First Thing: Trump’s tax returns finally released, just in time for election
Good morning.
After a years-long battle to obtain Trump’s tax returns, the New York Times has revealed that the president paid just $750 in federal income taxes in the year he took office. According to the newspaper, the self-proclaimed billionaire paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the last 15 years, largely due to significant financial losses and various methods of tax avoidance.
The bombshell report is a severe blow to a president who has built much of his appeal of his alleged success as a businessman. While the president scrambles to dismiss the report as “fake news”, David Smith asks: will this be enough to sink Trump?
From failing businesses to a decades-long audit, here are the six biggest takeaways from the report.
The president’s former campaign manager has been hospitalised at risk of self-harm. Brad Parscale was replaced in June after a campaign rally that was supposed to attract hundreds of thousands of people was sparsely attended, causing embarrassment for Trump.
Trump: overturning Roe v Wade ‘possible’ with Amy Coney Barrett on supreme court
Trump has said it is “certainly possible” that his supreme court nominee Amy Coney Barrett could help to overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark ruling that legalised abortion in the US. Speaking to Fox and Friends Weekend, the president also suggested the court might hand the decision “back to the states”. Coney Barrett is a strict Catholic and holds strongly conservative views, and many fear widespread implications for women’s rights and the Affordable Care Act if her nomination is confirmed.
“It is a particularly painful irony that much of her [Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s] legacy is at great risk of being undone by another woman” – Lucinda Finley, a professor at the University at Buffalo School of Law.
Officer who shot Jacob Blake ‘thought he was kidnapping his own child’
The Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake several times in the back last month has said he thought Blake was trying to abduct his own child. Officer Rusten Sheskey told investigators that he arrived at the scene in response to a call from a woman who claimed Blake was at her home and had “got my kid” and keys, and he saw Blake put a child in an SUV. Sheskey said he started shooting because Blake had a knife and “twisted his body” towards the officer – claims that Blake’s family called “ridiculous”.
A Kentucky legislator has accused the police of detaining her on false pretences after she was arrested with her 19-year-old daughter during demonstrations over the death of Breonna Taylor.
In other news…
Attempts by the Trump administration to stop Apple and Google hosting TikTok on their app stores have been blocked by a district judge. However, the app still faces further restrictions from 12 November.
More than 60 world leaders have pledged to put wildlife and the climate at the centre of their post-coronavirus recovery plans, as part of “meaningful action” to halt the destruction of nature.
The NFL legend Joe Montana and his wife, Jennifer, foiled a kidnapping attempt at their home on Saturday evening, after a woman entered the house and snatched one of Montana’s grandchildren from a playpen.
The legal battle between Washington and Huawei continues this week as a senior executive at the Chinese state-backed firm will reappear in court, claiming efforts to extradite her to the US should be thrown out.
Great reads
Who controls Hong Kong?
As China seeks to exert further control over Hong Kong, Lily Kuo and Helen Davidson investigate the senior officials installed to bend the region to Beijing’s will, and what they mean for the territory’s future.
Public Enemy’s Chuck D: Black Lives Matter is a marathon, not a sprint
As he launches a rework of the group’s iconic track Fight the Power in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, Chuck D discusses anti-racism, coronavirus, and President Trump, whom he describes as a “half-baked celebrity real estate hypocrite”.
Opinion: Trump’s tax returns shouldn’t be blamed on ‘the system’
Some might see Trump’s tax returns as an example of shrewd business, capitalising on legal loopholes. But don’t be fooled: some of his methods bordered on criminal and contributed to making the system grossly unfair, writes Nathan Robinson.
When billionaires don’t pay their taxes, the rest of us have to cover the gaps. When you look at your own tax bill, understand that it could be lower if super-wealthy people like Trump weren’t trying to shift the burden on to everyone else. You paid for Trump’s $73m tax refund and he’s laughing all the way to the bank.
Last thing: New Zealand pigeon returns home after 24 years
After more than two decades in the wild, a New Zealand native pigeon – or kererū – named Pidge has returned to the wildlife park he was born in. Aged 29, Pidge is likely to be the oldest living kererū. Keepers at the park assume he had lived nearby and returned for “a bit of TLC in his retirement years”.
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