Panama Canal: Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino refuses to be intimidated by Donald Trump and says that Trump won’t be allowed to take back the Panama Canal. Trump complained over the weekend that the fees Panama charges ships using the canal are too high. He threatened that the U.S. will seize the canal if Panama doesn’t reduce the charges. The U.S. built the canal on Panamanian territory and under President Carter’s Administration in 1977 signed a treaty turning it over to Panama.
Musk: In a speech yesterday to a conservative group meeting in Phoenix, Donald Trump said that he has not handed the presidency to Elon Musk. Trump said, “He’s not going to be president, that I can tell you.” Trump pointed out that Musk was not born in the U.S. and, therefore, under the Constitution, can’t be president. Some of Trump’s critics have pointed out that recently Musk had been making policy through posts on his internet site “X” and Trump had been following what Musk wanted.
Gaetz: Copies of the House Ethics Committee’s report on former Congressman Matt Gaetz, who Donald Trump nominated to be his attorney general, have been leaked before the committee’s formal release. The report finds that Gaetz used illegal drugs, including arranging to buy them while in his office on Capitol Hill. The report finds that he had sex with an underage girl, and paid more than $90,000 for sex with a dozen women. The Ethics Committee’s investigation found that Gaetz accepted gifts worth more than members of Congress are allowed to accept.
Death sentences: President Biden announced today that he is commuting the sentences of 37 individuals on federal death row. Those individuals will have their sentences reclassified from execution to life without the possibility of parole. The White House said that in the coming weeks, Biden will take additional steps to provide what it said would be meaningful second chances and continue to review possible additional pardons. It was reported that Biden wanted to act before Donald Trump took office since Trump has advocated more and faster federal executions.
Merger: Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan reported today that they are in talks aimed at merging the two companies by 2026. A successful merger would position the Nissan-Honda combination as the world’s third largest automaker, behind Toyota and Volkswagen. Honda has a dozen manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Nissan has three. The companies project that if they merge the new company would gross $191 billion in the first year and make a profit of at least $19 billion.
IRS payment: The Internal Revenue Service today announced plans to issue automatic payments to eligible people who did not claim the Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns. The payments vary depending on several factors, but the maximum payment is $1,400 per individual. The estimated total of payments going out is $2.4 billion. The Recovery Rebate Credit is a refundable credit for individuals who did not receive one or more Economic Impact Payments, also known as stimulus payments. Because the IRS has decided to make the payments automatic, people do not need to file an amended tax return to receive the money.
