NEWS ANNOUNCER:
The Trumps are good copy,
and the gossip columnists are
in for a field day.
NARRATOR: In 1991, when
Donald Trump's personal life
was headline news...
NEWS ANNOUNCER:
A high octane mix
of the stuff that sells
newspapers.
NARRATOR: ...he did a phone
interview with People magazine
under the name "John Miller."
MAN:
It's an artifact of the time
in that he never
disguised his voice.
It's clearly Donald Trump when
you listen to the recordings.
FISHER:
This was his way
of pulling himself
out of himself
and touting himself
to reporters in a way
that even Donald Trump
with all his unbridled ego
couldn't bring himself to do.
FISHER: When we confronted
Donald Trump with this,
he didn't exactly deny it.
He now is at a point where he is
sort of sheepishly saying,
"Well, some people say that."
NARRATOR:
It wasn't the first time
Trump had used a pseudonym.
It happened in 1980.
Donald Trump was looking
to make his mark
in Manhattan real estate.
WOMAN:
And Donald came upon this site
which had the Bonwit Teller
building on it.
It was kind of
a landmark building.
It was next door to Tiffany's.
He loved it.
NARRATOR:
It was to be called Trump Tower,
58 stories of high-end retail
and high-priced condominiums.
But before he could
begin construction,
Trump had vowed to preserve
two valuable sculptures.
And these were absolutely
beautiful Art Deco sculptures
that had been promised
to the Metropolitan Museum.
MAN: It was delaying
Trump's construction,
so he brings in
a gang of workers
to just break the stuff up.
And boom-- dust.
Gone forever.
NARRATOR:
The press was all over him.
FISHER: Trump suffers
a major hit
in his reputation in New York
because people see this
as an act of vandalism.
BRENNER: And everyone
came down on his head.
He was in a lot of trouble
in the city.
He was in the headlines
every day.
NARRATOR:
Donald Trump went underground.
READER: Repeated efforts
over the last three days
to reach Mr. Trump
have been unavailing.
NARRATOR: But the press
would hear from John Baron.
READER: John Baron,
a vice president
of the Trump Organization,
said three independent
appraisals of the sculptures
had found them to be
"without artistic merit."
MAN:
There was a Trump spokesman,
John Baron,
who called the press
and explained why these things
couldn't be preserved.
READER: John Baron said,
"The merit of these stones
was not great enough to justify
the effort to save them."
D'ANTONIO: And it was
his first employment
of this fake persona.
NARRATOR:
Trump had learned the tactic
from his father, Fred Trump,
who sometimes used the name
"Mr. Green."
WOMAN: He was Mr. Green,
Fred was, when he called up,
and asked questions.
He said, "This is Mr. Green."
And Donald was later
John Baron.
WOMAN: I don't think Donald
was necessarily evasive
with the press
when he used his alter ego
"John Baron."
I think it gave him
the opportunity to say things
that he couldn't say
as Donald Trump.
NARRATOR: John Baron helped
take the heat off Trump.
The media moved on,
and Trump Tower became
his most iconic property.
FISHER: He saw this
as a crowning achievement,
and he was willing to take
the PR hit because ultimately,
Trump Tower would be
this great monument to himself.
NARRATOR: For Donald Trump,
the experience would shape
his dealings with the news media
for decades to come.
SUNSHINE:
He doesn't care.
He simply doesn't care.
He simply thinks that
bad publicity is good publicity
and it's certainly better
than no publicity at all.
MAN: The clear lesson that Trump
took away from all of this was
the worst publicity
in the world
can end up being good publicity,
meaning,
"Yeah, people said
terrible things about me,
but they sure know who I am."
And a month later
or three months later,
they don't remember what it was
they didn't like about you;
they just remember
they know your name.
