Mueller’s team appears to have no doubt that Manafort was lying to them. That means they didn’t really need his testimony, at all. It also means they had no need to keep secrets — they could keep giving Manafort the impression that he was pulling a fast one over the prosecutors, all while reporting misleading information to Trump that he could use to fill out his open book test. Which increases the likelihood that Trump just submitted sworn answers to those questions full of lies.
Buttercup’s at a rally in West Virginia. I’m sure there will be some unbelievable footage to come out of that one. He must be losing his shit right now. I mean more than usual.
Senate rules say the tax cuts can only add $1.5 trillion to the deficits over the next decade.
The Republicans had gotten rid of the corporate alternative minimum tax – which is the floor of tax rates corporations can pay after all of their deductions. (current standard tax rate is 35% – lowest they can go with deductions is 20%.
With McConnell’s deals made with individual senators to get the bill passed, the addition to the deficit added up to more than $1.5 trillion.
So he added the corporate alternative minimum tax back into the bill to offset the $ going into deals.
And forgot to reduce it. So the minimum tax a company can pay AFTER deductions is back to 20%, which is exactly the same as the new standard, starting corporate tax rate of, you guessed it, 20%.
Which means that corporations can’t use any of the fancy smancy deductions their lobbyists got inserted into the new tax cut plan, or any other tax plan, for that matter, if the bill passes without revision.
Next in “They just don’t know when to shut up, do they”:
Paul Manafort attempts to publish an op-ed under a ghost writer “to influence public opinion about his political consulting in Ukraine, work at the heart of the criminal case against him. The op-ed was being drafted as late as last week, prosecutors say. They did not name the colleague but noted the person is based in Russia.” All in violation of the judge’s Nov 8th gag order.
“At the time [of seeking to get the op-ed published], Manafort was working to secure his release from home confinement by posting more than $10 million in bond, and according to court papers, he had reached a tentative agreement with the government. But after discovering the op-ed, Mueller’s team is now opposing Manafort’s proposed bond agreement.”
This is a very good thread on the charges that were revealed today, particularly those of George Papadopoulos. Mr. Abramson connects the dots between the the details of the indictments and prior events, and lays out the implications for Trump’s WH.
Hearseeno 