THE DAILY DONALD: Tangible numbers, dangerous plumes, and "thick binders that included documents the public had not seen"

FILED IN: PRESIDENT TRUMP, CORPORATE TAX RATES, ADDITIONAL LEVERAGE

Yesterday, President Trump swung by Springfield, Missouri to tout his administration's vision for tax reform. While the speech was "light on specifics, since the White House is relying on Republican leaders and the tax writing committees on Capitol Hill to develop the framework for tax reform," one tangible number worth paying attention to is the president's stated desire to cut the 35% corporate tax rate for the first time in 30 years — a move he claims would benefit regular wage earners (as business leaders would purportedly use the additional money to hire more people and raise wages) but which most economists say would primarily benefit companies' shareholders ("because it would make companies more profitable, which would boost their stock price while also leaving them with more money to pay out dividends").

In other news...

Meanwhile, as Harvey pummels coastal towns like Port Arthur, Texas and Monroe, Louisiana, both government and volunteer forces continue their rescue missions across the greater Houston metropolitan area. So far, the body count lies at 38, though that number is expected to rise as authorities make their way from house to house and various public health crises (contaminated water, lost medicine, etc.) begin to inevitably emerge.


The North Korea Quandary:
Two days after North Korea fired a missile over Japan (and one day after President Trump tweeted "Talking is not the answer!"), South Korean and Japanese jets joined show-of-force exercises with two U.S. nuclear-capable bombers near the Korean peninsula. "This complex mission clearly demonstrates our solidarity with our allies and underscores the broadening cooperation to defend against this common regional threat," said General Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy, Pacific Air Forces commander, who made an unscheduled visit to Japan to meet his counterparts. "Our forward deployed force will be the first to the fight, ready to deliver a lethal response at a moment’s notice if our nation calls."

 * A comforting thought: Hours after the president's provocative tweet, Defence Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters that the United States is "never out of diplomatic solutions."


The Russia Investigation:
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is reportedly working with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on its investigation into Paul Manafort and his less-than-legitimate financial transactions, a partnership which could "potentially provide Mueller with additional leverage to get Manafort to cooperate in the larger investigation into Trump's campaign, as Trump does not have pardon power over state crimes." According to Politico's Josh Dawsey, both Mueller's and Schneiderman's teams have collected evidence on financial crimes (including potential money laundering), though a decision has yet to be made on whether or where to file charges.

 * A(nother) comforting thought: "Rinat Akhmetshin, the lobbyist and former Soviet army officer who met senior Trump campaign aides at a controversial meeting last year, has given evidence before a grand jury investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter. Mr. Akhmetshin gave testimony under oath for several hours on Friday August 11."


Oh, and:

• "A federal judge in San Antonio on Wednesday blocked Texas from enforcing its ban on so-called sanctuary cities, questioning the constitutionality of a law that has pitted Republican state leaders against several Democratic-leaning cities. The judge’s ruling was only temporary, and prevents the law from taking effect on Friday while a suit against it goes forward. But the decision served as a legal blow to one of the toughest state-issued immigration laws in the country and puts the brakes on a measure backed by the Trump administration that critics had called anti-Latino."

• "Opening a new era in cancer care, U.S. health officials on Wednesday approved a breakthrough treatment that genetically engineers patients' own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and destroy childhood leukemia. The Food and Drug Administration called the approval historic, the first gene therapy to hit the U.S. market. Made from scratch for every patient, it's one of a wave of 'living drugs' under development to fight additional blood cancers and other tumors, too."

• "The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday to block a convoy of hundreds of Islamic State fighters heading to eastern Syria under a widely criticized deal negotiated by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement. The 300 fighters were traveling to the Iraqi-Syrian border on buses after being allowed by Hezbollah and the Syrian government to withdraw from a besieged enclave on the Lebanese-Syrian border."

• "A suicide attack on a police station in western Algeria killed two policeman after one officer jumped on the attacker to protect his colleagues from the blast, state news agency APS and police said on Thursday. Attacks and bombings have become rarer in Algeria since the end of the country’s 1990s war against armed Islamists, but al Qaeda and small brigades of militants tied to Islamic State are still active and often target armed forces."

• "In recent days, thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Burma have made their way to neighboring Bangladesh, fleeing an aggressive Burmese military campaign that ravaged dozens of villages in the country’s restive state of Rakhine. An official from the International Organization for Migration told reporters at least 18,500 Rohingya refugees have crossed the border in the past six days, joining the nearly 400,000 Rohingya already housed in squalid camps in Bangladesh."

• "Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said on Wednesday that Mexico will leave the negotiating table if U.S. President Donald Trump goes ahead with a threat to start the process of withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)."

• "A federal judge on Wednesday tore into President Trump’s voter commission for reneging on a promise to fully disclose public documents before a July 19 meeting, ordering the government to meet new transparency requirements and eliciting an apology from administration lawyers. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of Washington said the Election Integrity Commission released only an agenda and proposed bylaws before its first meeting at the White House complex last month. But once gathered, commissioners had thick binders that included documents the public had not seen, including a specially prepared report and a 381-page 'database' purporting to show 1,100 cases of voter fraud, both from the think tank Heritage Foundation."

• "Two federal watchdog agencies are taking an active look at the controversial General Services Administration lease for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Bloomberg BNA has learned. Both the Government Accountability Office and GSA’s Office of Inspector General have opened probes into the lease, officials with both groups confirmed."

• "The Trump administration recently suspended a key Obama policy that would have, on October 1, begun helping low-income people move. The program, called Small Area Fair Market Rents, would have increased the amount of money the government would pay for voucher-holders to rent homes in high-opportunity areas, and lowered the amount they would receive in low-opportunity areas. The program, which would have gone into effect in 23 metropolitan areas, would theoretically not have cost HUD any more money, something that seemingly would have appealed to an administration purportedly hell-bent on cutting government costs."

• "President Trump hit a new low in a Fox News poll released Wednesday, with 55 percent of voters disapproving of his job performance versus 41 percent who approve. In April, Trump's approval was just 3 points underwater, 45 percent to 48 percent. Only 35 percent of voters say they are satisfied with how things are going in the U.S., versus 64 percent who are dissatisfied, and by a wide margin, voters say Trump is 'tearing the country apart' (56 percent) versus 'drawing the country together' (33 percent)."

READ MORE ❯

• "The reality beneath Trump's tax reform talk"  by Brian Faler

• "Harvey Wasn’t Just Bad Weather. It Was Bad City Planning"  by Peter Coy and Christopher Flavelle

• "Deep in Debt, the Kushners Hunted for Cash Across the Globe"  by David Kocieniewski and Caleb Melby

WHILE LISTENING TO ❯

• "A Lifeboat" - Kacy & Clayton