Displaying items by tag: Trump

(Washington)

Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to charges of violating US election laws yesterday. Cohen admitted to making two payments as hush money to Stephanie Clifford and to the owner of the National Enquirer. Cohen also officially implicated the president, saying he was instructed to make the payments by Trump, which would also make Trump potentially culpable. Cohen took a plea deal with prosecutors and will receive between 46 and 63 months in prison. Lawyers say that the testimony puts Trump is hot legal water.

FINSUM: It is beyond us to say how legally troubling this may or may not be, but it is not going to help the president politically.

(Washington)

The White House has been demanding that special counsel Robert Mueller wrap up his investigation into potential collusion with Russia by September 1st. However, the reality is that Mueller is under no obligation to do so and can continue his closed-door investigation up and through the November 6th elections. Bringing indictments near the election would also not violate Justice Department policy meant to deter using indictments to manipulate elections, according to current and former US officials.

FINSUM: We highly doubt Mueller will acquiesce to ending his investigation in the near-term, which means Trump may escalate the situation. Fireworks seem likely.

(Chicago)

Small caps have been having a great run this year. Ever since Trump was elected with his America-first mantra, small caps have done well, but the trade war has pushed them ahead of their large cap peers his year. So how to find the undervalued small caps with a bright future, ones that are valuable but currently misunderstood? A team at William Blair tries to do just that. Their picks are: Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Codexis (oil industry), Varonis Systems (security software), and Boot Barn Holdings (western clothing retailer).

FINSUM: All of these names have a unique story and catalyst which should help them become much more valuable.

(Washington)

After a long and quite public back and forth about the potential for an interview, are President Trump and Robert Mueller close to meeting? Trump’s team has apparently responded to Mueller’s request for interview with a counteroffer on the terms. The two parties have been in discussions since at least January. The basic core of the counteroffer is that Trump is happy to talk about collusion with Russia, but not about obstruction of justice. Though Rudy Giuliani, who is on Trump’s legal team, said they did leave the door open to possible questions on obstruction.

FINSUM: This seems like a positive development. It appears like it would be good for all sides to have this investigation finished once and for all, and a sit down with Trump could potentially resolve things.

(Washington)

There is a lot of excitement right now about the possibility of the new capital gains tax cut. The Treasury is looking into whether to effectively cut the capital gains tax rate by allowing investors to account for inflation when reporting their gains. The cut is estimated to amount to $100 bn over the next decade. However, the Treasury is uncertain if it has the authority to make the cuts on its own, a move it would undertake by simply redefining the meaning of “cost”.

FINSUM: So evidently the first Bush administration looked into this in the early 90s and decided that the Treasury did not have the legal authority to make this change on its own.