In other news, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Trump cannot arbitrarily end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, affirming an injunction that previously blocked Trump's decision.
Meanwhile, sources told CNN that special prosecutor Robert Mueller's team has asked Trump's lawyers for records from Trump Tower concerning Roger Stone
As recently as a month ago, Mueller asked Trump's lawyers to produce call and visitor logs related to Stone from Trump Tower in New York, according to a source briefed on the matter. The request at this late stage of the investigation came as something of a surprise to lawyers involved, given that the Mueller team has been focused for months on Stone and his activities before the 2016 election.
Among the questions Mueller has asked the President to provide written responses on are queries about Stone and his communications with then-candidate Trump, according to a source briefed on the matter.
Finally, and in related news, UBS is arguing that Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort cannot give up his Trump Tower apartment as part of his plea agreement with Mueller because it's not his to give.
Manafort purchased the apartment in 2006 with cash through a shell company, John Hannah LLC, for about $3.7 million, according to property records. In early 2015, he transferred the property from the shell company to himself. He then pledged the home as collateral on a $3 million loan from UBS Bank USA. The variable-rate mortgage required interest-only payments for the first 10 years, before coming due in May 2040.
UBS said in a Nov. 2 court filing that Manafort defaulted on the mortgage. His interest rate this month was 4.125 percent, and Manafort owed almost $110,000 in interest and fees, on top of unspecified attorneys’ fees and the $3 million principal, as of Nov. 1.
UBS said it didn’t know the property would be subject to forfeiture when it lent Manafort the money, and that its interest in the property is superior to Manafort’s. The bank asked a judge to hold a hearing on its request to block the government’s seizure of the condo.
I don't have a good counterargument for UBS, but this got me thinking. I wonder how many properties in Trump Tower are financially under water. How many of Trump's own properties are leveraged into oblivion?
I bet they all are. Every single one.