OMAHA — Appearing with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and expand upon the ''Buffett rule'' pushed by the Obama administration to raise tax rates on the richest Americans.
''I want to go even further, because Warren is 100 percent right, as usual,'' Clinton said at a rally in Omaha that featured a public endorsement from Buffett, the famed investor and one of the wealthiest people in America. ''I want to be the president for the struggling, the striving, and the successful.''
Introducing Clinton, Buffett offered a litany of statistics describing a growing chasm between the nation's rich and poor, lamenting, ''millions and millions and millions of Americans have been left behind.'' Buffett was the namesake for the push by the Obama administration to seek a tax rate of 30 percent on those earning $1 million or more.
Dubbed the ''Oracle of Omaha,'' Buffett said he would be ''delighted'' if Clinton takes the oath of office, asserting that she will not forget about middle-class Americans. Buffett said he had watched all of the Republican presidential debates and Clinton was a better choice for voters. ''You know, I used to love Abbott and Costello. Vaudeville was never this good,'' he said, referring to the GOP debates.
In her primary campaign against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton has pushed back against concerns among some liberals that her time in the Senate representing New York left her too close to Wall Street bankers — a notion that Buffett's appearance was aimed at allaying.
Republicans sought to brand her as a tax-and-spend liberal, unsympathetic to the economic pains of everyday American families.
''Hillary Clinton's economic agenda is more about redistribution than growth,'' said Republican National committee spokesman Michael Short, in a statement. ''Campaigning with the third-richest person on the planet is an odd way to communicate that she understands and cares about the needs of millions of Americans.''
Clinton has said she's talked about Wall Street excess for years and has vowed to seek criminal penalties for bankers who break the rules.
Clinton aides said she would provide more details in the new year on how she would push for higher taxes on the wealthy beyond the framework of the ''Buffett rule.''
Buffett has referred to Clinton as a ''hero of mine'' in the past and predicted last year that she would succeed President Obama, whom he also supported.
Democrats say Buffett carries a rare dual appeal on Wall Street and Main Street. The investment guru's annual shareholder meeting is dubbed ''Woodstock for Capitalists'' and drew an overflow crowd of more than 40,000 people from around the globe last spring.
''What he brings to the table is that he's one of the few highly respected business people who average people view as one of them,'' said Marc Lasry, a New York hedge fund manager and Democratic donor. ''He's liked by lots of different kinds of people.''
Buffett supported Clinton's first Senate campaign in 2000 and raised money for her presidential campaign in 2008 before endorsing Obama and appearing at fund-raisers for the president. Buffett joined Clinton at an Omaha fund-raiser earlier in the morning.
The chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has long voiced his displeasure with the growth of unlimited money in politics and the emergence of the super PACs.
But he made his first donation to a super PAC last year, giving $25,000 to the Ready for Hillary group, raising hopes among some Democrats that he might open his wallet again and in an even bigger way.
LONDON — Britain's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled unanimously against tycoon and US presidential contender Donald Trump in his battle to stop an offshore wind farm near his upscale Scottish golf resort.
Trump asserts the 11-turbine project, approved by the Scottish government in 2013, will spoil the view from his golf course near Aberdeen in eastern Scotland. He has vowed to stop further development of the resort if the wind farm goes ahead. His lawyer said the battle against the wind farm would continue.
Two Scottish courts had previously ruled against Trump, who had claimed the Scottish ministers had no power to authorize the wind farm.
George Sorial, a lawyer with the Trump Organization in New York, said in a statement that the verdict is ''extremely unfortunate'' for all residents of the Aberdeen area and will ''completely destroy the bucolic Aberdeen Bay and cast a terrible shadow upon the future of tourism for the area.''
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said the ruling will make it possible to ''test and demonstrate new technologies'' to reduce energy costs.