Trump supports higher taxes for the rich, but says GOP ‘should probably not do it’ in bill
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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump offered some mixed messaging as Republicans put the final touches on their tax proposal, saying Friday that he would support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help pay for his sweeping legislative agenda while adding in the same breath his belief that Republicans “should probably not do it.”
“The problem with even a ‘TINY’ tax increase for the RICH, which I and all others would graciously accept in order to help the lower and middle income workers, is that the Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’ the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election! In any event, Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called Trump’s position on raising taxes for the rich “very honorable” during Friday’s White House press briefing.
“The president himself has said he wouldn’t mind paying a little bit more to help the poor and the middle class and the working class in this country,” Leavitt said. “These negotiations are ongoing on Capitol Hill and the president will weigh in when he feels necessary.”
The ambiguous presidential declaration has thrown negotiators into a frantic scramble — with the House Ways and Means committee expected to mark up their legislation next week.
The inclusion of a tax hike in the “big, beautiful bill” would be a major reversal for House GOP leaders, who have argued that allowing the current tax rates to expire would amount to a tax increase.
“I’m not in favor of raising the tax rates because that’s — our party is the group that stands against that, traditionally,” Speaker Mike Johnson said in an interview on Fox News in late April.
During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in 1992, incumbent President George H.W. Bush uttered the infamous line, “read my lips: no new taxes.” Voters ultimately rejected Bush at the ballot box after he broke his vow and signed legislation crafted by congressional Democrats that increased tax revenues to address the growing budget deficit.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday renewed his threat to take away Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media platform. He first floated the idea in mid-April.
Any attempt to do so, though, would likely face legal challenges.
A Harvard spokesperson told ABC News there’s no “legal basis” to rescind the university’s tax-exempt status and said it would endanger the school’s ability to carry out its mission.
“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” the spokesperson said. “It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation. The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”
Trump has taken aim at the university after it said it would not comply with the administration’s series of demands, including actions on antisemitism and the use of DEI on campus.
The Trump administration has already frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, as well as $60 million in multi-year contract value to the institution. Harvard sued the administration in response, alleging the freeze violates the First Amendment and federal law.
Taking away the school’s tax-exempt status would be the latest escalation.
Federal law bars the president from directly or indirectly ordering the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to conduct or terminate an audit or investigation.
Sources previously told ABC News that the IRS was considering revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status. The White House said in a statement to ABC News in mid-April that any investigation by the IRS into Harvard began before President Trump began posting on his social media account that the school should lose its tax-exempt status.
Many major public and private colleges in the U.S. are exempt from federal income under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code because of their educational mission, research and public service.
“The government has long exempted universities from taxes in order to support their educational mission,” the Harvard spokesperson said. “The tax exemption means that more of every dollar can go toward scholarships for students, lifesaving and life-enhancing medical research, and technological advancements that drive economic growth.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Katherine Faulders, Arthur Jones and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a key progressive member of the House whose district covers swaths of the Bronx and Queens, endorsed New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Thursday for the city’s upcoming Democratic mayoral primary — one day after the candidate clashed with front-runner former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other candidates on the debate stage.
“Assemblymember Mamdani has demonstrated a real ability on the ground to put together a coalition of working-class New Yorkers that is strongest to lead the pack. In the final stretch of the race, we need to get very real about that,” Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times in an interview published on Thursday.
“In 2018, A.O.C. shocked the world and changed our politics for the better with her historic victory. On June 24, we will do the same,” Mamdani told the Times in a statement.
Mamdani, a state assemblymember and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has been steadily inching upward in the polls and fundraising. He is running on a progressive platform that includes a rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments, eliminating fares for New York City buses and opening city-owned grocery stores. Mamdani envisions the latter two being funded by higher taxes on businesses and wealthy individuals; some have cautioned that he would need support from state government for those taxes.
Her announcement came the day after a chaotic two-hour debate punctuated by candidates shouting over an increasingly exasperated slate of moderators.
Nine Democrats who wish to be New York City’s next mayor sparred over how they’d interact with President Donald Trump, public safety, affordability and other topics.
Out of those who were onstage, Cuomo leads the pack in polling while Mamdani is slowly closing the gap in second place. The rest of the candidates have struggled to break through.
Each candidate was asked how they would work with — or charge against — Trump if elected mayor. Cuomo vowed that he is an adversary that Trump could not best.
“He can be beaten. But he has to know that he’s up against an adversary who can actually beat him. I am the last person on this stage that Mr. Trump wants to see as mayor, and that is why I should be the first choice for the people of the city to have as mayor,” Cuomo said.
Mamdani, answering the question, said, “I am Donald Trump’s worst nightmare, as a progressive Muslim immigrant who actually fights for the things that I believe in, and the difference between myself and Andrew Cuomo is that my campaign is not funded by the very billionaires who put Donald Trump in D.C. … I have to pick up the phone for the more than 20,000 New Yorkers who contributed an average donation of about $80 to break fundraising records and put our campaign in second place.”
Cuomo did not directly respond to Mamdani’s attack on the debate stage.
Some billionaires who have previously supported Trump, such as prominent hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Home Depot founder Ken Langone, have donated to an independent group, the super PAC Fix the City, that supports Cuomo. Cuomo’s campaign is not allowed to coordinate with the group. In response to reporting on Cuomo’s wealthy supporters, Fix the City spokesperson Liz Benjamin told the New York Times that “donors have supported Fix the City because they know that Andrew Cuomo has the right experience and the right plans for New York City.”
Former state assemblymember Michael Blake, while answering a question on public safety, brought up the sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo: “The people who don’t feel safe are young women, mothers and grandmothers around Andrew Cuomo, that’s the greatest threat to public safety in New York City.”
Cuomo, later asked about the allegations — and if he would do anything differently given investigations that alleged his leadership fostered a toxic work environment — told the moderators, “Let’s just make sure we have the facts. A report was done four years ago making certain allegations. I said at the time that it was political and it was false.”
He added that five district attorneys found “nothing” and he was dropped from one case.
“I said at the time that if I offended anyone, it was unintentional, but I apologize, and I say that today.”
(WASHINGTON) — California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla became emotional as he spoke on the Senate floor about being forcibly removed from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference last week in Los Angeles.
“If you watch what unfolded last week and that what happened is just about one politician and one press conference, you’re missing the point,” Padilla said. “If that is what the administration is willing to do to a United States senator for having the authority to simply ask a question — imagine what they’ll do to any American who dares to speak up.”
Padilla said a National Guard member and an FBI agent escorted him into the news conference. He said he was in the same building for a different meeting.
“I was physically and aggressively forced out of the room, even as I repeatedly announced I was a United States senator and I had a question for the secretary,” he said. “And even as the National guardsman and the FBI agent who served as my escorts and brought me into that press briefing room stood by — silently, knowing full well who I was. You’ve seen the video. I was pushed and pulled, struggled to maintain my balance.”
Padilla got emotional, struggling to explain what happened last week.
“I was forced to the ground, first on my knees, and then flat on my chest, and as I was handcuffed and marched down a hallway repeatedly asking, ‘Why am I being detained?'” he said.
“I pray you never have a moment like this,” he added.
“‘Am I being arrested here? What will a city already on edge from being militarized think when they see their United States senator being handcuffed just for trying to ask a question? And what will my wife think? What will our boys think?,'” he continued.
Padilla warned about the precedent set by President Donald Trump’s deploying Marines and the National Guard to Los Angeles.
“What’s happening is not just a threat to California, it’s a threat to everyone in every state,” he said. “If Donald Trump can bypass the governor and activate the National Guard to put down protests on immigrant rights, he can do it to suppress your rights, too. If he can deploy the Marines to Los Angeles without justification, he can deploy them to your state, too,” he added.
Padilla received a loud round of applause from some senators in the chamber.
