Roger Stone played a role in the Trump campaign’s quest to get the Russian hackers to release the Clinton emails. But he lied to the FBI and Congress as well as obstructed justice for refusing to participate in the Mueller investigation. Mueller discovered Stone was in contact with WikiLeaks about the emails during the campaign.
Prosecutors want Stone to serve seven-to-nine behind bars, but President Trump didn’t like that idea. Mr. Trump accused the prosecutors of being the bad guys, and Mr. Stone is a persecuted good guy. According to several reports, Trump may pardon Stone.
The coronavirus has the Feds worried. The Feds know economic growth will take a hit from the virus. Chinese tourism in the U.S. dried up when flights in and out of China stopped. Plus, some factories didn’t open after Chinese New Year, and that means U.S. importers will suffer delays and cancellations. Steve Mnuchin claims the economy will grow by 3.0% in 2020. But growth was only 2.3% in 2019, and even Mnuchin admits the Boeing debacle alone could shave ½% off GDP growth.
An inverted bond yield curve usually means a recession is on its way, but the recent bond curve inversion is more about global weakness than America’s weak economy. Investors around the world invest in U.S. notes when markets start to show signs of a meltdown. A Bernie Sanders win may let the Trumpian air out of the stock market. And the slow economic growth in Europe and the U.K. make investors nervous so they buy bonds, and that scenario created the last inversion, according to MarketWatch.
Mr. Trump submitted a $4.8 trillion budget, but Chuck Schumer told the press it’s not worth the paper it’s written on. Mr. Trump still uses his 3.0% GDP growth number and the tax cut to justify his spending, according to Mr. Schumer.
Bill Barr continues to threaten Huawei while the phase 2 talks are in Limbo. Barr wants the U.S. to takeover Ericsson or Nokia. Mr. Trump told Barr to pressure the Chinese so they will more agreeable when the phase 2 talks start. Mr. Barr also plans to sue sanctuary states and cities for protecting illegal immigrants and the criminals the president likes to talk about, according to the Washington Post.
T-Mobile’s stock jumped 64% when the $26 billion merger with Sprint hit the press loop. A U.S. District judge plans to give the merger a green light. But the California Public Utilities Commission also has to sanction the merger.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/11/sprint-t-mobile-merger-gets-federal-judge-approval/
Dil Bole Oberoi
