President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-be-a-journalist-he-should-be-judged-as-such/

Yet in a Times interview published Tuesday, Hannity declared himself a journalist, after all.

“I'm a journalist,” he said. “But I'm an advocacy journalist or an opinion journalist.”

 

... and she doesn't call on activists.

Former top Trump aide: Kayleigh McEnany ‘a liar and an opportunist’

 

Goddammit. For once, someone hold his feet to some real fire:

cnn.com/2022/12/30/politics/donald-trump-tax-returns-released/index.html

Trump’s returns also show the former president made several claims that auditors may question.

The Joint Committee on Taxation, which reviewed the returns, flagged that Trump claimed a large number of questionable items on his tax returns, including eyebrow-raising amounts of interest he claims to have received from loans to his children that the bipartisan committee said could indicate Trump was disguising gifts.

The JCT, which made no claims that Trump should have paid more or less in taxes in the years it reviewed, argued that an auditor should investigate the loan agreements Trump made with his children, including the interest rates. If the interest Trump claims to have charged his children was not at market rate, for example, it could be considered a gift for tax purposes, requiring him to pay a higher tax rate on the money.

In 2017, for example, Trump claimed he received exactly $18,000 in interest on a loan he said he gave his daughter Ivanka Trump. He claimed $8,715 in interest from his son Donald Trump, Jr., and exactly $24,000 from his son Eric Trump.

That raises the question of whether “the loans were bona fide arm’s length transactions, or whether the transfers were disguised gifts that could trigger gift tax and a disallowance of interest deductions by the related borrowers,” the JCT said in its report.

“It’s unusual to have interest in round numbers – very rare,” said Martin Sheil, former supervisory special agent for IRS’ Criminal Investigation unit. “An auditor would want to see payments, loan agreements and interest rates.”

There are also questions about Trump’s returns listing an identical amount of company expenses and profits.

For example, in 2017, Trump claimed his business DJT Aerospace LLC, which operates Trump’s personal helicopter, claimed $42,965 in profit. It also claimed the exact same amount – $42,965 – in expenses. In other words, every single dollar – to the dollar – that the company earned was negated by the company’s expenses, such as payroll, fuel and other items. That left the company with zero income – and nothing to tax.

“Total expenses equaling total income is a statistical impossibility,” said Shiel. “It just doesn’t happen.”

The JCT in its report raised several similar questions. For example, it noted IRS auditors were investigating multiple so-called large unusual questionable items on Trump’s tax returns for which the regulator wanted Trump to provide supporting evidence to back up his claims.

 

There’s a reason why he never wanted them released.

Find it. Report it. Force someone to prosecute.

 

I’d think his returns pre-2010, before he seriously thought of running, are even more damning.

 

At least he didn't refer to himself as a "citizen journalist." And to be somewhat fair - it isn't like more than few "real" journalists haven't seemed to inject their opinions and advocacy into what they cover, what they write and how they present the info.

Hannity is absurd, and don't think he's ever done any real reporting in his life. He reminds me of a Chamber of Commerce director for the GOP - whatever they do is "great" - but I've always been more interested in the people at Fox News who tend to "create" narratives, whether its the border, the war on Christmas, or Hillary stuff. On-air people like Hannity are pretty much just mouthpieces.

 

So Beau has a new video out regarding Santos. Rep. Richie Torres of N.Y. has introduced the Stop Another Non Truthful Office Seeker Act - the SANTOS act - which would require a candidate for Congress to fill out a form stating their name, residence, educational and work history accurately. It would make it a federal offense to lie on this form.

Beau thinks it's a great idea, but has his doubts that a law limiting the ability of Congress to lie to the American people will pass.

 

The statute of limitations has probably run out on those.

 

Three years.

 

Mopped up vs. IMG.

 

Lord knows that I'm no accountant, but it looks to me like the only reason that Trump pays taxes at all is the Alternative Minimum Tax. Between fancy CPA's and lying his ass off he'd never pay a dime otherwise.