White House

Update 1: Following the cancellation of what was supposed to be a bipartisan meeting at the White House to discuss the budget and tax reform, President Trump just wrapped up a brief press briefing that touched on everything from his spat with "Chuck and Nancy" to North Korea's latest missile launch.

On tax reform, Trump predicted that "adjustments" will be required to get a bill through the Senate:

*TRUMP SAYS NOT SURPRISED SCHUMER, PELOSI SKIPPED MEETING

*TRUMP SAYS THERE WILL BE ADJUSTMENTS TO TAX LEGISLATION

As part of Donald Trump's ongoing quest to halt leaks from within his administration, the White House may ban its employees from using personal mobile phones while at work. The move is expected to "raise concerns among staff including that they’ll be cut off from family and friends" according to five administration officials who leaked the proposed ban to Bloomberg, probably on their mobile phones.

Authored by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

After the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 and the death of the Soviet Union was confirmed two years later when Boris Yeltsin courageously stood down the red army tanks in front of Moscow's White House, a dark era in human history came to an end.

One day after Trump caused the latest round of broad media outrage when he reportedly sided with Putin over Russia's alleged "election interference", while slamming US intel agencies, and repeating his allegation that the investigation is a ‘hoax’, and the FBI a “bunch of hacks,” Trump reversed himself and "cleared up confusion" over whether he accepts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials of meddling in the U.S. election last year.

The overnight fireworks in Japan, which saw the Nikkei plunge by 860 intraday points and sent vol and volumes soaring (before recovering most losses), spooked traders in Asia and around the globe, and U.S. equity futures are red this morning, along with European shares and oil.