BIOGRAPY:

Childhood, parents, education:

Born in the borough of Queens in New York, in the family of millionaire entrepreneur, investor and developer Fred Trump. On his father’s side, Trump has German roots, and on his mother’s side, Scottish. Mary’s mother was a housewife.

The future president received his education at the Kew Forest private school in Queens, where he was admitted at the age of five, and then at the New York Military Academy (1959–1964). He attended the private Fordham University in New York to study business administration (1964–1966), after which he attended the Pennsylvania State University School of Finance and Commerce, graduating in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Building a business empire Immediately after graduation, he began working in his father’s company and took on projects to modernize and rent out residential real estate in several areas of New York. In 1971, he took over his father’s company, received a controlling stake and renamed it the Trump Organization. Under Trump’s leadership, the business expanded, the new head of the company began to engage in projects to create hotels, resorts, casinos, and golf courses. Residential and commercial real estate also remain in the list of areas of work of the Trump Organization.

By the mid-1970s, Trump’s company employed about 1,000 people in 60 divisions and owned real estate and land rights, including in the District of Columbia metropolitan area, Maryland, Virginia, California and Las Vegas (Nevada). . The company built the 26-story Grand Hyatt hotel in New York in the 1980s, as well as the famous “Trump Towers” (58-story Trump Tower and 72-story Trump World Tower). As the businessman himself wrote in his book “The Art of the Deal,” published in 1987, $190–200 million were spent on the construction of Trump Tower. The Trump family moved into one of the three-story apartments on the upper floors of this building at the end of 1983.

Trump’s company also carried out construction abroad, in particular in Seoul, Toronto and Dubai. By the end of the 1970s, Trump himself acquired three residences: a winter one in Aspen (Colorado), a summer one on Long Island and another in Manhattan. Throughout the 1980s, Trump continued to buy real estate and plots of land. He bought several casinos and created on their basis the company Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, which was renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings in 2004. In addition to casinos, the company owns luxury golf resorts, golf courses and tourist complexes in different countries. In 1985, Trump purchased the Mar-a-Lago estate in the seaside resort town of Palm Beach (Florida) for $8 million, which had 118 rooms. , 33 bathrooms, 27 maid’s quarters, a cinema and a dining room. He renovated the estate, setting up a golf course and a tennis court next to the house.

In the 1980s, Trump also made money from the use of the registered Trump trademark and used the surname in the names of companies and brands: Trump Financial, Trump Restaurants, Donald J. Trump Signature Collection (clothing line for men), Ivanka Trump Collection (jewelry and women’s shoes, named after his daughter), Trump Ice, Trump Steaks, Trump Home (furniture and household goods), Trump Model Management (modeling agency).

From 1996 to 2015, together with NBC, Trump owned the rights to the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants. In September 2015, he bought out NBC’s stake and sold the competition rights to Hollywood agency IMG; The transaction value was estimated at $25 million.

American investigative journalist David Cay Johnston, in his 2016 book The Making of Donald Trump, claims that from 1986 to 1990, Trump earned $375.2 million from real estate transactions, and his “reported cash flow” averaged $1.6 million. per week or almost $10 thousand per hour.

But not all of Trump’s ventures were successful: the millionaire failed to manage the New Jersey Generals football team, create the Trump Shuttle airline, publish media, produce vodka, as well as establish a university and an Internet company. The financial crisis of the late 1980s led to Trump’s growing debts. In 1989, his personal debt was estimated at $900 million, and the companies’ debt at $8.3 billion. However, by 1993, the businessman managed to pay off most of his debt and reduce the companies’ liabilities to $3.5 billion.

Since the early 2000s, his business has begun to grow again, Trump continues to pay off debt and open hotels, resorts and tourist centers, facing difficulties during the next financial crisis in 2008.

Political career:

In the late 1990s, Trump began to actively participate in the political life of the country. He left the Republican Party and nominated himself as a candidate for the Reform Party in the 2000 presidential election, nominating TV presenter Oprah Winfrey as vice president. He promised to include Colin Powell (who became Secretary of State under George W. Bush in 2001) and conservative Republican Senator John McCain in the administration. After winning several primaries, Trump withdrew from the presidential race.

Trump ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, but also withdrew early in the campaign.

In 2013, being the owner of the rights to the Miss Universe competition, he came to Moscow, where this competition was held that year. The businessman said that he was going to build a Trump Tower skyscraper in the Russian capital, but this was not done.

Until 2016, Trump continued to develop business, including foreign ones. In 2015, he returned to politics and announced his participation in the 2016 presidential campaign, also as a Republican. He made his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” He won the primaries and became the single candidate of the Republican Party in July 2016. During the election campaign, Trump announced his intention to expand industrial production in the country and move it to the United States, creating more jobs for Americans, increasing duties on imported goods, and improving relations with Russia, to limit migration, including from Mexico, as well as the intention to register all American Muslims and withdraw from international agreements that are unfavorable for the United States. Trump offered the vice presidential post to Indiana Governor Mike Pence.

As President of the United States:

Trump won the election on November 8, 2016, and his inauguration ceremony took place on January 20, 2017.

Trump’s opponent was Democrat Hillary Clinton; according to the results of the count, she gained more popular votes, but Trump collected more electoral votes, which allowed him to take the presidency. This caused protests among ordinary supporters of the Democratic Party, who said that they did not recognize the Republican’s victory, and the figure of Trump was unpleasant to them.

In an interview after his victory, he said that he would refuse the presidential salary of $400 thousand a year.

On his first day in office, Trump fulfilled one of his campaign promises: he signed an executive order to roll back and eliminate the Obamacare health insurance reform program, which made health care more affordable for the poor and irritated Republicans. Also on his first day, he returned to the Oval Office a bust of Winston Churchill that his predecessor Barack Obama had removed in 2009, replacing it with busts of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.

During Trump’s presidency, immigration laws were tightened and tax laws were reformed. The US administration began to refuse the country’s participation in the work of some international organizations, the United States withdrew from UNESCO, the Paris Climate Agreement, the Iranian nuclear deal, as well as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Open Skies Treaty, and stopped funding the World Health Organization . A trade agreement was signed with China, the United States recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and Trump established contact with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Difficult relations with Russia:

Relations with Russia, which had become significantly complicated under his predecessor Barack Obama, were not improved by Trump, and the deterioration continued. Before the elections and already becoming president, Trump stated his desire to establish a dialogue between the two countries and “make friends” with Vladimir Putin.

However, during Trump’s presidency, the United States continued to impose sanctions against Russia, close Russian consulates, and deny the Russian Embassy the use of diplomatic property on US territory.

In 2017, The Washington Post, citing former or anonymous intelligence officials, reported on the possible danger of Trump passing on confidential information at a meeting with Russian government officials. In particular, the publication believed that during a meeting in May 2017 of the US President with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, Trump could have passed on to them confidential information provided by an unnamed US ally in the fight against ISIS (Islamic State, organization recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia). The US administration rejected these accusations.

Trump’s political opponents accused him and his inner circle of having ties with Russia and claimed Moscow was interfering in the presidential election. At the beginning of 2017, Buzzfeed published the so-called Steele dossier on Trump. Its author was the research company Fusion GPS and former British intelligence officer MI6 Christopher Steele. The document spoke about the connections of Trump and his associates with Moscow and Russian intelligence services, which allegedly helped the ex-president win the 2016 elections. In addition, the authors of the document claimed that Russia has a sex video confirming Trump’s relationship with a prostitute, made in a Moscow hotel in 2013.

After the publication of the materials, The Washington Post wrote that the investigation of the former British intelligence officer was partially sponsored by the US Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign headquarters.

American intelligence, in turn, released the unclassified part of the report on “Russian interference” in the US elections. In particular, it follows from the document that US intelligence “with a high degree of confidence” believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the organization of a campaign to interfere in the US presidential election.

On January 20, 2021, Joseph Biden was inaugurated, which Trump did not attend. This has not happened in the United States since 1869.

In January 2023, Trump announced his intention to run in 2024. He plans to do this “to make America great again.”

Criminal prosecution and arrest:

At the end of March 2023, a grand jury in a Manhattan court decided to indict Trump for payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. These proceedings against Trump were conducted in connection with the case against his former lawyer Michael Cohen. In 2018, the lawyer pleaded guilty to giving $130,000 to Daniels to keep quiet about her 2006 affair with Trump. The ex-president ordered the payment of money to a porn actress amid the 2016 presidential campaign, Cohen alleged. Trump denied any connection with the porn actress and called the investigation revenge from political opponents.

The investigation notes that the money sent to Daniels was designated by the ex-president’s company in business documents as funds to pay for legal services. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has begun investigating Trump for falsifying business records. Cohen testified twice before the jury; Trump refused to appear in court. The indictment against Trump was filed on March 17. According to CBS, Trump was charged with 34 counts, including falsifying business documents. On March 18, Trump said he expected to be detained.

On April 4, Trump arrived in court in New York and was formally taken into custody pending arraignment. The former president was not handcuffed, but his fingerprints were taken. He stated that he did not admit guilt. He was charged in court and released, but the nature of the charges is not reported.

Trump’s arrest, despite the formality of the procedure, became the first case of criminal prosecution of a US president in the last 150 years. As The New York Times notes, the last time a person holding the highest office in the United States was taken into custody was in 1872. Then in Washington, a policeman arrested the current President Ulysses Grant for speeding. Donald Trump’s condition
From 1997 to 2016, Trump held a place in the first half of the Forbes 400 ranking. After being elected president, he began to lose ground. In 2021, he missed out on the list of the richest people in the United States for the first time due to a decline in his wealth amid the pandemic. When compiling the rating, the magazine estimated his fortune at $2.5 billion. In order to get on the list, he lacked $400 million.

In February 2024, Forbes estimated Trump’s wealth at $2.6 billion.

Books by Donald Trump:

Trump has authored a dozen books, mostly about entrepreneurship and his own success. In later publications, he outlined his views on politics and economics and proposed ways to solve the problems faced by the United States.

Some of Trump’s books:

“The Art of the Deal” (1987)
“The America We Deserve” (2000)
“How to Get Rich” (2004)
“The Way to the Top: My Best Business Advice” (2004)
“Think like a billionaire. Everything you need to know about success, real estate and life in general” (2005)
“Trump Never Gives Up: How I Turned My Biggest Problems into Success” (2008)
“America’s Past Glory” (2011)
“Mutilated America: How to Make America Great Again” (2015)

Movies with Donald Trump:

The businessman starred in episodes of several films and TV series. Most often he played himself. He can be seen in films such as:

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)
“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” (1994, episode For Sale by Owner)
“The Nanny” (1996, episode of The Rosie Show)
“Studio 54” (1998)
“Celebrity” (1998)
“Sex and the City” (1999, episode “The Man, the Myth, the Viagra”)
“Love with Notice” (2002)
“Days of Our Lives” (2005)
“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” (2010)

Trump’s wives:

Trump is married and on his third marriage.

From 1977 to 1992, his wife was former Czechoslovakian skier and fashion model Ivana Zelničková, with whom he had three children: Donald (1977), Ivanka (1981) and Eric (1984). In July 2022, Trump announced Ivana’s death. He called her a “wonderful and amazing woman” who “lived a wonderful and inspired life.” Ivana Trump was 73 years old.

In 1993, Trump married actress and producer Marla Maples, and the couple had a daughter, Tiffany (1993). They divorced in 1999.

In 2005, Trump married Slovenian-born model Melania Knauss, who is 24 years his junior. The couple has a son, Barron (2006). In 2017-2021, Melania Trump was the first lady of the United States. In November 2020, the British tabloid Daily Mail reported that Melania Trump intends to divorce her husband after his defeat in the presidential election. The couple is still together.

Donald (1977) is an entrepreneur who graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Divorced. He has five children with his ex-wife, model Vanessa Haydon.

Ivanka (1981) – businesswoman, worked as a fashion model, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Married to Jared Kushner. The couple has three children.
Eric (1984) is an entrepreneur who graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Finance and Management. Executive vice president of his father’s company, The Trump Organization. He is married to television producer Lara Yunaska and they have two children.
Tiffany (1993) – model, singer, sociologist, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied sociology and urban studies. After that, she studied at Georgetown University Law School and worked there as a research assistant.
Barron (2006) – studies at the Oxbridge Academy private school in West Palm Beach (Florida). For the first five months of Donald Trump’s presidency, his wife and youngest son lived in New York so Barron could complete the school year at his school. In June 2017, Barron and his mother moved to the White House.

Trump also has ten grandchildren. Trump’s eldest children participated in his election campaign in 2016, and Ivanka later worked in the administration of the 45th president as a voluntary adviser. Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner served as a senior adviser in the presidential administration. In 2018, The New York Times accused Kushner of failing to pay income taxes or deducting insufficient amounts in taxes for several years.

In November 2022, The New York Post reported that Trump had asked his daughter and Kushner to join his campaign team in the upcoming 2024 elections, but both Ivanka and her husband did not agree to the requests, saying that they were “burned” at work in Washington last time. Later, Ivanka herself confirmed her reluctance to work with her father.

Trump’s eldest son Donald Jr. also served as an adviser to his father during the campaign. In 2017, The News York Times, citing sources, reported that he met in 2016, after Trump Sr. became the Republican presidential candidate, at Trump Tower in New York with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, associated , according to the authors of the publication, with the Kremlin. Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his son-in-law Jared Kushner also attended the meeting. Later, the publication clarified that the son of the American president was interested in the Russian side’s offer to provide compromising information to Hillary Clinton. Trump Jr. himself confirmed this in an official statement.

Veselnitskaya, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said that at a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. she spoke about the activities of William Browder’s Ziff Brothers Investments, which, according to her, evaded paying taxes in Russia and directed funds to the needs of Democrats during Hillary’s election campaign Clinton in 2016.

Another son, Eric, was also an adviser to Trump’s election campaign and a fundraiser for it. Together with his wife Lara, he traveled around the country and spoke at election rallies in support of his father.