Donald Who Will Face Down World Leaders Lost to a School Board

L.A. Times

In at least one huge deal in L.A., Trump got schooled

 

Long before his run for president and his reality TV career as the ruthless boss, Trump fought an ugly decade-long battle over a Los Angeles landmark.

It's not an exploit he's bragging about on the campaign trail. The prize was the Ambassador Hotel. A legendary Hollywood celebrity hangout and the site of the 1968 assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, it had endured a long downward spiral before closing in 1989.

The Board of Education already had its eye on the property for a badly needed high school when a Trump syndicate swooped it up for $64 million in 1989 and announced plans to erect a 125-story office tower.
The school board countered with a 7-0 vote to take the property from Trump via eminent domain.
Usually that would start a process in which the parties and their appraisers, or a court, would settle on a price. But not when one of the parties was Trump.

His team launched a fierce lobbying campaign to block a $50-million state allocation to help the district buy the property. Goldberg, then the president of the school board, took on the notoriously tough negotiator.

Roused by Goldberg, protesters outside the Ambassador chanted "Dump Trump" and carried signs saying, "Public need over private greed."

In January 1991, he and his partners decided to take the nearly $48-million deposit the school board offered as part of its eminent domain condemnation suit.

In doing so, Trump Wilshire Associates, in effect, conceded the district's right to take the property.

Two and a half years later, as the eminent domain suit was set to go to trial, the school board abruptly dropped its bid to buy the land. The recession had driven the property's value down to $50 million, and Horton saw no reason to pay the previously estimated value of $74 million.

Barbara Res, executive vice president for Trump Wilshire Associates,  accused the district of duplicity, saying it reneged on a promise to pay $82 million for the entire 23.5-acre site "because they said politically it wasn't a good idea." Horton discounted that, saying the offer was only "a potential deal that we didn't accept, because we couldn't figure out a way to pay for it." Early in 1994 a judge sided with the district. Soon Trump, whose share was reported to be 20%, left the partnership with no signature building and little, if any, cash.

 

Trump Economic Strategy: Bankruptcy

Donald Trump -- or companies that bear his name - have declared bankruptcy four times.

Trump has built an American empire from Las Vegas to New York with towering hotels and sparkling casinos. Forbes estimates he's worth $2.7 billion. But not all of Trump's business ventures have been constant money-makers. In 1991, 1992, 2004, and again in 2009, Trump branded companies or properties have sought Chapter 11 protection. 

"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," Trump told ABC's George Stephanopoulos last Thursday.

A business declaring bankruptcy is nothing new in corporate America, where bankruptcy is often sugar-coated as "restructuring debt." But it might seem alarming to everyday Americans who can't get a bank to restructure their home loans. If you want to get Donald Trump hot under the collar, accuse him of declaring bankruptcy.

Doug Heller, the executive director of Consumer Watchdog, said Trump is the "most egregious, almost comical example" of the disparity between what the average American faces when going through bankruptcy and the "ease with which the very rich can move in and out of bankruptcy."

"Under the American bankruptcy laws, if you end up in bankruptcy because you're struggling with divorce or medical payments or a sudden change of income, it's a disaster. If you fail miserably with huge dollars involved then you just need some accountants to rework your books," Heller said.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-filed-bankruptcy-times/story?id=13419250

Trump Defends Putin

Trump on Putin's crackdown on journalists: 'it’s never been proven'

Donald Trump on Sunday defended Russian president Vladimir Putin’s record on press freedom, challenging journalists to provide him with evidence that the Kremlin has ever sponsored efforts to murder reporters.

The Republican frontrunner also vowed again to work closely with Russia, if elected president. Trump was praised this week by Putin, who described the billionaire businessman as a “very colourful, talented person”.

Putin’s words fuelled attacks by Trump’s rivals for the Republican nomination. But Trump, whose lead in the polls has grown after a series of inflammatory Islamophobic slurs, called the Russian president’s remarks a “great honour” and described Putin as “a man highly respected within his own country and beyond”.

Trump was called out on the platitudes during an interview with MSNBC on Friday. Asked to condemn the Kremlin’s alleged involvement in the assassination of reporters, he responded: “Our country does plenty of killing also.”

 In a heated interview on ABC’s This Week on Sunday, Trump said: “In all fairness to Putin, you’re saying he killed people. I haven’t seen that. I don’t know that he has.” According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 36 journalists have been murdered since 1993, often in direct retaliation for their work. In only four cases was anyone convicted.

If Only the CEOs of the Big Banks That Wrecked the U.S. Economy in 2008 Got This Treatment

Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship was found guilty in federal court on Thursday of conspiring to violate safety standards at the Upper Big Branch mine, the site of a 2010 blast that killed 29 people.

Relatives of those killed and prosecutors hailed the decision as sending a message on mine safety in coal-rich West Virginia even though the jury found Blankenship not guilty of making false statements and of securities fraud.

 One of Blankenship's lawyers, Bill Taylor, told reporters the defense team was disappointed by the misdemeanor conviction but doubted Blankenship would serve any time in prison.

Sentencing was set for March 23 in U.S. District Court. Blankenship, 65, faces a maximum $250,000 fine and up to a year in prison.

 U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin told reporters he was not disappointed with the verdict. "It brings justice that is long overdue," he said. The jury had deliberated more than two weeks and had twice told Judge Irene Berger it was deadlocked. Blankenship's lawyers did not present a single witness.