June 24, 2016

The Trump Files: When Donald Wanted to Help the Clintons Buy Their House

“I could save them about $600,000 or $700,000.”

Ivylise Simones

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Until the election, we’re bringing you “The Trump Files,” a daily dose of telling episodes, strange but true stories, or curious scenes from the life of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton wasn’t always “Crooked Hillary” to Donald Trump. Back in 1999, she was just a friend who the real estate mogul wanted to help save some money on a house.

The Clintons bought a $1.7 million dollar house in Chappaqua, New York, in September of that year as they prepared for life after the White House. Trump was aghast that they’d shelled out that much. “They really got ripped [off] on the house,” he told Larry King that October, about a month after the Clintons bought their new home. “One of my people who actually runs my golf course, which is literally a couple of minutes away from where they’re living, came up and said, ‘Why did they pay so much for that house?'”

Trump didn’t know why, but he was sure he could have cut President Clinton—and the First Lady, whom he described as “a wonderful woman who has handled pressure incredibly well” in The Art of the Comeback, his 1997 book—a much better deal. “I think I could save them about $600,000 or $700,000,” he said to King. “I really wish I could have represented them on the purchase of that house.”

Read the rest of “The Trump Files”:

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