And finally… the art of the deal
Donald Trump once offered a baffled lawyer a deed to a horse in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to settle a $2 million legal bill, according to a new book.
Servants of the Damned: Giant Law Firms, Donald Trump and the Corruption of Justice, by David Enrich, recounts how the lawyer confronted the future US president in Trump Tower in the 1990s, The Guardian reports.
According to the book, Trump “made some apologetic noises” and then told the lawyer: “I’m not going to pay your bill. I’m going to give you something more valuable.”
Trump then “rummaged around in a filing cabinet and pulled out what he said was a deed to a horse”, which he claimed was worth $5 million, and handed it to the lawyer.
The lawyer was dumbfounded but eventually told him: “This isn’t the 1800s. You can’t pay me with a horse.”
Eventually, Trump paid “at least a portion of what he owed” to the lawyer.