosperity that Republicans hope will prove more important to their choice than the ominous developments in the Russia probe and the uproar perpetually whipped up by the President's convention-shattering style.

Justine Greening has said she believes other senior Conservative MPs also support the idea of a second referendum to end a likely parliamentary deadlock on Brexit, after she became the most high-profile Tory to endorse such a move. May hit by another PPS resignation as Tory MP says he won't accept 'watered down Brexit' - Politics live Read more The former education secretary and remain supporter said Theresa May’s Chequers plan “in practice suits no one” and would be rejected by both remainers and leavers. Writing in the Times, the MP for Putney said the “only solution is to take the final Brexit decision out of the hands of deadlocked politicians” by letting voters choose from three options: May’s final deal, a no-deal Brexit or staying in the EU. Greening proposed a system using first and second-preference votes to ensure the preferred model achieved more then 50% of the final vote. Speaking later on Monday on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Greening said she expected other senior Tories would support the idea. “I think what I’m saying is what everyone is seeing in parliament,” she said. Asked whether that meant other leading Conservatives would support her specific plan, she said: “Yes, I believe so.” Also on Monday, May suffered another resignation in protest at her Chequers plan. The basic problem we’ve got is that Westminster works on party lines, but Brexit is above party politics, and so in a way it’s not set up to deal with this issue.” What was needed was “a clear route forward that settles this European question once and for all”, Greening said. Theresa May faces rebellion from Brexit hardliners in customs bill vote Read more Unhappiness from the Tory right over May’s proposed Brexit deal, and their threats to vote it down when a promised meaningful final vote is held in parliament around the turn of the year, have prompted growing speculation that the prime minister may struggle to ensure that whatever she negotiates will be approved by MPs, placing Britain’s future relationship with Europe in limbo. Blair also suggested there should be three choices for voters.

Unsurprisingly, with the possibility of another election in the cards, market sentiment has shifted to risk-off in light of the political uncertainty. Three questions for Italy going forward Against the backdrop of the latest polling data, it is really hard to predict what will happen next in the political arena. What's in the cards for financial markets? Currently, we think the political risks are growing, incrementally pushing our cycle score deeper into negative territory. Combined, our building blocks have triggered a move from an underweight position to neutral for Italian government bonds, but are not yet telling us it's time to move to an overweight. The information, analysis and opinions expressed herein are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual entity. As with any type of portfolio structuring, attempting to reduce risk and increase return could, at certain times, unintentionally reduce returns. Investments that are allocated across multiple types of securities may be exposed to a variety of risks based on the asset classes, investment styles, market sectors, and size of companies preferred by the investment managers. Neither Russell Investments nor its affiliates are responsible for investment decisions with respect to such investments or for the accuracy or completeness of information about such investments. This is a publication of Russell Investments.

Donald Trump Jr met with an emissary for foreign governments seeking to help his father’s presidential campaign three months before the 2016 election, the New York Times reported on Saturday. Also present, the paper said, were an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation, Joel Zamel, and Erik Prince, the founder of the private military contractor formerly known as Blackwater. The special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating that interference and alleged links between Trump aides and Moscow. During the Trump Tower meeting, the Times said, George Nader, the emissary for the two crown princes, indicated that leaders in Saudi Arabia and the UAE wished to help Trump. Alan Futerfas, a lawyer for Trump Jr, told the Times: “Prior to the 2016 election, Donald Trump Jr recalls a meeting with Erik Prince, George Nader and another individual who may be Joel Zamel. The lawyer also said Zamel had “provided full cooperation to the government to assist with their investigation”. The report cited “a senior official in Saudi Arabia” who it said denied Nader had ever been authorized to speak for the Saudi government. It was later disclosed that the encounter was arranged when the Russians offered to provide incriminating information about Clinton. The president’s son has said his father was not aware of that Trump Tower meeting. Last year, Trump embraced a Saudi-led blockade against Qatar, a key US ally, against the counsel of his foreign policy advisers.

President Trump early Sunday blasted The New York Times over a report his administration has struggled to achieve his goals. “The Failing @nytimes, in a story by Peter Baker, should have mentioned the rapid terminations by me of TPP & The Paris Accord & the fast approvals of The Keystone XL & Dakota Access pipelines. Also, look at the recent EPA cancelations & our great new Supreme Court Justice!” Trump tweeted. The Times reported that Trump has focused on repealing former President Obama’s achievements after struggling to reach his own goals, like repealing ObamaCare. It adds that Trump is using executive orders to pressure Congress to follow his agenda. The newspaper does mention Trump’s approval of the Keystone XL pipeline and his decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement. Trump ended key ObamaCare payments to insurers last week and also threatened to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal — both landmark achievements for the Obama administration.

. At least six members of President Trump’s White House have used private email addresses while conducting government business, The New York Times reported Monday evening. The news follows reports that White House senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has used a private email for White House business. A watchdog group said Monday it obtained documents that also showed Ivanka Trump used a personal email account to communicate with a member of the Trump administration. Additionally, the government email accounts are meant to have stronger protections in place to prevent classified or sensitive government information from falling into the wrong hands. Clinton used a server where she exclusively used a private email account to conduct official State Department business. “All White House personnel have been instructed to use official email to conduct all government related work,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday during a press briefing after being asked about reports of the private account use. “They are further instructed that if they receive work-related communication on personal accounts, they should be forwarded to official email accounts,” she said. The emails used on such accounts have not been released.

Trump lawyers battle over cooperating with Mueller's probe: report. President Trump’s lawyers are clashing over how much to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller, The New York Times reported Sunday. A Times reporter overheard Trump’s lawyer, Ty Cobb, complaining at a D.C. steakhouse about his disagreements with White House counsel Donald McGahn about how to respond to Mueller’s requests in the investigation. Cobb said at the restaurant that he believed one lawyer was a “McGahn spy” and that McGahn was hiding documents from him that he wanted to access. Cobb also blamed a colleague for “earlier leaks” that he said “tried to push” Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner out, according to The Times. McGahn privately yelled at Cobb for publicly speaking about the private investigation after the Times contacted the White House, according to the Times. Chief of staff John Kelly also reportedly rebuked Cobb. Cobb is allegedly pushing for the Trump administration to be open with Mueller in his investigation into Russian election interference, while McGahn is pushing for a more restrained approach that could let Trump later assert executive privilege. McGahn hired a lawyer last week as part of Mueller’s investigation and is likely to be questioned about Trump’s decision to fire former FBI director James Comey and how White House advisers crafted a statement about Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the 2016 election.