October 1, 2018, was your typical day for the Trump administration and its various hangers-on. Donald Trump bragged about a “historic” achievement—in this case, the “new” NAFTA agreement—while failing to mention that the pact, which he wrecked diplomatic relations with Canada to secure, is essentially a rebrand with some minor changes cribbed from Barack Obama. Sarah Huckabee Sanders ripped a reporter’s head off and used it for batting practice. Donald Trump Jr. proved once and for all that he’s a sentient bottle of Axe body spray. Oh, and the president of the United States suggested he has incriminating dirt on a U.S. senator that could be used for blackmail, if he so chooses.
During a press conference in the Rose Garden to discuss the deal struck with Canada and Mexico last night, the conversation naturally turned to Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who, in retrospect, showed enormous restraint not showing up to last Thursday’s hearing wearing a beer helmet. Asked if he would empower the F.B.I. to widen its investigation into allegations against the judge, Trump initially responded that “the F.B.I. should interview anybody that they want within reason.” But, of course, he wasn’t finished. Trump claimed that if Kavanaugh were really guilty of the things he’s been accused of, they would have come up “over the last 20, 30 years of his career,” and that it’s just so unfair that people are “going back to high school and . . . saying he drank a lot one evening” (fact-check: they’re saying he spent most of high school and college blackout drunk and engaged in sexual assault). The president then told the press that he’s got way, way worse dirt on a Democratic member of Congress, and seemed to suggest that he might have to air said dirt if Democrats don’t lay off his pal Brett.
“I happen to know some United States senators,” Trump said, “one who is on the other side, who is pretty aggressive. I’ve seen that person in very bad situations. O.K.? I’ve seen that person in very, very bad situations. Somewhat compromising. And you know, I think it’s very unfair to bring up things like this.”
Later, because he’s extremely presidential, Trump declined to identify the senator in question, saying he’d save it for his post–White House memoir.
And in case you were wondering, yes, this all happened during the same press conference in which the president both insulted a female reporter, telling her, “I know you’re not thinking, you never do,” and accidentally admitted that anyone watching the Kavanaugh hearing came away with the impression that Tobin, P.J., and Squi’s buddy was a raging drunk, at least during his Georgetown Prep and Yale years. All in all, a red-letter day for POTUS!
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Report: Dems will go after Trump’s taxes if midterms go their way
Remember Trump’s tax returns? The ones he’s refused to release despite the fact that every presidential candidate since Nixon has done so? The ones that could potentially shed some light on his canine loyalty to Mother Russia? The ones he has so far shielded from the public eye, citing “audits” and Americans supposedly not caring (fact-check: false!)? Well, Democrats are planning to reopen the issue should they take one or both chambers of Congress next month, per Politico:
Democrats, especially in the House, are quietly planning on using an obscure law that will enable them to examine the president’s tax filings without his permission.
The nearly 100-year-old statute allows the chairmen of Congress’s tax committees to look at anyone’s returns, and Democrats say they intend to use that power to help answer a long list of questions about Trump’s finances. Many also want to use it to make public confidential information about Trump’s taxes that he’s steadfastly refused to release.
While some lawmakers are apparently worried that releasing Trump’s returns would “precipitate a legal war with the administration” and “incense the president,” likely leading to an avalanche of Twitter-based attacks, if Democrats flip the House or Senate, they can probably expect to be on the receiving end of a whole bunch of @realDonaldTrump’s tantrums anyway.
Speaking of taxes . . .
If you’re planning to avoid paying yours, now would be an ideal time, as the Internal Revenue Service’s enforcement staff has been reduced by a third thanks to repeated budget cuts from Congressional Republicans and a decision by “management” to simply let tax dodgers do their thing, according to ProPublica:
Over time, crimes only tangentially related to taxes, such as drug trafficking and money laundering, have come to account for most of the agency’s cases.
The I.R.S. typically catches such evasion by auditing taxpayers. Theoretically, evidence picked up in audits can be used to start criminal cases. But the rate at which the agency audits tax returns has plummeted by 42 percent since the budget cuts started.
“The focus of auditors and tax collectors is not to identify fraud, it’s to collect tax,” said a special agent, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Management has set other priorities, he says. “So by default, the employees are not doing it.”
The result is, according to the I.R.S.’s own estimates, a loss of $125 billion a year, or enough money to fund NASA, the State Department, the Energy Department, and the Department of Homeland Security combined. Or, put another way . . .
Trump administration thinks Americans could use more mercury exposure
From the people who brought you “coal plants should regulate themselves,” “the atmosphere could use a lot more methane gas,” “the Paris climate accord is for pansies” and “catastrophic climate change is coming, so pollute to your heart’s content,” comes “we think the air you breathe could benefit from a lot more toxic chemicals,” per *The New York Times:*
The Trump administration has completed a detailed legal proposal to dramatically weaken a major environmental regulation covering mercury, a toxic chemical emitted from coal-burning power plants, according to a person who has seen the document but is not authorized to speak publicly about it.
The proposal would not eliminate the mercury regulation entirely, but it is designed to put in place the legal justification for the Trump administration to weaken it and several other pollution rules, while setting the stage for a possible full repeal of the rule. . . . The move is the latest, and one of the most significant, in the Trump administration’s steady march of rollbacks of Obama-era health and environmental regulations on polluting industries, particularly coal. The weakening of the mercury rule—which the E.P.A. considers the most expensive clean-air regulation ever put forth in terms of annual cost to industry—would represent a major victory for the coal industry. Mercury is known to damage the nervous systems of children and fetuses.
We’re sure it’ll surprise you to know that there’s something in it not only for the former coal lobbyist currently running the E.P.A., and for the ex-clients of the agency’s top clean-air official, but also for the president’s biggest fans:
The details of the rollback about to be proposed would also represent a victory for Mr. [Andrew] Wheeler’s former boss, Robert E. Murray, the chief executive of the Murray Energy Corporation, one of the nation’s largest coal companies. Mr. Murray, who was a major donor to President Trump’s inauguration fund, personally requested the rollback of the mercury rule soon after Mr. Trump took office, in a written “wish list” he handed to Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
And you’ll never guess which beer enthusiast supports the move . . .
The proposal also highlights a key environmental opinion of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, the embattled Supreme Court nominee, whose nomination hearings have gripped the nation in recent days.
The coal industry initially sued to roll back the mercury regulation, and in 2014 its case lost in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. However, Judge Kavanaugh wrote the dissenting opinion in that case, highlighting questions about the rule’s cost to industry.
Should Georgetown Prep’s most illustrious alum be confirmed—possibly as soon as this week!—you can probably expect him to show the coal industry the sort of loyalty he typically reserves for Tobin, P.J., Squi, and the bench press at Tobin’s dad’s house, on which he spent so many nights working out.
The president speaks Spanish now
Elsewhere!
Institutional Investors Are Using Back Door for Crypto Purchases (Bloomberg)
How Dirty Money Disappears into the Black Hole of Cryptocurrency (W.S.J.)
At Goldman Sachs, the David Solomon Era Begins, with Subtle but Significant Changes (The Hive)
M.B.A. Applications Decline at Harvard, Wharton, Other Elite Schools as Degree Loses Luster (W.S.J.)
Wall Street’s Biggest Business Braces for Lackluster Third-Quarter Results (W.S.J.)
easyJet founder sues Netflix over use of the word “easy” (Reuters)
I.P.O. Market Has Never Been This Forgiving to Money-Losing Firms (W.S.J.)
Blockchain may resolve Irish border Brexit problem: Hammond (Reuters)
Paris set to triumph as Europe’s post-Brexit trading hub (Financial Times)
Lagarde Says World Growth Outlook Dimming as Trade War Escalates (Bloomberg)
Man breaks New York state record with 2,027-pound pumpkin (UPI)
