The biggest news today was the surprise release of Donald Trump’s tax information in a detailed investigative article by the New York Times. According to the leak, Trump only paid $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017, which is a suspiciously low number, considering the average amount most Americans pay, not to mention Trump’s status as a millionaire. The expose also shows Trump mismanaging his own finances and a debt of almost $300 million that he needs to pay off soon.
Quite predictably, Donald Trump slammed the article as fake news and insisted that he has paid a lot more in taxes. Trump’s most loyal supporters, who have proven in the past to take the President’s word as more meaningful than the objective truth, are most likely not going to be swayed by the New York Times article and take Trump’s side.
Nevertheless, Joe Biden will probably make good use of the findings in the expose during tomorrow’s presidential debate with Donald Trump. Though the article itself has no tangible power, it could launch a criminal investigation into Trump for tax fraud. With just a few weeks until the election, Biden could have just won the support of the working class Americans who were previously undecided where to cast their vote.
Trump also lost another battle during the weekend as a court dismissed his executive order regarding TikTok. The President wanted to make the app unavailable for download in the United States, but this action was found to violate the constitution and his order was repealed by the court. Still, TikTok’s time is running out as it must reach some sort of deal with a US company if it wants to continue operating in the United States.
In other news, today another round of Brexit negotiations is beginning. This week’s talks will most likely be the last ones before the October deadline for a trade deal. Despite the lack of progress in the talks until this point, experts are optimistic that a deal could be hatched out in the last minute.