Mina Chang, a senior State Department official nominated by the Trump administration, was also caught padding her resume. Among other things, it included a fake Time cover.
In 2005, Trump was talking to Access Hollywood host Billy Bush when he described his attempt to seduce a married woman. He explained, “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
A video with the remark was leaked during Trump’s 2016 campaign. He dismissed it as merely “locker room talk.” Billy Bush was fired by NBC following the tape’s release. Though Trump initially apologized for the remarks, he later suggested that the tape was fake, before again admitting it wasn’t.
Trump first met Daniels at a 2006 celebrity golf tournament. They took photos together, and he invited her to dinner in his hotel room. After promising her a spot on Celebrity Apprentice, they had unprotected sex. Just months prior, Trump’s wife Melania had given birth to Barron, her only child, and his fifth.
Trump and Daniels meet at a 2006 celebrity golf tournament
Daniels sold the story for $15,000 to a magazine in 2011, but it never ran and she was never paid. She alleged that soon after, a man approached her in a parking lot and directly threatened her over the story.
A month ahead of the 2016 election, Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, provided a $130,000 payment for her to maintain her silence. Cohen later pleaded guilty to campaign finance crimes for his role in facilitating the non-disclosure agreement.
Trump repeatedly denied that the affair happened, and that he didn’t know of any payments to her.
When Daniels spoke out, a prolonged legal battle began over her breaking the terms of the NDA. Her lawsuits to break the terms of the NDA were eventually dismissed. Trump took the opportunity tweet further denials, using his moniker for her, “Horseface.”
“Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.” @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!
Within a month of denying any knowledge of the payment, spokesman Rudy Giuliani revealed that Trump had reimbursed Cohen for the $130,000.
Daniels filed three suits against Trump and his legal team to escape the NDA. One was dismissed, another was dismissed where Daniels was ordered to pay $293k in legal fees and went into an appeal process, and the third was settled.
In 1989, a woman was raped and beaten in Central Park, and five black and Hispanic boys were arrested. Trump took out four full page advertisements calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty against the group who became known as the Central Park Five.
In 2002, a convicted murder and rapist confessed to the crime, and DNA evidence proved him to be the perpetrator while the Central Park Five were exonerated. Still, Trump has continued to claim that the Central Park Five were guilty.
When Trump was asked about whether his building sustained any damage in the September 11 attacks, he bragged about its size saying, “I mean, 40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually before the World Trade Center the tallest, and then when they built the World Trade Center it became known as the second-tallest, and now it’s the tallest.” His building was still not the tallest.
During a 1997 interview with Howard Stern, Trump referred to women’s vaginas as “potential landmines.”
He explained, “You know, if you’re young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam, we have our own Vietnam — it’s called the dating game…Dating is like being in Vietnam. You’re the equivalent of a soldier going over to Vietnam.”
The Trump family’s medical insurance was provided by the company owned by Donald’s father, Fred Trump. It covered Donald, his siblings Fred Jr., Robert, Maryanne, and Elizabeth, as well as their families.
Donald’s brother Fred Jr. died in 1981, but had a son, Fred III, who went on to have his own child, William. William had suffered multiple seizures and other medical issues since birth, and developed cerebral palsy. He required perpetual care, and medical costs were in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
When the senior Fred Trump died in 1999, his assets were distributed primarily among his living children, which meant considerably less was given to Fred III and his family. He filed a suit alleging that Donald and his siblings had abused their father’s Alzheimer’s and growing dementia to influence Fred Sr.’s will, which they helped draft.
Siblings Donald, Maryanne, and Robert Trump
Trump responded by removing his nephew and nephew’s infant son from their insurance. Fred III said of it, “I just think it was wrong. These are not warm and fuzzy people. They never even came to see William in the hospital. Our family puts the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional.”
When asked about denying his nephew medical coverage, Donald said, “Why should we give him medical coverage?” In response to being asked if his reaction was “cold,” he explained, “I can’t help that. It’s cold when someone sues my father. Had he come to see me, things could very possibly have been much different for them.”
In an interview with another reporter, Donald said “I was angry because they sued,” but that eventually lawsuit was settled “very amicably.”
In a 1994 TV interview about his infant daughter Tiffany, Trump said, “She’s got mama’s legs. We don’t know whether or not she’s got this part yet,” cupping imaginary breasts, “but time will tell.”
Trump famously cheated on his first wife with actress Marla Maples before divorcing Ivana for her. Before the divorce, he kept his mistress Maples close, even flying her to him in Aspen while there with his family. His affair was heavily reported in tabloids of the time.
Young Donald Trump was notorious for repeatedly getting into trouble, both at school and around his neighborhood. This was one of the reasons his parents send him to New York Military Academy, where he was for five years.
In a discussion with his biographer Michael D’Antonio, Trump noted how much he enjoyed fighting:
TRUMP: I went to New York Military Academy for five years, from the year before freshman.
D’ANTONIO: So eighth grade on?
TRUMP: Yes.
D’ANTONIO: Whose idea was this?
TRUMP: Well, I was very rebellious and my parents thought it would be a good idea. I was very rebellious.
D’ANTONIO: How did it evidence itself?
TRUMP: I was a very rebellious kind of person. I don’t like to talk about it, actually. But I was a very rebellious person and very set in my ways.
D’ANTONIO: In eighth grade?
TRUMP: I loved to fight. I always loved to fight.
D’ANTONIO: Physical fights?
TRUMP: … All types of fights. Any kind of fight, I loved it, including physical, and I was always the best athlete. Something that nobody knew about me.
Pulitzer-Prize winner and Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio. Michaeldantonio.net
