Ancestry
Trump family coat of arms
Trump is of paternal German ancestry and maternal Scottish ancestry. His mother and all his grandparents were born in Europe. His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Kallstadt, Germany, and his father, who became a New York City real estate developer, was born in the Bronx.[12][13] His mother emigrated to New York from her birthplace of Tong, Lewis, Scotland.[14] Fred and Mary met in New York and married in 1936, raising their family in Queens.[14][15]
His uncle, John G. Trump, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1936 to 1973, was involved in radar research for the Allies in the Second World War, and helped design X-ray machines that prolonged the lives of cancer patients; in 1943, the Federal Bureau of Investigation requested John Trump to examine Nikola Tesla's papers and equipment when Tesla died in his room at the New Yorker Hotel.[16] Donald Trump's grandfather was Frederick Trump who amassed a fortune operating boom-town restaurants and boarding houses in the region of Seattle and Klondike, Canada.[17]
The Trump family were originally Lutherans, but Trump's parents belonged to the Reformed Church in America.[18] The family name, which was formerly spelled Drumpf, was changed to Trump during the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century.[19] Trump has said that he is proud of his German heritage and served as grand marshal of the 1999 German-American Steuben Parade in New York City.[20]
Education
A black-and-white photograph of Donald Trump as a teenager, smiling and wearing a dark uniform with various badges and a light-colored stripe crossing his right shoulder. This image was taken while Trump was in the New York Military Academy in 1964.
Trump at age 18 at the New York Military Academy, June 30, 1964
Trump's family had a two-story mock Tudor home on Midland Parkway in Jamaica Estates, where he lived while attending The Kew-Forest School.[21][22] He left the school at age 13 and was enrolled in the New York Military Academy (NYMA),[23] in Cornwall, New York, where he finished eighth grade and high school. Trump was an energetic child; his parents hoped that the discipline at the military school would allow him to channel his energy in a positive manner. In 1983, Fred Trump told an interviewer that Donald "was a pretty rough fellow when he was small".[24]
Trump participated in marching drills, wore a uniform, and during his senior year attained the rank of captain. He was transferred from a student command position after the alleged hazing of a new freshman in his barracks by one of Trump's subordinates; Trump later described the transfer as "a promotion".[25] In 2015, he told a biographer that NYMA gave him "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military".[26]
Trump attended Fordham University in the Bronx for two years, beginning in August 1964. He then transferred to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, which offered one of the few real estate studies departments in United States academia at the time.[27][28] While there, he worked at the family's company, Elizabeth Trump & Son, named for his paternal grandmother.[29] He graduated from Penn in May 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in economics.[28][30][31]
Trump was not drafted during the Vietnam War.[32] While in college from 1964 to 1968, he obtained four student deferments.[33] In 1966, he was deemed fit for service based upon a military medical examination, and in 1968 was briefly classified as fit by a local draft board, but was given a 1-Y medical deferment in October 1968.[34] In an interview for a 2015 biography, he attributed his medical deferment to heel spurs.[26] In 1969, he received a high number in the draft lottery, which would also have exempted him from service.[34][35][36]
Business career
Main articles: Business career of Donald Trump and The Trump Organization
Real estate
View of the jagged facade of the Trump Tower in New York City.
Trump Tower's distinctive jagged facade in Midtown Manhattan
Prior to graduating from college, Trump began his real estate career at his father's company,[37] Elizabeth Trump and Son,[38] which focused on middle-class rental housing in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. During his undergraduate study, Donald Trump and his father, Fred Trump, used a $500,000 investment to successfully reopen the foreclosed Swifton Village apartment complex in Cincinnati, Ohio.[39]
After being promoted to president of the company in the early 1970s (while his father became chairman of the board), he renamed it to The Trump Organization.[40][41] In 1973, he and his father drew wider attention when the Justice Department contended that the organization systematically discriminated against African Americans wishing to rent apartments, rather than merely screening out people based on low income as the Trumps stated. An agreement was later signed in which the Trumps made no admission of wrongdoing, and under which qualified minority applicants would be presented by the Urban League.[42][43]
Early Manhattan developments
Trump's first major real estate deal in Manhattan was the remodeling of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in 1978, located next to Grand Central Terminal. The building was remodeled from an older Commodore Hotel, and was largely funded by a $70 million construction loan jointly guaranteed by Fred Trump and the Hyatt hotel chain.[44][45]
In 1978, Trump finished negotiations to develop Trump Tower, a 58-story, 202-meter (663-foot) skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, for which The New York Times attributed his "persistence" and "skills as a negotiator".[46] The building was completed in 1983, and houses both the primary penthouse condominium residence of Donald Trump and the headquarters of The Trump Organization.[47][48] Trump Tower was the setting of the NBC television show The Apprentice, and includes a fully functional television studio set.[49]
An outdoor skating rink with many people on the rink. There are skyscrapers in the background. This is the Wollman Rink in Central Park.
Wollman Rink in Central Park
Repairs on the Wollman Rink in Central Park, built in 1955, were started in 1980 by a general contractor unconnected to Trump. Despite an expected 2 1⁄2-year construction schedule, the repairs were not completed by 1986. Trump took over the project, completed it in three months for $750,000 less than the initial budget of $1.95 million, and operated the rink for one year with all profits going to charity in exchange for the rink's concession rights.[50]
Trump acquired the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan in 1988 for $400 million, and tapped his then-wife Ivana to manage its operation and renovation.[51]
Palm Beach estate
Main article: Mar-a-Lago
Trump acquired the historical Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1985 for $5 million, plus $3 million for the home's furnishings. In addition to using the home as a winter retreat, Trump also turned it into a private club with membership fees of $150,000. At about the same time, he acquired a condominium complex in Palm Beach with Lee Iacocca that became Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches.[52]
Atlantic City casinos
Harrah's at Trump Plaza opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey in 1984. The hotel/casino was built by Trump with financing by Holiday Corp.[53] and operated by the Harrah's gambling unit of Holiday Corp. The casino's poor results exacerbated disagreements between Trump and Holiday Corp.[54] Trump also acquired a partially completed building in Atlantic City from the Hilton Corporation for $320 million. When completed in 1985, the hotel/casino became Trump Castle. Trump's wife, Ivana, managed the property.[55]
The entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal, a casino in Atlantic City. It has motifs evocative of the Taj Mahal in India.
Entrance of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City
Later in 1988, Trump acquired the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City in a transaction with Merv Griffin and Resorts International.[56] The casino was opened in April 1990, and was built at a total cost of $1.1 billion, which at the time made it the most expensive casino ever built.[57][58] Financed with $675 million in junk bonds[59] at a 14% interest rate, the project entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following year.[60] Banks and bondholders, facing potential losses of hundreds of millions of dollars, opted to restructure the debt.
The Taj Mahal emerged from bankruptcy on October 5, 1991, with Trump ceding 50 percent ownership in the casino to the bondholders in exchange for lowered interest rates and more time to pay off the debt.[61] He also sold his financially challenged Trump Shuttle airline and his 282-foot (86 m) megayacht, the Trump Princess.[59][62][63] The property was repurchased in 1996 and consolidated into Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, which filed for bankruptcy in 2004 with $1.8 billion in debt, filing again for bankruptcy five years later with $50 million in assets and $500 million in debt. The restructuring ultimately left Trump with 10% ownership in the Trump Taj Mahal and other Trump casino properties.[63] Trump served as chairman of the organization, which was renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts, from mid-1995 until early 2009, and served as CEO from mid-2000 to mid-2005.[64]
During the 1990s, Trump's casino ventures faced competition of the Native-American owned Foxwoods casino in Connecticut. In 1993, Trump made controversial comments in his testimony to a Congressional committee, famously stating that the casino owners did not look like real Indians.[65][66] But despite that well-publicized quote which related to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, Trump became a key investor who backed the Paucatuck Eastern Pequots who were seeking state recognition.[67]
Bankruptcies
Main article: Legal affairs of Donald Trump § Use of bankruptcy laws
Trump has never filed for personal bankruptcy, but his hotel and casino businesses have been declared bankrupt six times between 1991 and 2009 in order to re-negotiate debt with banks and owners of stock and bonds.[68][69] Because the businesses used Chapter 11 bankruptcy, they were allowed to operate while negotiations proceeded. Trump was quoted by Newsweek in 2011 saying, "I do play with the bankruptcy laws – they're very good for me" as a tool for trimming debt.[70][71]
The six bankruptcies were the result of over-leveraged hotel and casino businesses in Atlantic City and New York: Trump Taj Mahal (1991), Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino (1992), Plaza Hotel (1992), Trump Castle Hotel and Casino (1992), Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts (2004), and Trump Entertainment Resorts (2009).[72][73][74] Trump said, "I've used the laws of this country to pare debt ... We'll have the company. We'll throw it into a chapter. We'll negotiate with the banks. We'll make a fantastic deal. You know, it's like on The Apprentice. It's not personal. It's just business."[60]
An analysis of Trump's business career by The Economist in 2016, concludes that his "... performance [from 1985 to 2016] has been mediocre compared with the stock market and property in New York", noting both his successes and bankruptcies.[75] A subsequent analysis by The Washington Post, whose reporters were denied press credentials by the Trump presidential campaign, concluded that "Trump is a mix of braggadocio, business failures, and real success."[76]
Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver
Trump acquired an old, vacant office building on Wall Street in Manhattan in 1996. After a complete renovation, it became the seventy-story Trump Building at 40 Wall Street.[77] After his father died in 1999, Trump and his siblings received equal portions of his father's estate valued at $250–300 million.[78]
In 2001, Trump completed Trump World Tower, a 72-story residential tower across from the United Nations Headquarters.[79] Trump also began construction on Trump Place, a multi-building development along the Hudson River. He continued to own commercial space in Trump International Hotel and Tower, a 44-story mixed-use (hotel and condominium) tower on Columbus Circle which he acquired in 1996,[80] and also continued to own millions of square feet of other prime Manhattan real estate.[81]
Trump acquired the former Hotel Delmonico in Manhattan in 2002. It was re-opened with 35 stories of luxury condominiums in 2004 as the Trump Park Avenue.[82]
Most recently, The Trump Organization has expanded its footprint beyond the United States, with the co-development and management of hotel towers in Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, New York City, Washington D.C., Panama City, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto and Vancouver.
Name licensing
Trump has licensed his name and image for the development of a number of real estate projects including two in Florida that have gone into foreclosure.[83] The Turkish owner of Trump Towers Istanbul, who pays Trump for the use of his name, was reported in December 2015 to be exploring legal means to dissociate the property after the candidate's call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.[84]
Trump also licensed his name to son-in-law Jared Kushner's fifty-story Trump Bay Street, a Jersey City luxury development that has raised $50 million of its $200 million capitalization largely from wealthy Chinese nationals who, after making an initial down payment of $500,000 in concert with the government's expedited EB-5 visa program, can usually obtain United States permanent residency for themselves and their families after two years.[85] Trump is a partner with Kushner Properties only in name licensing and not in the building's financing.[85]
Golf courses
A wide, sprawling golf course. In the background is the Turnberry Hotel, a two-story hotel with white façade and a red roof. This picture was taken in Ayrshire, Scotland.
A view of the Turnberry Hotel, in Ayrshire, Scotland
The Trump Organization operates many golf courses and resorts in the United States and around the world. The number of golf courses that Trump owns or manages is about 18, according to Golfweek.[86] Trump's personal financial disclosure with the Federal Elections Commission stated that his golf and resort revenue for the year 2015 was roughly $382 million.[87][88]
In 2006, Trump bought the Menie Estate in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, creating a golf resort against the wishes of some local residents[89] on an area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.[90][91] A 2011 independent documentary, You've Been Trumped, by British filmmaker Anthony S. Baxter, chronicled the golf resort's construction and the subsequent struggles between the locals and Trump.[92] Despite Trump's promises of 6,000 jobs, in 2016, by his own admission, the golf course has created only 200 jobs.[93] In June 2015, Trump made an appeal objecting to an offshore windfarm being built within sight of the golf course,[94] which was dismissed by five justices at the UK Supreme Court in December 2015.[95]
In April 2014, Trump purchased the Turnberry hotel and golf resort in Ayrshire, Scotland, which is a regular fixture in the Open Championship rota.[96][97] After extensive renovations and a remodeling of the course by golf architect Martin Ebert, Turnberry was re-opened on June 24, 2016.[98]
Other ventures
Sports events
Trump at a baseball game in 2009. He is wearing a baseball cap and sitting amid a large crowd, behind a protective net.
Trump at a baseball game in 2009
In September 1983, Trump purchased the New Jersey Generals, an American Football team playing in the United States Football League (USFL), from oil magnate J. Walter Duncan. The USFL played its first three seasons during the spring and summer, but Trump convinced the majority of the owners of other USFL teams to move the USFL 1986 schedule to the fall, directly opposite the National Football League (NFL), arguing that it would eventually force a merger with the NFL, which would supposedly increase their investment significantly.[99]
After the 1985 season, the Generals merged with the Houston Gamblers, but had continuing financial troubles. The USFL, which was down to just seven active franchises from a high of 18, was soon forced to fold, despite winning an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL.[100]
Trump remained involved with other sports after the Generals folded, operating golf courses in several countries.[100] He also hosted several boxing matches in Atlantic City at the Trump Plaza, including Mike Tyson's 1988 fight against Michael Spinks, and at one time, acted as a financial advisor to Tyson.[100][101][102]
In 1989 and 1990, Trump lent his name to the Tour de Trump cycling stage race, which was an attempt to create an American equivalent of European races such as the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia. The inaugural race was controversial, and Trump withdrew his sponsorship after the second Tour de Trump in 1990, because his other business ventures were experiencing financial woes. The race continued for several more years as the Tour DuPont.[103][104]
Trump submitted a stalking-horse bid on the Buffalo Bills when it came up for sale following Ralph Wilson's death in 2014; he was ultimately outbid, as he expected, and Kim and Terrence Pegula won the auction.[105] During his 2016 presidential run, he was critical of the NFL's updated concussion rules, complaining on the campaign trail that the game has been made "soft" and "weak", saying a concussion is just "a ding on the head." He accused referees of throwing penalty flags needlessly just to be seen on television "so their wives see them at home."[106]
Beauty pageants
Further information: Miss USA, Miss Universe, and Miss Teen USA
From 1996 until 2015,[107] Trump owned part or all of the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants. The Miss Universe pageant was founded in 1952 by the California clothing company Pacific Mills.[108] Trump was dissatisfied with how CBS scheduled his pageants, and took both Miss Universe and Miss USA to NBC in 2002.[109][110]
In 2006, Miss USA winner Tara Conner tested positive for cocaine, but Trump let her keep the crown, for the sake of giving her a second chance.[111] That decision by Trump was criticized by Rosie O'Donnell, which led to a feud in which Trump and O'Donnell exchanged public criticisms.[112] In 2012, Trump won a $5 million arbitration award against a contestant who said the show was rigged.[113]
In 2015, NBC and Univision both ended their business relationships with the Miss Universe Organization after Trump's controversial 2015 presidential campaign remarks about Mexican illegal immigrants.[114][115] Trump subsequently filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision, alleging a breach of contract and defamation.[116][117]
On September 11, 2015, Trump announced that he had become the sole owner of the Miss Universe Organization by purchasing NBC's stake and that he had "settled" his lawsuits against the network,[118] though it was unclear whether Trump had yet filed lawsuits against NBC.[119] He sold his own interests in the pageant shortly afterwards to WME/IMG.[107] The $500 million lawsuit against Univision was settled in February 2016, but terms of the settlement were not disclosed.[120]
Trump Model Management
In 1999, Trump founded a modeling company, Trump Model Management, which operates in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.[121] Together with another Trump company, Trump Management Group LLC, Trump Model Management has brought nearly 250 foreign fashion models into the United States to work in the fashion industry since 2000.[122] In 2014, president of Trump Model Management Corrine Nicolas, other managers, and the company were sued by one of the agency's former models, Alexia Palmer, alleging racketeering, breach of contract, mail fraud, and violating immigrant wage laws.[123] Palmer alleged that Trump Model Management promised to withhold only 20% of her net pay as agency expenses, but after charging her for "obscure expenses", ended up taking 80%.[124] The case was dismissed from U.S. federal court in March 2016 in part because Palmer was a Jamaican immigrant on a H1-B visa sponsored by Trump, and accordingly was required to file labor complaints through a separate process.[124][125]
Trump University
Main article: Trump University
Trump University LLC was an American for-profit education company that ran a real estate training program from 2005 until at least 2010.[126] After multiple lawsuits, it is now defunct. It was founded by Trump and his associates, Michael Sexton and Jonathan Spitalny, and offered courses, charging between $1,500 and $35,000 per course.[127][128] In 2005 the operation was notified by New York State authorities that its use of the word "university" violated state law, and after a second such notification in 2010, the name of the company was changed to the "Trump Entrepreneurial Institute".[129] Trump was also found personally liable for failing to obtain a business license for the operation.[130]
In 2013 the state of New York filed a $40 million civil suit claiming that Trump University made false claims and defrauded consumers.[129][131] In addition, two class-action civil lawsuits were filed in federal court relating to Trump University; they named Trump personally as well as his companies.[132] During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly criticized judge Gonzalo P. Curiel who oversaw those two cases, alleging bias because of his Mexican heritage.[133][134][135] On June 7, 2016, Trump clarified that his concerns about Curiel's impartiality were not based upon ethnicity alone, but also upon rulings in the case.[136][137]
The Low v. Trump case was set for trial in San Diego beginning November 28, 2016.[138] Shortly after Trump won the presidency, the parties agreed to a settlement of all three pending cases. In the settlement, Trump did not admit to any wrongdoing but agreed to pay a total of $25 million.[139][140] The settlement was agreed to just an hour before a hearing regarding Trump's latest request to delay the trial until after the inauguration. Jason Forge, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said he "definitely detected a change of tone and change of approach" from the Trump representatives after the election.[141]
Foundation
Main article: Donald J. Trump Foundation
The Donald J. Trump Foundation is a U.S.-based private foundation[142] established in 1988 for the initial purpose of giving away proceeds from the book Trump: The Art of the Deal by Trump and Tony Schwartz.[143][144] The foundation's funds have mostly come from donors other than Trump,[145] who has not given personally to the charity since 2008.[145] In 2016, investigations by The Washington Post uncovered several potential legal and ethical violations conducted by the charity, including alleged self-dealing and possible tax evasion.[146] After beginning an investigation into the foundation, the New York State Attorney General's office notified the Trump Foundation that it was allegedly in violation of New York laws regarding charities, and ordered it to immediately cease its fundraising activities in New York.[147][148][149] A Trump spokesman called the investigation a "partisan hit job".[147]
The foundation's tax returns show that it has given to health care and sports-related charities, as well as conservative groups.[150] In 2009, for example, the foundation gave $926,750 to about 40 groups, with the biggest donations going to the Arnold Palmer Medical Center Foundation ($100,000), the New York–Presbyterian Hospital ($125,000), the Police Athletic League ($156,000), and the Clinton Foundation ($100,000).[151][152] From 2004 to 2014, the top donors to the foundation were Vince and Linda McMahon of WWE, who donated $5 million to the foundation after Trump appeared at WrestleMania in 2007.[145] After winning the presidency, Trump announced his intention to give Linda McMahon a cabinet-level position in his administration, as Administrator of the Small Business Administration.[153]
Branding and licensing
Main article: List of things named after Donald Trump
Trump has marketed his name on a large number of building projects as well as commercial products and services, achieving mixed success doing so for himself, his partners, and investors in the projects.[154][155][nb 1] In 2011, Forbes' financial experts estimated the value of the Trump brand at $200 million. Trump disputed this valuation, saying his brand was worth about $3 billion.[174]
Many developers pay Trump to market their properties and to be the public face for their projects.[175] For that reason, Trump does not own some buildings that display his name.[175] According to Forbes, this portion of Trump's empire, actually run by his children, is by far his most valuable, having a $562 million valuation, with 33 licensing projects under development including seven Trump International Hotel and Tower "condo hotels".
Income and taxes
See also: § General election campaign
Pursuant to the FEC regulations, Trump published a 92-page financial disclosure form listing all his assets, liabilities, income sources and hundreds of business positions.[87] According to a July 2015 campaign press release, Trump's income for the year 2014 was $362 million.[176] However, Trump has repeatedly declined to publicly release any of his full tax returns, citing a pending IRS audit, despite such an audit not prohibiting him from releasing his current or past tax returns.[177][178] In doing so, Trump broke nearly 45 years of precedent of candidates for the general election releasing their tax returns to the American public.[179]
In October 2016, it was revealed that Trump had claimed a loss of $916 million on his 1995 tax returns. As net operating losses from one year can be applied to offset income from future years, this loss allowed him to reduce or eliminate his taxable income during the eighteen-year carry forward period.[180] Trump acknowledged using the deduction but declined to provide details such as the specific years it was applied.[181]
The New York Times found that some accountants considered Trump's tax deduction methods in the early 1990s "legally dubious."[182] Independent tax experts stated that "Whatever loophole existed was not 'exploited' here, but stretched beyond any recognition" and that it involved "sleight of hand", further speculating that Trump's casino bankruptcies were probably related to Trump's 1995 reported loss.[183]
Net worth
Trump was listed on the initial Forbes List of wealthy individuals in 1982 as having an estimated $200 million fortune, including a share of his father's estimated $200 million net worth.[184] He was absent from the list from 1990 to 1995 following losses which reportedly obliged him to borrow from his siblings' trusts in 1993.[184] Trump told campaign audiences he began his career with "a small loan of one million dollars" from his father, which he paid back with interest.[185]
A tall rectangular-shaped tower in Las Vegas with exterior windows shimmering with 24-karat gold. It is a sunny day and the building is higher than many of the surrounding buildings, which are also towers. There are mountains in the background. This tower is called the Trump Hotel Las Vegas.
Trump Hotel Las Vegas, with 24-karat gold infused glass[186]
On June 16, 2015, when announcing his candidacy, Trump released a one-page financial summary stating a net worth of $8,737,540,000.[187] "I'm really rich", he said.[188] Forbes believed his suggestion of $9 billion was "a whopper", figuring it was actually $4.1 billion.[189] The summary statement includes $3.3 billion worth of "real estate licensing deals, brand and branded developments", putting a figure on Trump's estimate of his own brand value.[190] The July 2015 FEC disclosure reports assets worth above $1.4 billion and debts above $265 million. According to Bloomberg, Trump "only reported revenue for [his] golf properties in his campaign filings even though the disclosure form asks for income", whereas independent filings showed his European golf properties to be unprofitable.[191]
After Trump made controversial remarks about illegal immigrants in 2015, he lost business contracts with NBCUniversal, Univision, Macy's, Serta, PVH Corporation, and Perfumania, which Forbes estimated negatively impacted his net worth by $125 million.[192] The value of the Trump brand may have fallen further during his presidential campaign, as some consumers boycotted Trump-branded products and services to protest his candidacy.[193] Bookings and foot traffic at Trump-branded properties fell off sharply in 2016,[194][195] and the release of the Access Hollywood tape recordings in October 2016 exacerbated this.[196] After winning the election, however, his subjective brand value rebounded sharply.[197]
In their 2016 annual billionaires' rankings, Forbes estimated Trump's net worth at $4.5 billion (113th in the United States, 324th in the world)[3] and Bloomberg at $3 billion,[191] making him one of the richest politicians in American history. Trump himself stated that his net worth was over $10 billion,[176] with the discrepancy essentially stemming from the uncertain value of appraised property and of his personal brand.[191][198]
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