Schemes and Fraud: In a blockbuster story released last night, The New York Times reports that during the 1990s then private-citizen Donald Trump engaged in numerous tax schemes and in some cases outright fraud to pump up the value of the fortune provided to him by his father.

Trump has always insisted he is a self-made billionaire who got almost no help from his father, a New York real estate magnate. The paper reports that, “The president’s parents, Fred and Mary Trump, transferred well over $1 billion in wealth to their children, which could have produced a tax bill of at least $550 million under the 55 percent tax rate then imposed on gifts and inheritances.” The story says the Trumps paid just $52.2 million, or about 5 percent, according to the family tax records.

The President knew the Times had the story and declined repeated requests to be interviewed for it. Trump lawyer Charles Harder said, “There was no fraud or tax evasion by anyone. The facts upon which The Times bases its false allegations are extremely inaccurate.” At the same time, Harder said Trump had nothing to do with it and relied upon other family members and tax professionals.

The criminal statute of limitations has run out, but civil penalties could still be levied if the IRS identifies fraud.

  The Times says its 18 month investigation is sourced with tens of thousands of pages of records and 200 tax returns from the Trump family and businesses. Despite Trump’s claims that he built his empire with a $1 million loan from his father that he had to repay, The Timesreports that he was being paid $200,000 a year by the family empire at age two and that he was a millionaire by eight. Also despite his claim, his father transferred his real estate holdings to his children a year and a half before he died, which would have triggered massive gift taxes.

The Times says, “The Trumps dodged hundreds of millions in gift taxes by submitting tax returns that grossly undervalued the properties, claiming they were worth just $41.4 million.”

The paper also describes a scheme in which a private Trump company established to purchase everything from boilers to cleaning supplies for the Trump buildings was used to pad the expenses, thereby reducing the company’s worth, while passing the profits to the Trumps and expenses to the tenants.

Trump claimed in a 1976 NY Times profile that he was worth $200 million, he later told New Jersey gambling regulators that his income that year had been just over $24,000. When his Atlantic City casino was going under, his father bought $3.5 million in gambling chips that were never cashed in.

After you’ve finished today’s Rooney Report, Read it.

Kav-enough: As the FBI digs into his past, the holes in Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee are getting bigger. Credibility, honesty, and character have become primary issues, possibly even beyond sexual misbehavior.

Kavanaugh told the committee that he had never heard the accusations of  Yale classmate Deborah Ramirez that he exposed himself to her at a drunken freshman party until The New Yorker published its story on Sunday, Sept. 23. But NBC News reports that Kavanaugh was in touch with classmates doing damage control before The New Yorker published that Sunday.

Some Yale acquaintances said Kavanaugh or a representative asked them to say nothing happened. Two classmates confirm that Kavanaugh and his “team” asked for a picture of Kavanaugh years later at a wedding, cordially in the presence of Ramirez.

Kavanaugh then went before the Senate, claiming he didn’t know about the Ramirez allegation until days after he actually knew it.

The question again is not just whether Kavanaugh was a partying jerk, but whether he lied about it to the Senate. The NY Timesalso obtained a copy of a 1983 letter Kavanaugh wrote by hand to seven friends about to rent a beachfront condo. He said in a postscript, “It would probably be good on Saturday the 18^thto warn the neighbors that we’re loud obnoxious drunks with prolific pukers among us. Advise them to go about 30 miles …”

Kavanaugh signed the letter “Bart,” the same as the name given to a character in his friend Mark Judge’s book about drunken revelries. When asked in the Senate hearing whether he was the “Bart” that Judge wrote about, Kavanaugh said, “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him.”

The 400 Blows: President Trump unleashed himself last night at a political rally in Mississippi last night and openly mocked Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual assault accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

Mocking the Senate hearing to a cheering crowd he said, “How did you get home? ‘I don’t remember.’ How did you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ Where is the place? ‘I don’t remember.’ How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.’” He went on before his admiring crowd, “What neighborhood was it in? ‘I don’t know.’ Where’s the house? ‘I don’t know. Upstairs. Downstairs. I don’t know. But I had one beer, that’s the only thing I remember.’”

In Brief:Envelopes containing the poison ricin were sent to President Trump and the Pentagon. —The Trump administration is ceasing to issue visas to the same-sex partners of foreign diplomatic staff if they are not married. — The Chicago police officer on trial for murder in the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald said he felt an obligation to not back down. He fired 16 times and claimed he was aiming for a knife in McDonald’s hand. — Amazon has set a $15 minimum wage for its US employees.

Planet Nine from Outer Space: A relatively small orbiting ice ball about the size of Massachusetts tells astronomers that an unseen planet, so far dubbed “Planet X,” is lurking in the dark out there.

   The object formally named “2015 TG387” and nicknamed the Goblin is aligned with other orbiting bodies that together suggest they are being pulled into line by an unseen planet. It’s the kind of thing that keeps astronomers up at night.

Presidential Alert: Every cellphone customer in the US is expected to receive a test message today from the new presidential alert system to be used for national emergencies. The emergency test message is “Donald Trump is President!”

No, we’re joking. The message is, “Donald Trump will be re-elected!

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