Donald Trump may have used legally questionable maneuvers to avoid paying personal federal income taxes in the 1990s, The New York Times reported Monday night.
The Times reported that Trump avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxable income by using a maneuver so "legally dubious," his lawyers told him the IRS "would likely declare it improper if he were audited."
The Monday report follows the bombshell revelation in early October that showed Trump declared nearly $1 billion in losses in 1995 — a move that may have allowed him to avoid paying personal federal income tax for nearly two subsequent decades.
Trump has not released any of his official tax returns, breaking from a decades-long tradition in presidential politics. The Republican nominee has cited an ongoing audit as a reason for withholding his returns.
According to new documents cited by The Times, while Trump and some of his businesses were in the throes of financial turmoil in the 1990s, Trump pressured investors to forgive millions of dollars in debt that he could not repay at the time. In doing so, the forgiven debt would have been viewed as taxable income, based on IRS provisions.
The tax-avoidance strategy allegedly used by Trump means the Manhattan billionaire "potentially escaped paying tens of millions of dollars in personal federal income taxes," The Times said.
Here's more from the newspaper:
"Mr. Trump’s tax avoidance maneuver, conjured from ambiguous provisions of highly technical tax court rulings, clearly pushed the edge of the envelope of what tax laws permitted at the time. 'Whatever loophole existed was not ‘exploited’ here, but stretched beyond any recognition,' said Steven M. Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center who helped draft tax legislation in the early 1990s."
During the second presidential debate on October 9, Trump admitted he went years without paying federal income taxes.
As John Buckley, the former chief of staff to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation told The Times, "He's getting something for absolutely nothing."
Andy Murray does not expect to become world No 1 at the Paris Masters but is still aiming to overthrow Novak Djokovic in 2017.
The British No 1, fresh off a tournament win in Vienna at the Erste Bank Open, __can top the ATP rankings if he claims victory at this week's Paris event and Djokovic loses before the final.
But Murray, currently the world No 2, remains aware that he must rely on Djokovic uncharacteristically faltering in Paris.
"I __can obviously try and win my matches, but even if I win all of my matches this week, I still might not get there," Murray told a news conference on Monday.
"So it's in Novak's hands. He's ahead obviously just now, so if he wins his matches and gets to the latter stages of the last two tournaments, then he'll most likely keep the No 1 spot.
"I don't feel any differently now to how I did six, eight weeks ago. My goal wasn't to finish No 1 at the end of this year.
"I wanted to finish this year as strong as possible and I think there is a lot stronger chance of doing it in the early part of next year, which is what I targeted, rather than this week."
Murray will begin his challenge at the Paris Masters in the second round on Wednesday, when he will play Fernando Verdasco who profited from Robin Haase's retirement in their Monday tie.
Watch the Paris Masters live on Sky Sports 1 HD at 10am on Tuesday.
Becoming world No 1 would make Andy Murray Britain's greatest ever sportsman, according to Mark Petchey.
Murray is within striking distance of the summit after triumphing in the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Sunday.
If Murray wins the Paris Masters this week - which you __can watch live on Sky Sports - and current world No 1 Novak Djokovic does not reach the final, Murray will become the oldest player to reach the ranking summit since John Newcombe in 1974.
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Sky Sports' tennis expert Petchey, who coached Murray during the early stage of the Scot's career, said: "I think it would be his greatest ever achievement. It would be amazing because it's remarkably difficult to do.
"When you think of all the things he has to deal with; the different surfaces he has to play well on, playing well in a sprint version of the sport - three sets as well as five sets - and he also has opponents that __can upset the way he plays.
"If you look at his week in Vienna; he played left-handers, he played big servers like John Isner, grinders like Giles Simon, he could have played David Ferrer, who is an attacking base-liner, and then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - an inspirational player - in the final.
"So to overcome all of that and become world No 1, with Djokovic so far ahead at the start of the season, mentally that would just be an amazing achievement.
"Because it's my sport I think it would make him, in my opinion, the greatest ever sports person in Britain."
Murray has pointed to an increased consistency in his game as being a major factor behind his surge, but Petchey has given praise to coaches Ivan Lendl and Jamie Delgado for perfecting the 29-year-old's serve.
Murray beat Jo-Wilfired Tsonga in the Vienna final on Sunday
"With the confidence he has, his first service has been very good over the last three tournaments, but I think also one of the big differences for him this year has been his second serve," Petchey added.
"I think Ivan Lendl coming back in as coach (has been a factor) and Jamie Delgado has just done a wonderful job week-in, week-out with Andy. Particularly after Wimbledon and heading towards the Olympics, there was a lot of hard work done in Majorca, and Andy didn't take his foot off the gas there.
"Those little tweaks to his service have definitely made a difference to him. Coupled with the confidence he has gained throughout the season, lifting these trophies, he's virtually unstoppable the way he is playing."
British butterflies could be under threat from increasingly frequent episodes of extreme weather. In fact, heat waves, cold snaps, and heavy rain may have already contributed to reported butterfly population crashes.
Researchers analysed data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS), which contains information on butterfly populations collected from more than 1,800 sites across the UK over 37 years.
The team found that rainfall level during the cocoon __life stage of butterflies adversely affected more than a quarter of butterfly species in the UK.
But the greatest harm was caused by extreme heat during the “over-wintering” __life stage, which had an impact on more than half the species.
This may be due to increased incidences of disease. Or it could be that extreme hot temperatures act as a cue for butterflies or their larvae to come out from over-wintering too early and subsequently be killed off by temperatures returning to colder conditions, said study co-author Aldina Franco, from the University of East Anglia.
Dr Aldina Franco/UEA/PA
Hot weather was found to benefit warmth-loving adult butterflies, leading to a positive population change in more than a third of species.
However, on balance the bad effects of extreme weather events outweighed the good.
“Years with extreme warm summers and winters may have mixed effects. For example, this year was terrible for butterflies,” Franco said.
Although the summer was warm the number of butterflies counted during the Big Butterfly Count was particularly low. “Our study indicates that this could have resulted from the detrimental effects of the warm winter.”
“The study has demonstrated previously unknown sensitivities of our UK butterflies to extreme climatic events, which are becoming more frequent with climate change,” said lead author Osgur McDermott-Long, of the School of Environmental Sciences at UEA.
“Some of these effects are undoubtedly putting future populations at risk, such as extremely warm winters,” he said. “However we’ve seen that warm and even climatically extreme hot summers may actually benefit butterflies.”
Journal reference: The Journal Of Animal Ecology, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12594/full
US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday.REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The FBI will inspect some 650,000 emails found on a laptop belonging to disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner that may be relevant to an investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday night.
The Journal cited sources familiar with the investigation to say that metadata within the messages suggested that thousands could have been sent to or from Clinton's private email server.
The messages were uncovered after investigators seized devices they suspected Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, of using to exchange sexually explicit texts with underage girls.
The investigation into Clinton's private email server was completed in July, with James Comey, the FBI director, recommending that no criminal charges be brought against Clinton for her use of the server while she was secretary of state. But in a vague letter released Friday to congressional leaders, Comey announced the discovery of more emails "that appear to be pertinent" to the Clinton investigation.
The bureau came under fire over the weekend after a Washington Post report revealed that agents had known about the emails since early October but chose not to tell Comey about them until less than two weeks before the presidential election.
Developments over the weekend have laid bare internal strife both within the FBI and between the FBI and the Justice Department in multiple inquiries involving Clinton.
James Comey, the FBI director, at a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 7 in Washington, DC.Alex Wong/Getty Images
The Justice Department reportedly asked the FBI not to disclose the discovery of the emails to Congress so close to the November 8 election, but Comey wrote to his employees on Friday that he felt "an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed."
Some within the FBI have apparently considered Comey to have overshared various aspects of the Clinton investigation with lawmakers and the public; in July the director gave an unprecedented press conference to announce that the FBI would not recommend criminal charges in the case.
Agents were also frustrated with the FBI leadership's apparent lack of interest in aggressively investigating the Clinton Foundation for possible conflicts of interest and financial crimes, according to The Journal.
The foundation's controversial donation practices came under renewed scrutiny last week when WikiLeaks published a hacked memo titled "Bill Clinton, Inc." that raised questions about the blurring of lines between the charity and the Clintons' personal finances.
Clinton with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, at a rally.AP
With no solid evidence of criminal wrongdoing, however, prosecutors within the public-integrity section of the Justice Department — who are not politically appointed — worried that they would be perceived as trying to influence the outcome of the election if they pursued the Clinton Foundation investigation. As such, they reportedly pressured FBI leadership to drop the foundation investigation.
Adding to that perception over the weekend was the revelation that the FBI had not obtained a separate warrant to sift through the roughly 650,000 Clinton emails found on Weiner's laptop before announcing on Friday that the emails existed. Weiner's laptop, which he evidently shared with Abedin, was subpoenaed in late September. The FBI eventually obtained a warrant over the weekend.
Clinton's email scandal has dogged the Democratic presidential nominee for more than a year. She first admitted in March 2015 to exclusively using a private email account to send and receive work-related emails while she served as secretary of state. The controversy compelled her to hand over roughly 30,000 work-related emails to the State Department, which have been released in batches since last year.
But she deleted about 30,000 additional emails from her server that she said were "personal" in nature before handing it over to the FBI in August, five months after she gave individual emails to the State Department.
Donald Trump, who has said he would "lock Clinton up" over her email scandal, seized on the news at a rally Friday. "Clinton's corruption is not on a scale we have ever seen," he told a rowdy crowd.Jonathan Drake/Reuters
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, seizing on the issue over the weekend, said during a Sunday rally that the FBI may have renewed the Clinton investigation because it found some of those 30,000 deleted emails. He described them as the potential "mother lode" that could bring down Clinton's candidacy.
Reports have indicated, however, that many of Abedin's emails, going back years, passed through Clinton's inbox at some point and therefore already would have been examined by agents who investigated her server from August 2015 through July of this year.
When asked during a congressional hearing in July whether he would renew the investigation if he "discovered new information that was both relevant and substantial," Comey replied that the FBI "would certainly look at any new and substantial information.”
Clinton implored the FBI on Friday evening to release more information about its review of the newly discovered documents, and her campaign has continued to go on the offensive over the weekend.
"The American people deserve to get the full and complete facts immediately," she said at a news conference.
It is unclear whether the FBI will complete its investigation of the newly discovered emails before November 8.
Hillary Clinton campaigns in Florida.REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Federal investigators have secured a warrant to examine newly discovered emails related to Hillary Clinton's private server, media outlets reported on Sunday.
The warrant will allow the FBI to examine the emails to see if they are relevant to its probe of the private email server used by Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, while she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
FBI officials were unavailable for comment on the status of their investigation, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton's campaign spent Sunday vigorously pushing back against the FBI.
Following Friday's announcement that the bureau discovered new emails on former Rep. Anthony Weiner's laptop between his estranged wife Huma Abedin and Clinton's private server, top Clinton campaign officials fanned out over cable news on Sunday's political talk shows to criticize Comey's decision to publicly announce the continuation of Clinton's email investigation.
In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said he was "very surprised" by Comey's letter the Congress informing lawmakers of the discovering of potential new emails. Mook said he found the letter "very strange," highlighting reports that the FBI is still awaiting a warrant to review the emails, and argued that reporters were reading too much significance into Comey's ambiguous letter.
"Director Comey has put out a letter. It has three paragraphs. It says nothing about Huma Abedin. It says nothing about who these emails are to or from, it just says that he has information that may be significant, we don't even know it if is," Mook said.
Other aides argued that the announcement broke with the Department of Justice's normal guidelines for informing the public about ongoing investigations.
On CNN, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta reiterated his concern that Comey was unnecessarily influencing the presidential election without giving voters enough information about the current status of the investigation.
"To throw this in the middle of the campaign 11 days out seemed to break with precedent and be inappropriate at this stage," Podesta said.
He added: "He might've taken the first step of actually having looked at them before he did this in the middle of a presidential campaign so close to voting."
Clinton's running mate Sen. Tim Kaine similarly cited reports that maintained Comey and his team didn't know the contents of the emails before informing Congress, and that he overstepped his bounds by making an announcement before he provided clarifying information.
"If he hasn’t seen the emails, they need to make that plain and release the circumstances of those once they have done the analysis," Kaine said on ABC. "That’s what Hillary said immediately when she spoke to the press on Friday. She said you can’t break both protocols and leave it up in the air with a question mark. You owe people the complete information."
The campaign released a video on social media later on Sunday detailing how initial reporting of the story did not include key information, saying that the emails could be duplicates of those the FBI has already revealed. Narrated by press secretary Brian Fallon, the video called Comey's letter "light on facts" and "heavy on innuendo," and suggested that it was further ammunition for Republicans to use against the Democratic presidential nominee.
"The more information that has come out, the more overblown this all seems. And the more concern it has created about Director Comey's actions," press secretary Brian Fallon said.
Later in the video, he added: "Republicans have been trying to use Hillary Clinton's emails to bring her down since the very beginning of this campaign."
Yesterday, FBI Director Comey bowed to partisan pressure and released a vague and inappropriate letter to Congress. What you need to know: pic.twitter.com/E5Q8Mgp0h0
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 30, 2016
Novak Djokovic heads into the Paris Masters with his No 1 ranking under serious threat from Andy Murray, and in the rare position of being second favourite.
On current form Murray has the edge after collecting a third straight tournament win after victory at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, his career-high seventh title of the year.
The second-ranked Scot __can overtake Djokovic if he wins the title and the Serb doesn't reach the final.
But Djokovic has form in the French capital and will be looking to win the tournament for the fourth straight year and fifth time overall, despite his recent erratic form.
Super Murray wins in Vienna
Andy Murray beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win Erste Bank Open in Vienna
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"You've got to give [Murray] credit for what he's done in the last three or four months, the second part of the year is quite incredible," Djokovic said. "He's playing maybe the best tennis he's ever played, very consistent, very strong. He definitely deserves to be in the position of being No 1 at the end of the year. But that doesn't just depend on him."
Djokovic, who crushed Murray 6-2 6-4 in the final last year, will keep top spot if he reaches the final, and Murray is not overly optimistic of knocking him off his perch.
"Obviously he could win the event and, if I lose in the first round, then I am a long way from being No 1," said Murray, who trails Djokovic 24-10 in career matches. "I've never won [the Paris Masters] before, so to just expect that you're going to win the tournament would be silly."
"In some other years, a year like this would easily [have] been enough to be No 1 in the world," Murray said. "But I am obviously getting closer."
Murray, who has a first-round bye, will start his tournament against Fernando Verdasco or Feliciano Lopez.
He could then face Roberto Bautista Agut, Tomas Berdych before a mouth-watering semi-final date against Milos Raonic - who is still feeling the effects of ankle injury - or Basel runner-up Kei Nishikori.
Like Murray, Djokovic also has seven titles this year, matching his tally from 2013 and 2014, but will fall short of the 11 he won in an utterly dominant 2015.
"The last couple of months were not easy," Djokovic said. "Mentally I just had to redefine my goals, things that are happening on and off the court.
"But now I feel great and rejuvenated, very happy to be back in the city where I have wonderful memories. It gives me a lot of emotions and butterflies in my stomach when I think about the last time I was here."
Djokovic, who also won here in 2009, faces either Nicolas Almagro of Spain or Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the second round.
He could then face Grigor Dimitrov, then ATP World Tour Final-chasing Marin Cilic, before a blockbuster of a semi-final clash against Stan Wawrinka in a repeat of their classic US Open final encounter earlier this year.
Check our game-by-game updates from all of Andy Murray's matches at next week's ATP Paris Masters on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis, live on Sky Sports.
Dominika Cibulkova proudly poses with the trophy after beating Angelique Kerber at the WTA Finals
Dominika Cibulkova completed a remarkable turnaround at the WTA Finals as she defeated top seed and world No 1 Angelique Kerber to claim the title.
The Slovakian world No 8 lost her opening two round-robin matches in Singapore to Kerber and Madison Keys and appeared set for an early exit.
However, the 27-year-old squeezed into the semi-finals by defeating Simona Halep and she followed up her victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last four on Saturday with a 6-3 6-4 win over Kerber in the final.
Cibulkova's achievement - in her debut appearance at the tournament - matches that of 2015 winner Agnieszka Radwanska, who also captured the title with a 1-2 pool record.
Cibulkova celebrates after wrapping up her win in Singapore
Kerber, who beat defending champion Radwanska in the semi-finals, had actually helped seventh seed Cibulkova to progress from the Red Group when she saw off Keys 6-3 6-3 in her final round-robin match on Thursday.
And Cibulkova made the most of her second chance as she fired down 28 winners to only 14 for Kerber as well as making only 14 unforced errors to 23 for the German.
The only time Cibulkova looked nervous in the 76-minute match was when she was serving for it at 6-3, 5-4. She missed on three match points and saved two break points before a forehand clipped the top of the net and just dribbled over to give her the victory.
Cibulkova, who will now end the year at a career-high No 5 in the rankings with a 53-21 record and four titles, said: "Coming here for the first time and winning the biggest title of my life, I have no words. Today you __can see I got really lucky in the end.
"When the ball just went in on the match point, it was the happiest moment of my life.
"It wasn't easy to go on the court after two losses but I was mentally very strong and I knew I played well in the first two matches, I was just a little bit unlucky. Then at the end I was lucky."
Kerber looks dejected as she misses out on the big end-of-season title
Kerber, the Australian and US Open champion, endured a frustrating time as she struggled to cope with the variety of Cibulkova's shot-making, but she said: "I gave everything I had on the court and it's an honour to play on the big stage in front of my incredible fans.
"I've had an incredible year and I'm looking forward to the next one."
Kei Nishikori of Japan celebrates his victory at the Swiss Indoors
Kei Nishikori saved two match points to defeat Gilles Muller 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 on Saturday and earn a place in the Swiss Indoors final against Marin Cilic.
The world No 5 performed his escape act in the second set against Luxembourg's big hitter, who rained down 20 aces in the two-and-a-quarter-hour thriller in Basel.
The Japanese trailblazer will aim for only his second title of the season on Sunday against fourth seed Marin Cilic, who is still in the hunt to qualify for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
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Third-seeded Nishikori saved the first match point with a perfectly timed lob.
"I saw that he was almost touching the net, but my arm was shaking as it was match point," he said of the winner that pulled the score level 5-5 in the second set.
After his heroics in the second set, the 26-year-old was able to steady his game to earn a hard-earned win over the 37th-ranked Muller.
Murray v Djokovic: The race is on
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic: Their previous meetings
"I got more comfortable and played a good match. The balls fly a lot here, you really have to hit the ball," said a relieved Nishikori.
"Muller has a great serve. I'm just happy to have won the match."
Nishikori has already qualified for next month's ATP World Tour Finals for a third straight season.
Cilic had to come from a set down to beat Mischa Zverev, earlier conqueror of Stan Wawrinka, 4-6 7-5 6-3 in a gruelling encounter.
Marin Cilic will play Nishikori in a repeat of the 2014 US Open
He played Nishikori in final of the 2014 US Open, when Cilic won the only Grand Slam of his career so far.
"It's tough to think of the past, but when I remember that match it gives me some guidance about how to play this next one," Cilic said.
"It will be another tight match like others we've played I'm looking forward to the final."
Check our game-by-game updates from Andy Murray's match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis this Sunday or catch the action, live on Sky Sports 5 HD from 12.45pm.
Angelique Kerber says she is looking forward to a well-earned break after being beaten in straight sets by Slovakian world No 8 Dominika Cibulkova in the WTA Finals title decider on Sunday.
The 28-year-old reached the pinnacle of women's tennis after title victories at the Australian and US Opens in 2016, but Cibulkova was too quick and too consistent for Kerber in Singapore as she eased to a 6-3 6-4 victory.
"In my mind I know that it's now over," Kerber said "Of course I had a lot of the matches, a lot of tough matches, and also a lot of great finals and great memories this year. Now I'm ready for a vacation."
"I will go forward with a lot of confidence for the next year. I think it will be different because I'm starting as number one and this is a new situation for me.
"But I'm actually not thinking too much about next year yet. I'm still here and have an off-season to work hard again and then I will think more about next year."
Cibulkova lifts the trophy after victory in her singles final at the WTA Finals
After winning two grand slams, reaching the Wimbledon final and claiming an Olympic silver medal in Rio, Kerber was an overwhelming favourite to claim her first year-end championship crown, but she never recovered after making a slow start.
"I was not playing my best tennis from the beginning and she played very well. I mean, she was going for it," added Kerber.
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"I tried to give it everything and the goal was to play aggressive and win the match but sometimes you have such days.
"It's the last match of the year, so I'm not as fresh as I would be if it was the first match. I did give everything on court as this is always my priority.
"Today it was not enough, though, it was not my day."
World No 1 Novak Djokovic says he is fully motivated again ahead of the Paris Masters next week after feeling mentally drained since his French Open success in June.
The Serb is aiming to defend his Masters title to fend off the advances of Andy Murray for his status as world No 1 but has only won one tournament, the Toronto Masters in July, since completing the Career Slam at Roland Garros.
"Winning the French Open this year has brought a lot of joy to me but on the other hand has taken away a lot from me, as well," Djokovic said. "I felt a little bit exhausted, I must say, and maybe less motivated."
Djokovic was knocked out of Wimbledon in the third round, the first time he had failed to make it through to a Grand Glam final since the 2014 US Open, before being eliminated in the first round at the Olympics.
Novak Djokovic crashed out of Wimbledon during the Men's Singles third round match against Sam Querrey
"I had to kind of rediscover that feeling of being on the court and keep pushing myself," he added.
"I guess it took a little bit of time, more time, and I'm in a better state of mind at the moment than I was some months ago."
Djokovic has been handed a tough route to the title in Paris, where he will start in the second round against Spain's Nicolas Almagro or in-form Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, as he battles for top spot with Murray.
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"I have been in these particular situations before in terms of ranking, so I know what to do, and I just keep things very simple," he said.
"It makes me want to go on court and fight for every point because there is something to win at the end."
All that Andy Murray needs to try and do is not let Novak Djokovic widen the gap at the Paris Masters next week in order to achieve his ultimate goal of becoming world No 1, says Barry Cowan.
Murray continued his march towards the top spot by winning the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Sunday.
Super Murray wins in Vienna
Andy Murray beats Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win Erste Bank Open in Vienna
The 29-year-old Scot swept past Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 7-6 (8-6) with an immaculate display in the final to earn his seventh title of the year.
The Olympic and Wimbledon champion __can take over the world No 1 ranking from Djokovic if he wins next week's Paris Masters and the Serb fails to reach the final.
Djokovic has been handed a tough route to the title in Paris, where he will start in the second round against Spain's Nicolas Almagro or in-form Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
The top ranking could come to a head when he faces a blockbuster semi-final clash against US Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
Murray's route is also a tough one and includes a potential opening second round match against Fernando Verdasco before facing Roberto Bautista Agut, Tomas Berdych and then a mouth-watering semi-final date against Milos Raonic or Kei Nishikori.
And Sky Sports tennis expert Cowan feels Murray __can do it if the mathematics work in his favour.
"Realistically, this is going to be very tough for Andy next week going into Paris," Cowan said. "The hardest will be the first couple of rounds in Paris, and if he can get through those and the closer to the weekend he gets then I think he will be feeling better in himself and then he starts to see the finishing line.
"Djokovic is fresh, but Djokovic has not won big matches of late and so long as Andy can have a chance mathematically and it's in his control going into London - I think he'll do it."
Cowan also pointed to Murray's impressive big match temperament, where he has been forced to slug it out in order to win matches and was impressed with his ability during vital times against Tsonga.
"Murray was immense today," Cowan added. "He was coming into the final in so much confidence, playing his best tennis in every big match.
Murray and Djokovic's rivalry at the top of the rankings will continue in Paris
"Andy was so clear in how he wanted to play and I think that's why he's been able to play such great, great tennis when it really matters.
"What was impressive from Andy was the way he was able to stem the Tsonga attack in the tie-break. But crucially in the tie-break Murray found the first serve again."
Murray won an impressive 74 per cent of his second serve points in Sunday's final and Cowan feels that is the most improved aspect of his game this year.
"Andy's developed pace and variation - the ability to change it up. He used to always be consistent where he hit the serve - it was always in the same spot. Sometimes you need to vary it, go big to the backhand side, forehand, hit it with a little bit more spin, sometimes you have to go into the body. He's started to do that a lot more and that comes from confidence."
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The rankings as they stand
Djokovic: 12,900 points
Murray: 10,985
French capital gains
The regular tour comes to an end with the final Masters event in Paris, starting on Monday, with Djokovic defending his title and 1,000 ranking points.
He beat Murray in last year's final, with the Scot earning 600 points.
If Murray were to enjoy another impressive week in the French capital and lift the trophy next Sunday, he would gain an additional extra 400 points.
Should Djokovic only reach the semi-finals, he would drop 640 points.
How the points tot up if Murray wins in Paris and Djokovic reaches the semi-final:
Djokovic: 12,260
Murray: 11,385
Djokovic mentally ready for Paris
Novak Djokovic insists he is mentally prepared for Paris Masters
Djokovic's big points drop
Djokovic has won the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals four years in a row
On Monday, November 7, Djokovic will lose the 1,300 points he amassed for winning the ATP World Tour Finals last November in London, ahead of the start of that tournament on the following Sunday.
And that could be the trigger point for Murray to overtake him.
Murray v Djokovic: The race is on
Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic: Their previous meetings
Murray, who has consistently struggled at the World Tour Finals, won only one match there last year so drops just 200 points.
How it would stand after last season's World Tour Finals points are taken off - if Murray wins in Paris and Djokovic reaches the semi-finals:
Murray: 11,185
Djokovic: 10,960
Check our game-by-game updates from all of Andy Murray's matches at next week's ATP Paris Masters on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis, live on Sky Sports.
FBI Director James Comey testifies at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation" on Capitol Hill in WashingtonThomson Reuters
The FBI still has not obtained a search warrant to review the new emails related to the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, Yahoo News reported Saturday, citing three government officials who were briefed on the investigation.
According to one of the officials, FBI Director James Comey "had no idea what was in the content of the emails" when he wrote his letter to Congress Friday announcing the existence of new emails that appeared to be "pertinent" to the completed investigation into Clinton's private email server.
The emails were reportedly discovered after the FBI seized the laptop of former congressman Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The FBI has been investigating Weiner since September in a probe related to his alleged sexting with a 15-year-old girl.
A senior law enforcement official told Yahoo News that "discussions are underway" between the FBI and the Department of Justice on how the situation will proceed.
The DOJ had warned the FBI against alerting Congress to the existence of the emails, according to media reports on Saturday. Announcing the investigation went against longstanding tradition, and could be perceived as influencing, or attempting to influence, the looming election, the reports said.
Comey, who has faced heat from the Clinton campaign and its allies for his vague letter to Congress, told FBI employees in a letter Friday that he felt compelled to inform Congress of the new developments.
"We don't ordinarily tell Congress about ongoing investigations, but here I feel an obligation to do so given that I testified repeatedly in recent months that our investigation was completed," Comey said, noting his testimony in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "I also think it would be misleading to the American people were we not to supplement the record."
Clinton and some of her top campaign aides on Saturday urged Comey to release more information on what it had found.
Britain's Andy Murray received a walkover in Vienna after his opponent David Ferrer pulled out injured
Top seed Andy Murray received a walkover to the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna after his opponent David Ferrer pulled out with a leg injury.
The 2014 champion will now take on Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the title match where victory would help him move another step closer to deposing Novak Djokovic as world No 1.
Murray needs to win the title in the Austrian capital on Sunday, as well as next week's Paris Masters, to have any chance of knocking Djokovic off the world top spot.
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The British world No 2 beat Ferrer for the title two years ago, and also defeated the Spaniard in the semi-finals on his way to winning to the title at Beijing three weeks ago.
Tournament director Herwig Straka said Ferrer was visiting a private clinic where doctors advised him not to play.
It was only the second time in 1,024 career matches that Ferrer withdrew and the Spaniard said: "The last two matches I had pain. It's too much to play now."
"He must be in quite a lot of pain," Murray said. "I'll use today as a rest day, practice a little bit on the centre court.
"It will be a hard match [against Tsonga], but I'm motivated to finish the season strong. Being in another final after a tough week is good."
Tsonga reached the final in thrilling fashion against Karlovic
The 2011 champion Tsonga looked to be down and out against ATP Tour ace leader Karlovic, but came through to make his first ATP final of the year after two hours and 34 minutes of action, 5-7 7-5 7-6 (8-6).
"It was a special match," Tsonga said. "I was down one set and one break, then he gave me a break and I came back in the match. I just played more consistent and more aggressive."
Check our game-by-game updates from Andy Murray's match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis this Sunday or catch the action, live on Sky Sports 5 HD from 12.45pm.
