PRESIDENT TRUMP WAFFLED Friday on a proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
He said GOP lawmakers should "probably not" raise taxes on the rich but added he would be OK if it did happen, The Hill's Mychael Schnell reports..
"The problem with even a 'TINY' tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, 'Read my lips,' the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!" Trump said in a Truth Social post.
This back-and-forth comes as Republicans on Capitol Hill negotiate on a budget reconciliation bill filled with Trump's legislative priorities.
According to several sources, the White House reportedly proposed as recently as Wednesday allowing Trump's 2017 tax rate cut on the highest-income Americans to expire at the end of 2025. This would bump those individuals' tax rate from 37 percent to nearly 40 percent, while the remaining tax cuts would be extended.
House GOP leaders however have swatted away suggestions of increasing the top tax rate, with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) telling Fox News last month that he “would not expect that” in the final version of the bill.
Trump in an April interview with Time magazine indicated opposition to raising the tax rate on wealthy Americans, claiming that, not only would be used against him politically, but it goes against the Republican party's ethos.
“I actually love the concept, but I don’t want it to be used against me politically, because I’ve seen people lose elections for less, especially with the fake news,” he said. “We have been working against that idea. I’m not in favor of raising the tax rates because that’s — our party is the group that stands against that, traditionally.”
• The president's about-face on taxes came shortly after Trump signaled a walk back on his hardline stance on China trade negotiations. Trump said on Truth Social on Friday that he was open to dramatically lowering the 145 percent tariffs he has levied on Chinese imports. "80% Tariff on China seems right! Up to Scott B," Trump wrote in a post referring to Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent.
The U.S. and China are expected to hold trade talks in Switzerland this weekend, with Bessent in the lead negotiator seat. |
AUTOMAKERS BASH TRUMP'S U.K. DEAL |
The "big three" automakers on Friday bashed Trump's newly announced trade agreement with the United Kingdom. The American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Ford, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler successor Stellantis, said in a statement that the deal Trump hashed out does little to help their industry's struggles with high tariffs. "The U.S. automotive industry is highly integrated with Canada and Mexico; the same is not true for the U.S. and UK. We are disappointed that the administration prioritized the UK ahead of our North American partners," Council President Matt Blunt said. |
Read more:
• Trump: Biden high-speed internet program ‘racist,’ ‘unconstitutional’
• Baier: ‘Of course’ Trump contributed to declining trust in media
• DHS sued over lifting deportation protections for Afghans, Cameroonians
• White House: ‘Ridiculous’ to think Trump doing anything for his own personal wealth. |
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Democrats bristle as Biden speaks out
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Former President Biden’s return to the spotlight and recent media blitz discussing his party's pitfalls has some Democrats bristling.
"Elections are about the future. Every time Joe Biden emerges, we fight an old war," a Democratic strategist who worked for the Biden administration told The Hill. "Every interview he does provides a contrast to (President) Trump that’s just not helpful for the Democratic brand, which needs trusted messengers and fighters who can reach independents and moderates and inspire the base. Joe Biden ain’t that." Steve Schale, a longtime Biden ally who also ran a pro-Biden super PAC in recent cycles, said the former president should turn away from the media and instead focus on humanitarianism. “I really wish he’d embrace the thing that’s been his calling card for 50 years: his humanity," Schale said, pointing to former President Carter's legacy as an example.
Biden appeared on "The View" this week for his second major post-presidency interview, during which he slammed Trump’s return to the White House ("I was in charge, and he won.") Biden's media tour comes after the release of several books detailing his last year in office and how his mental acuity was failing, a claim he staunchly denies. He also denied that he cobbled the Democrats' ability to win by deciding to stay in the race until July.
"There were still six full months," he told "The Views" hosts, miscounting the four months left in the race.
As Democrats look for a new -- and younger -- path forward, some in the party worry Biden will still be a liability in future elections, with candidates likely to be forced to confront the former president's decline in the last 18 months of his presidency.
“I don’t know who’s asking for this,” Democratic strategist Jon Reinish said. “I actually think that a lot of people are starting to pay much more attention to a younger generation of Democrats free of baggage and who are finally starting to move the party away from folks who stayed too long at the fair.”
Read more from The Hill's Julia Manchester and Amie Parnes on how some Democrats are feeling about Biden's post-White House life. |
Read more:
• Chuck Todd: Bidens more interested in themselves than Democratic Party.
• Congressional Black Caucus blasts Trump's firing of Library of Congress. |
Johnson ‘open to the conversation’ about banning stock trades
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) signaled openness this week to banning members of Congress from trading individual stocks after years of failed bipartisan efforts to overhaul congressional ethics rules on investing. "There's probably a reason that the bill hasn’t moved in all those years because there’s never been a consensus built around it. But, I mean, I’m open to the conversation,” Johnson told NPR this week, adding "I don’t trade stocks."
Several lawmakers from both parties and both chambers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), have pushed the proposal with little success. It has never received a floor vote in either chamber.
"Most Americans agree that congressmen should be banned from buying stocks," Johnson said of the effort. "As members of Congress, we may have access to information regarding companies and markets, and we absolutely should not have the ability to use this information for personal gain."
According to Capitol Trades, an independent Congressional trading tracker, members of Congress reported buying as much as $1.3 billion in assets and selling up to $1.7 billion in the past three years.
Per federal law, members of Congress are banned from acting on insider information by federal law, and the 2012 STOCK Act requires members to report stock trades within 30 days. |
Here's who's talking Sunday: |
NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday”: Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.).
CBS’s “Face the Nation”: United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby; New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D); Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas); Archbishop of Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich; British Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson. Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday”: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick; Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). NBC’s “Meet the Press”: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy; Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).
CNN’s “State of the Union”: Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R); Former Ambassador Rahm Emmanuel (D); Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.). MSNBC’s “The Weekend”: Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.); Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.); Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. |
Retired Supreme Court Justice Souter dies
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Retired Justice David Souter, who stepped down from the Supreme Court in 2009 after nearly two decades on the bench, "died peacefully" at his New Hampshire home Thursday at age 85.
An appointee of former President George H.W. Bush (R) in 1990, Souter became a point of frustration for Republicans as he often sided with the court's liberal wing.
“Justice David Souter served our Court with great distinction for nearly twenty years. He brought uncommon wisdom and kindness to a lifetime of public service," Chief Justice John Roberts said in a statement. "After retiring to his beloved New Hampshire in 2009, he continued to render significant service to our branch by sitting regularly on the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for more than a decade. He will be greatly missed." Read more about Souter's legacy. |
'JUDGE JEANINE' TAKES ON D.C. PROSECUTOR ROLE |
President Trump has tapped Jeanine Pirro, a Fox News host and former judge, to temporarily become the top prosecutor in the District of Columbia, after his first pick Ed Martin's nomination fell through this week amid resistance from GOP senators.
Pirro, known informally as "Judge Jeanine" from her multiple TV stints, is the latest in a slew of Fox News hosts and personalities to join the president's administration. Most recently, Pirro has made regular appearances on the network's weekday show, "The Five." She previously was a judge and prosecutor in Westchester County, N.Y.
"Jeanine is incredibly well qualified for this position and is considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the History of the State of New York. She is in a class by herself," Trump wrote in a social media post.
After his nomination fell through, Trump appointed Martin to a dual role in the Department of Justice, leading pardon petition reviews and a new "Weaponization Working Group." The new duties do not require Senate confirmation. "Ed will make sure we finally investigate the Weaponization of our Government under the Biden Regime, and provide much needed Justice for its victims,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. |
?Perspectives:
• Fox News: The only solution to the crisis of radical district judges • Balls and Strikes: Whose 'Emergencies' Does the Supreme Court Care About? • Slate: Lawyers Who Capitulate to Trump Now Have Something Else to Worry About.
• The Hill: The Supreme Court made your rights harder to defend — Congress must now step up |
Read more:
• Sotomayor urges lawyers to ‘stand up’ amid Trump attacks.
• Judge orders Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk to be released. |
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