Our latest episode of “Trump, Inc.” looks at how the Trump family has learned “how to turn politics into money.”
In 1975, New York City was run-down and on the verge of bankruptcy. Twenty-nine-year-old Donald Trump saw an opportunity. He wanted to acquire and redevelop the dilapidated Commodore Hotel in midtown Manhattan next to Grand Central Terminal.
Trump had bragged to the executive controlling the sale that he could use his political connections to get tax breaks for the deal.
The executive was skeptical. But the next day, the executive was invited into Trump’s limousine, which ushered him to City Hall. There, he met with Donald’s father Fred and Mayor Abe Beame, to whom the Trumps had given lavishly.