WATCH: Barbara Walters Completely Shut Down Trump’s Spin on Bankruptcies in Newly-Viral 1990 Clip
It’s Thursday and there has been a resurgence of attention for a moment when veteran ABC News journalist Barbara Walters put Donald Trump’s feet to the fire almost three decades before he became president.
In a snippet of a 1990 interview currently making waves across the Twitterverse, Trump offered Walters a glimpse of his future self as he complained about how “inherently dishonest” the media is, especially when covering him. From there, Walters delved into how Trump was portraying his financial status to the public while facing bankruptcy and asking banks to make new deals with him.
“Being on the verge of bankruptcy, being bailed out by the banks, skating on thin-ice and almost drowning, that’s a businessman to be admired?” Walters asked.
Trump objected to Walters’ question, so she told him that she spoke to his bankers before the interview. Trump moved to claim that what Walters heard would’ve depended on which bank she spoke to, but when she told him she spoke to “several” of them, he then said “I don’t know what the bankers have said, The Plaza’s a very valuable property, everybody told me ‘you paid too much.’ Now they’re all saying ‘what a great deal he made.'”
“No they’re not,” Walters retorted.
Numerous reports have detailed how Trump was at the brink of bankruptcy during the early 90s. Beyond the impact of the 1987 stock market crash and the real estate market downturn, The New York Times has previously explained that Trump saw substantial financial loses in the early 90s, with many of his businesses and real estate assets costing him money. This led to Trump holding numerous renegotiations with the banks he owed money to, and even though he got a reprieve from his creditors, numerous banks have declined to do business with him since then.
While Walters has earned plaudits for the unearthed clip on Twitter Thursday, it’s worth noting that the two of them were actually longtime friends. HuffPost contributor Yashar Ali provided one example where Walters moved to present Trump’s finances in a positive light, and noted that Walters and Trump both defended the future president’s mentor and attorney, Roy Cohn.
3. Yup…Barbara Walters and Donald Trump were the two main public figures to testify on Roy Cohn’s behalf at his disbarment trial.
She was very close to Roy Cohn and was even willing to be his beard. https://t.co/PQlcDgRiAc https://t.co/qGYnwHYqnJ
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) July 23, 2020
Watch above.
