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Trump’s Billionaire Cabinet Members To Receive Massive Tax Breaks For Serving

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Super-Rich Appointees Won’t Have To Pay Capital Gains When They Sell Assets To Avoid Conflicts Of Interest

Members of Donald Trump’s cabinet — believed to be the wealthiest group of presidential appointees in American history — likely will avoid paying hundreds of millions in taxes when they sell their assets to comply with ethics laws. 

Trump won the election by appealing to the working class, but his cabinet has become a who’s-who of the super-rich — from Education secretary Betsy DeVos to Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin. 

Thanks to a little-known provision enacted in 1989, Trump’s billionaire and multimillionaire cabinet appointees won’t have to pay capital gains taxes if and when they shed their assets to avoid conflicts of interests.

Some ethics experts defend the rule, saying it avoids punishing people for serving in government by forcing them to suddenly sell, but The Washington Post reports that it’s never been tested to this degree. 

“The stock-selling demand could come at a fruitful time,” WaPo reports. “The Dow Jones industrial average has in recent weeks hit all-time highs. But it could prove most lucrative for top officials with broad holdings in stocks and bonds. Trump’s tax plan has called for ‘across the board’ cuts, which means administration officials could preside over the same ­capital-gains tax cuts from which they could later benefit.” 

It’s unclear whether Trump himself can benefit from the rule, known as a “certificate of divesture.” The Office of Government Ethics is looking into whether it applies to the president, who’s exempt from many ethics rules, and Trump hasn’t committed to divesting his fortune — the size of which is unknown since he won’t release his tax returns.  

But if Trump does choose to divest — which government accountability groups are advocating — there’s little doubt he’d be quick to take advantage of the loophole. After all, he once bragged about avoiding paying federal income taxes for two decades. 

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News

Mystery Grand Jury Witness in Trump Hush Money Probe Is Former ‘Enquirer’ Publisher and Trump Ally

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March 27, 2023

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Avid followers of the Manhattan District Attorney’s moves noted the grand jury had been called into service for Monday, and soon news leaked that yet another witness would be testifying in the probe into Donald Trump’s alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels.

Monday afternoon, NBC News’ Garrett Haake reported live on MSNBC that the mystery witness was David Pecker, the former tabloid publisher of the “National Enquirer,” who reportedly had been looking for stories in 2016 to protect Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Haake notes Monday was Pecker’s second appearance before the grand jury in the hush money case.

The New York Times also reported David Pecker as the grand jury witness, calling Pecker “a key player in the hush-money matter. He and the tabloid’s top editor helped broker the deal between the porn star, Stormy Daniels, and Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s fixer at the time.”

READ MORE: ‘Our Children Deserve Better’: First Lady Jill Biden Speaks Out After Six Die in Nashville School Mass Shooting

“While the focus of Mr. Pecker’s testimony is unclear, he could provide valuable information for prosecutors. A longtime ally of Mr. Trump, he agreed to keep an eye out for potentially damaging stories about Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign,” The Times reports. “For a brief time in October 2016, Ms. Daniels appeared to have just that kind of story. Her agent and lawyer discussed the possibility of selling exclusive rights to her story of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump to The National Enquirer, which would then promise to never publish it, a practice known as ‘catch and kill.'”

Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman weighed in, noting, “nothing about that decision [to have Pecker testify] suggests any change of heart on Bragg’s part to indict Trump.”

Former Dept. of Defense Special Counsel Ryan Goodman, an NYU professor of law, notes that Pecker’s “testimony can show the [hush money] scheme was designed to affect outcome of election.”

“He reportedly communicated directly with Trump on payment,” Goodman adds.

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News

‘Our Children Deserve Better’: First Lady Jill Biden Speaks Out After Six Die in Nashville School Mass Shooting

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March 27, 2023

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First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, speaking Monday afternoon at a National League of Cities conference, told attendees, “Our children deserve better,” as she broke the news of the Nashville school mass shooting at Covenant Presbyterian School where three children and three adults were shot dead.

“You know,” Dr. Biden, herself an educator and clearly pained by the news, began her remarks by saying, “I hate to say what I’m gonna say next because you know you’re so enthusiastic and with so much energy and hope and I feel it.”

“But while you’ve been in this room, I don’t know whether you’ve been on your phones but we just learned about another shooting in Tennessee, a school shooting and I am truly without words and our children deserve better, and we stand – all of us – we stand with Nashville in prayer.”

READ MORE: New WSJ Poll Is Devastating for DeSantis and His ‘Anti-Woke’ Policies

The First Lady, a former public high school English teacher and currently a professor of English at a community college, was speaking at the organization’s Congressional City Conference.

Watch Dr. Biden below or at this link.

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BREAKING NEWS

Death Toll Rises to Six as Three Children and Three Adults Declared Dead In Covenant School Mass Shooting (Streaming Video)

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March 27, 2023

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Six people have now died after a shooter shot and killed three young children and three adults at The Covenant Presbyterian School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee. Police say the shooter was a 28-year old woman who had two assault rifles and a handgun.

WSMV announced the rise in deaths on-air, noting that the shooter is also dead. A police spokesperson later increased the announced death toll from five to six. Including the shooter the death toll is seven.

Live streaming video via CBS News below.

This article has been updated with additional video.

1:56 PM ET: Updated to change age of shooter based on new reporting from WSMV.

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