On Monday, President Trump vaguely elaborated on a 10 percent tax cut for middle-income earners that nobody else seems to know anything about. Trump's proposal for a "major tax cut" before the Nov. 6 election or soon after is "mystifying White House officials, congressional leaders, and tax wonks around town who mostly have no idea what he's talking about," Politico reports.

At a rally in Houston on Monday evening, Trump said he has been working on the proposal with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) for several months, and he's said House Speaker Paul Ryan's office was involved, too. But Ryan and Brady "appeared caught off guard again by Trump's comments," and their offices referred questions back to the White House, The Washington Post reports.

Congress is on break until after the election, "legislation enacting such a cut has not been planned on Capitol Hill, and congressional Republicans were privately skeptical that a vote could happen during the post-election lame duck session," the Post reports. "There are no current plans in Congress for any kind of large new tax cut for the middle class," Politico adds, and a 10 percent cut, as Trump is talking about, would cost about $2 trillion over 10 years, according to Jason Furman, chairman of former President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

"The GOP is already scrambling to avoid criticism for the ballooning debt and deficit under Trump's watch," and Republican candidates scrapped plans to run on the $1.5 trillion tax cut they already passed months ago, Politico says. "The specifics may not matter, though, in the days before an election — especially as the media echoes his message, often uncritically." And Republicans seem fine with that. "It's not a serious proposal," one well-connected conservative lobbyist tells Politico. "Nobody is taking it seriously, but we'd rather have him talking about tax cuts than some of the crazy stuff he usually talks about." Peter Weber

The United Auto Workers said its roughly 49,000 members who work at General Motors plants across the country will strike beginning at 11:59 p.m. Sunday evening.

A four-year contract between GM and the union expired Saturday and the two sides failed to reach a new agreement as talks broke down. GM said Sunday the auto company's offer to the union includes more than $7 billion in investments, more than 5,400 jobs, higher pay, and improved benefits.

"We have negotiated in good faith and with a sense of urgency," the automaker said in a statement. "Our goal remains to build a strong future for our employees and our business."

But union leaders said the sides are far apart on economic issues, despite some progress being made in the negotiation. "We are standing up for job security for our members and their families," Terry Dittes, director of the UAW GM department, said. He added that the the strike "represents great sacrifice and great courage on the part of our members."

The last time a national strike was called was 2007. It lasted for 17 hours. Read more at The Associated Press and The Detroit News. Tim O'Donnell

President Trump is offering some of his favorite advice for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He wants him to sue.

The New York Times on Saturday reported a previously unknown sexual misconduct allegation made against Kavanaugh by a former Yale University classmate who reportedly witnessed the incident at a party during Kavanaugh's freshman year at the Ivy League school. The classmate reportedly alerted senators and the FBI about it during Kavanaugh's confirmation process last year, but the agency did not investigate the claims.

Kavanaugh, of course, faced several accusations of sexual misconduct before his confirmation, and the latest one has led to calls for a new investigation into the matter. But Trump, apparently, won't stand for that, instead chalking the news up to a conspiracy theory being pushed by the Democrats and the media in the hopes of impeaching the Trump-appointed justice.

Trump is therefore suggesting Kavanaugh defend his reputation by suing for libel. If he doesn't, the president vaguely called for the Justice Department to "come to his rescue." Tim O'Donnell

Max Stier, a former Yale University classmate of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, reportedly notified senators and the FBI during the justice's confirmation process last year about a previously unreported sexual misconduct allegation involving Kavanaugh when he was a student at Yale.

Stier reportedly said he saw Kavanaugh — a freshman at the time — at a drunken dorm party with his pants down when his friends then pushed his penis into a female student's hands. The story is similar to an allegation against Kavanaugh made by another Yale student, Deborah Ramirez, but it is unclear if they are the same incident. It is also unclear if Stier knew the female student, or if she has verified the incident as described.

The FBI reportedly did not investigate the allegation and Stier has declined to speak about it publicly, but The New York Times reports it corroborated the story with two officials who have communicated with Stier.

Kavanaugh faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct during his confirmation process, though only one of his accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, was permitted to testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell

Iran on Sunday denied U.S. accusations that it was behind Saturday's drone strikes on two major oil sites in Saudi Arabia, which forced Saudi Aramco to suspend its production output by half.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran in a civil war against a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, claimed responsibility for the attacks, but U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Tehran, arguing there was "no evidence the attacks came from Yemen."

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, said Pompeo was "turning to 'max deceit'" after "having failed at 'max pressure,;" and Abbas Mousavi, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, called Pompeo's allegations "pointless."

Regardless of whether Pompeo's claims are correct, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia already accuse Tehran of providing Houthi forces with military equipment and training. So, if the rebels did in fact launch the attacks, it is unlikely Washington would ignore Iran's potential role in the incident.

The situation is just the latest example of heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington, which have risen since the U.S. departed the 2015 nuclear pact and placed sanctions on Iran. Read more at The Washington Post. Tim O'Donnell

President Trump tweeted Saturday that he's been in talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the possibility of moving forward with a mutual defense treaty between the two nations.

The fact that the treaty has been discussed is only surprising in the sense that the two countries already have a close military partnership. It appears, then, that Trump's statement might be linked to Israel's election which is set next week.

Axios reports that Trump's announcement was "exactly the kind of support" Netanyahu has long been seeking from Trump as he looks to hold on to his post. In response, Netanyahu thanked the president, saying Israel has "never had a greater friend in the White House." Tim O'Donnell

A two-and-half-years old lawsuit finally came to a close Friday, when Judge Richard E. Moore ruled that two confederate statues of Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, must remain standing. Moore, however, did not award any damages after plaintiffs argued that the 188 days the statues remained covered by tarps encroached on a state law protecting war memorials and caused the plaintiffs emotional distress. He did say he would award attorney fees.

The city had said the law was unconstitutional because the war memorials send a racist message, The Guardian reports. But the argument was unable to sway Moore, even though he did acknowledge the authors of the historic preservation statute likely had more sinister intent.

"I don't think I can infer that a historical preservation statute was intended to be racist," Moore said. "Certainly, [racism] was on their minds, but we should not judge the current law by that intent."

The statues were covered by tarps following the death of Heather Heyer at a violent "Unite the Right" rally in the Virginia city in August 2017. Read more at The Daily Progress and The Guardian. Tim O'Donnell