| | | | Can Trump keep his taxes from derailing his campaign? | | Donald Trump spent most of last week distracted and attacking former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Now five weeks from November 8, Trump faces another lost week -- and a much bigger political mess -- after The New York Times' David Barstow, Susanne Craig, Russ Buettner and Megan Twohey dropped a bombshell: He lost $916 million in 1995, according to his tax returns from that year, and could use those losses to avoid paying federal income taxes for 18 years. CNN hasn't independently verified the documents, but Trump's campaign hasn't disputed the report's accuracy.
The key here is how Trump reacts as questions and pressure mount when he campaigns Monday in Virginia and Colorado and Tuesday in Arizona. (It was a bad omen for his campaign when he said at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday night, as the news broke: "I don't even think she's loyal to Bill, if you want to know the truth. And really folks, really, why should she be?") It'll also be important to watch whether Republican leaders break from the Trump line and begin calling on him more directly to release his tax returns.
There are lots of questions to answer. CNN's Jeanne Sahadi breaks down how Trump could avoid paying taxes, and I look at the political implications. An immediate question: Will this hurt Trump with Rust Belt voters? The Washington Post's Dave Weigel and Jenna Johnson have an early take from Toledo, Ohio. | | Rudy Giuliani's rough Sunday on the shows | | Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's job was a tough one: He was defending Donald Trump the morning after The New York Times' tax story broke. "The reality is, this is part of our tax code. The man's a genius. He knows how to operate the tax code to the benefit of the people he's serving," the former New York City mayor told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."
On the Sunday shows, Giuliani stumbled three times -- in major ways. In one case, he suggested "everybody" has affairs. And in another, he said "a woman" wouldn't be a good president.
The "a woman" comment came on ABC's "This Week." He said: "Don't you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman, and the only thing she's ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI checking out her emails?"
The infidelity remark came on NBC's "Meet the Press," when Chuck Todd pointed out that Giuliani might want to be careful criticizing Bill Clinton's affairs when he's thrice-divorced himself. On facing questions about infidelity, he said: "Well, everybody does. And I'm a Roman Catholic, and I confess those things to my priest. But I've never ever attacked someone who's been the victim ... of sexual abuse. Not only that, I put people in jail who've been the victim of sexual abuse."
Are wild accusations fair game? Giuliani told Tapper he thinks so, as he defended Trump's accusation that Clinton hasn't been loyal to her husband. After she called Trump "a racist and misogynist, a xenophobic" during the debate, Giuliani said, "I think it's fair game." (It was a hot interview. At one point, Tapper told Giuliani: "The reason you can't defend this line of attack is because it's indefensible.") | | "Maybe a 'no comment.'" -- New York Times reporter Susanne Craig, who received Donald Trump's 1995 tax returns in the mail, to CNN's Brian Stelter on "Reliable Sources" on whether more tax stories are coming. | | | Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump couldn't pronounce "China," and Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton was shimmying when "Saturday Night Live" opened its new season with a take on the first presidential debate. CNN's Frank Pallotta has a wrap. Here's one highlight:
Baldwin's Trump: "My microphone is broke. She broke it with Obama. She and Obama stole my microphone."
Michael Che's Lester Holt: "Secretary Clinton, what do you think about that?"
McKinnon's Clinton: "I think I'm going to be president." | | Sanders brushes off leaked Clinton criticism | | Bernie Sanders says audio from a closed-door Hillary Clinton fundraiser shows the two largely agree -- even though Clinton dismissed some of Sanders' policy positions as "false promises." In an interview with Tapper today, he said: "If you listen to the whole discussion that she had, a very important point that she made is that a lot of young people who went into debt, worked very hard to get a good education, can't find a job commensurate to the education that they received."
Donald Trump didn't think Sanders should give Clinton a pass: | | | Don't miss a great story on 103-year-old Iowan Ruline Steininger -- one of the first people in her state to cast her vote, right after meeting Hillary Clinton last week -- by CNN's MJ Lee. And watch the video from Jeremy Moorhead and Alex Lee. That scene and more in the week in politics from CNN's photo desk. | | Turmoil in Trumpland in advance of next debate | | From John King's "Inside Politics" forecast, with inside details on the test of better preparing Donald Trump for his next debate: There is plenty of time left for momentum swings, but some Trump allies enter this big week with two worries: They describe the candidate as angry and frustrated, and they say his organization is complicated by dysfunctional relationships.
Trump was described by two campaign insiders as more than a little annoyed after his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said on "The View" that she had reprimanded him for his comments about a former Miss Universe who says the businessman once called her "Miss Piggy" and "Miss Housekeeping." Plus there's been some internal finger-pointing over who shares the most blame for Trump's preparations for the first debate and over who on the inside leaked to the media about Trump's reluctance to engage in traditional prep work. After a slew of negative press last week, there is a "crackdown on anyone saying anything negative about his last performance," a senior Trump campaign aide told CNN. | | | Gary Johnson hasn't read about Donald Trump's taxes -- but thinks nobody should have to pay income taxes anyway. ... Hillary Clinton admitted today in a stop at a black church: "My worries are not the same as black grandmothers." ... George W. Bush isn't endorsing, but daughter Barbara Bush appeared at a Clinton fundraiser in Paris. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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