Subject: FW: TrackerBASE Report: Donald Trump Press Conference 11/15/1999
From: "Sorbie, Sean" <[email-masked]>
To: Research_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 May 2016 16:50:41 -0700

________________________________
From: American Bridge Tracking
Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2016 7:50:37 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
To: TrackerBase Tracking Reports
Cc: Daniel Payne
Subject: TrackerBASE Report: Donald Trump Press Conference 11/15/1999

Tracker Event Debrief Form

TO:  Powerhouse

FROM: Daniel Payne

Location: Miami somwheres

Date: 11/15/1999

RE: Donald Trump Miami Campaign speech

Audience details:

Press:

Summary of Event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMlz4J4tYbM Trump talking about mulling a Presidential run as the Reform party candidate while trashing Pat Buchanan as a "Hitler Lover." Trump argues that the embargo against Cuba needs to be maintained. Trump states that he doesn't need campaign contributions but would accept "honest money." Trump gives very long defense of his appearance on the Howard Stern show and says he'd do it again. Trump talks about tax and trade including talking about eliminating the estate tax. Brags about his Maralago club. Trump says he's strong on the environment. At the end Trump articulates a pro-choice position though he does state that he disapproves of abortion.

Key Points:

Clip A:

0:00 Footage begins with Trump mid-sentence saying something about an exploratory committee and just seeing what happens

0:04 Asked why do that. Trump: All the polls are showing that I win or do very well in this election. I'm not happy with what's happening in the country. Nobody else is either. The spirit, the whole thing... It's gone. So I'm just gonna look at it. Very seriously. As you know I love what I'm doing. And I'm having a lot of fun what I'm doing. But we will see what we will see.

0:20 Question about whether Trump is real about this or doing it to stop Pat Buchanan. Trump: I think Pat Buchanan's a disgrace. Anybody that's in love with Adolf Hitler I'm not a big fan of. And I'm not doing it for that reason but Pat Buchanan has come out essentially in favor of Adolf Hitler and I think it's a disgrace.

0:40 Reporter follows up asking you do want to stop him but that's not why you're running. Trump: We're gonna SEE whether or not I'm going to run. We're going to be looking at it. Over January, February or something we're gonna be making an announcement.

0:52 Reporter asks what made him change his mind over the last couple of days. Trump: I haven't changed my mind. I've been looking at it for the last number of months. Polls come out that say I do very well or win and I guess we're looking at it very seriously.

1:03 Reporter asks if this hurts Bush more than it does Democrats. I think if Buchanan gets in Bush would be in very big trouble. I think that all of those votes would come from Bush. I think Gore or Bradley or whoever could win the election.

1:20 Lady asks Trump how much time he would need to make a decision if he formed an exploratory committee. Trump: We'll probably be making a decision in January or February. We'll see what happens. The polls have come out. They've been unbelievably strong. They say I'd win. But we're gonna look at it. We're gonna look at it very seriously. We'll probably be making a decision in January or February.

1:43 Lady asks if you need to form an exploratory committee. Trump: You really do. We're gonna have a lot of people looking... a lot of very smart people. Trump walks away as she asks for one other question.

1:55 Video fades into man in suit saying he thinks Reform candidate can be viable.

2:11 Lady asks question about what Trump thinks about those who might not take his candidacy seriously. Trump: Well I think you really have to base it on success. I've had very extraordinary success. I've done things that people said couldn't be done. When you look at your alternatives... let's not kid ourselves. I looked at Mr. Bush last week. And I looked at Mr. Gore. And I look at other people and let me ask you: did they make billions of dollars in a short period of time? I don't think so. Would they be able to? I don't think so. And ultimately it's all common sense. Where we stated with Jorge, it was all based on a letter from him to me. And I wrote, out of common sense, something for the Miami Herald. It was printed in the Op-Ed pages. And we've received thousands of responses as you have. Again, it's based on common sense but what is the purpose of all of the years of anguish and harm and the terrible things that have taken place if you're just gonna lift the embargo and let Castro stay in power? So it was based on common sense. It hit a chord and a lot of ppl like it. Look, the Reform party is at a huge disadvantage no matter who runs. You have the Democrats and Republicans. For many, many years they've been there. They've got their systems. They've got the get out the vote. They've got hundreds of other things the reform party doesn't have which is a new party. If I decide I can win, I might be running. But there's no question about the fact that when you run on the Reform party you obviously don't have the machinery in place over a tremendous number of years that the other two parties do.

4:11 Lady asks how much he needs to be out on campaign trail and what he needs to do to convince people who are reluctant of his candidacy to get onboard. Trump: I think if I wanted the Reform party nomination I'd get it. The question is whether I feel that by having the nomination I could win. I don't wanna get 21% or 22% and do great and get the most ever and then end up the following Wednesday back in my office in Trump Tower and says that was wonderful. But what does it all mean? It doesn't mean anything. It wouldn't mean much to me. Now, it may mean a lot to some people. It wouldn't mean much to me. To Pat Buchanan, he'll end up back on Crossfire maybe. Although I don't think he will personally. He did last time. He sends to end back on that show every time he loses. He's been running forever. I don't get it. He was thrown out of the Republican Party essentially. Somebody like me would have a chance to win. I will make that determination over a period of time. Probably by February, March, something like that. And if I think I can win. I might very well run.

5:23 Lady asks what he'll do and how much he'll campaign if he runs. Trump assures her the he'll do a lot if he decides to run.

5:33 Another lady asks if his exploratory committee is accepting campaign contributions and he would accept contributions if he ran. Trump: Well I don't need campaign... I mean you know it's sort of nice to have a campaign where I truly don't need campaign contributions. So that's a big advantage. Would we accept? I guess I always accept honest money. But it's not something we've really given very much thought to. If I decide to run I would spend many, many millions of dollars to make sure that we do a real job of it. And like I said, the alternatives- they don't look so great to me.

6:03 Man asks how important Florida is in the Reform party process. Trump: It's very important. It's a great state. Big state. I'm here a lot. One of the reasons I'm here now: I spend lots of time in Palm Beach- a different section of Florida that's an hour away. I'm in Florida a lot. I know a lot about the state. I know a lot about this area where I spend also a lot of time. But Florida's an important state in the Reform party in Florida is very organized and very important.

6:29 Trump is asked a question that sounds like it pertains to an appearance on the Howard Stern show and questions about his personal life (poor audio). Trump: I don't think it was a mistake. It's a comedy show. It's meant as comedy. It's sort of interesting- you can say something on a show and everybody laughs and we're all laughing, having a good time. But when you read it in print it comes out a lot differently than the way it's actually said. That show was fun for everybody. People that heard the show loved it. They all thought it was really just a good time. And if you understand Howard Stern you'll understand what I'm talking about. I mean he's been a friend of mine for a long time. He's fine. His show is a very significant show. He's probably got the highest ratings in the history of radio. And we had a lot of fun on the show. But unfortunately you take that out of context and you write your little stories and you put it in the written word as opposed to listening to what was said. And it comes out quite a bit differently. So no I don't regret it... It's a comedy show. Excuse me? Would I do it again? I'd do it again. It was... Everybody that listened to it loved it. Now if you take it out of context it's a little different story. But anybody that listened to it absolutely had a good time and liked it.

7:45 Question about ballot access costing 6.5 million and if Trump if Trump has that kind of money to throw in. Trump: I would spend whatever's necessary to get the ballot access. I'd also spend whatever's necessary to win the election.

8:45 Woman asks what he would say to people who say he's just flirting with this to sell condos or sell books. Trump: Well I've already had three #1 best sellers. I've written three books. They've all been # 1. The Art of the Deal. Surviving at the Top. The Art of the Comeback. They've all done tremendous business. The book publishers love me. I don't need to do this to sell a book. I am coming out with a book in December. And I think that book will do very well on its own without this. As far as the rest of business is concerned, hey I do well in business! I've sort of always done well. In the early 90s we had a real estate crisis. Friends of mine went bankrupt. They went out of business. They were gone-never to be heard from again. Some very good people. I didn't. I did better... I mean I'm doing better now than I've ever done in business. Far better than I ever did in the 80's. So you know other people didn't get through that crisis. And that was truly a crisis. So I don't need this to sell condos. I don't need this for whatever I might be doing because my business has been so good. But I will tell you I think I could make a contribution if I decide to go. And if I decide to go I really think I'll go on the basis of trying to win and maybe winning indeed.

9:58 Footage seems to Jump to Melania saying they're having a good time and  she's supporting him in whatever he decides (in not so good English). Some dumb question (partly audible) about redecorating and Melania says something like "let's see where we going." Trump says she could do a nice job.

10:15 Question about what issues besides taxes and trade he'll be talking about. Trump says he thinks tax issue solved a lot of other issues-social security, cutting taxes, and a lot of other things. Inheritance tax is terrible tax and under my plan it goes away. It's not a huge tax but it's a huge tax for those people that destroy their businesses, destroy their farms, lose ownership of property they've had in the family for generations. It's a very important thing for them. And that's not all very rich people. So that goes away. So really that tax happens to solve lots of different problems and almost answers a lot of your question because you're covering social security, all sorts of things, very substantial tax cuts including the inheritance tax.

11:15 Trump: I am somebody that believes strongly in the environment. I think that sometimes some people get carried away and I think sometimes people don't get carried away enough. I've seen a lot of zone changes. You have to do huge environmental impact studies. I understand the environment. I understand what goes on. I also understand the people that make money off of saying the environment- consultants, engineers, all sorts of folks that are always lobbying. Not because they believe it but because they can make bigger fees. So I understand that. But overall I think I'm very, very strong on the environment and protecting the environment. I think my record has really proven that.

12:03 A lady asks how important Cubans are to his run and what else besides his stand on the embargo would he use to appeal to that community. Trump: hopefully I'd get great support from the community. You'd have to ask Jorge. I think I would get very good support from the Cuban-American community. Nobody's been this up front. I know you've had a lot of politicians coming here even recently looking for that support. I'm not sure that anybody said anything and certainly they haven't said what I've said. So Jorge and the whole group would really have to respond to that question but I think I'd have the support of the Cuban-Americans.

12:45 Footage seems to fade into another part of Trump appearance. Trump: Well I've watched the other candidates and I've watched the interviews. And I've watched the mis-statements they've made and I've watched the incompetence. And I've watched a lot of things that they've been saying and doing. And if a family's in politics and somebody gets anointed and the son wasn't particularly great at anything he's done over life and all of the sudden people get anointed. I don't think that that makes them a better candidate than I would be. I've done very well at everything I've ever done. There was an example that I gave today of something I have in Palm Beach called Maralago. It's probably the greatest estate anywhere in the United States. It was built by Marjorie Merriweather Post and E.F. Hutton at a tremendous cost in the 20s. Took nine years to build. I bought that and I turned it into a club. Everyone said #1 you'd never get the approvals. I got the approvals. After I got the approvals they said you'll never be able to make it successful. And now it's the most successful club there is. There was an article yesterday in the Palm Beach Daily News talking about the fact that Maralago has become the hot club in the wake of a lot of competition. I've done that many different times with many different things at a much higher level.

14:13 Man begins asking a questions about avarice before Trump cuts him off. Trump: Well it's not avarice what it really is is success. Some people have a way of getting things done. Some people have a way of success. Whether it's building, or business, or politics, or whatever it might be. I've been successful. I went to a great school. I did well in the great school. I've been successful with what I've done. And I think that's probably more than can be said for other candidates.

14:43 Hard to hear question about being a diplomat. Trump: Nobody from the outdid or maybe even the inside understands politicians the way I do. I've maxed out. Been a major supporter of politicians over the years. I've done well with politicians over the years. You look at Washington right now. It's total gridlock. Nothing gets done. I've always been able to bring people together and you understand that. And I think you would have the gridlock in Washington. I think I have in many respects more experience dealing with politicians than many politicians do.

15:37 Footage fades to another part of Trump's talk. Trump saying you have to keep pressure on Fidel Castro big league. It's starting to wilt. If that's the case then all of the effort and all of the years of struggle and death and all of the other things will have been wasted. Because that whole regime will be rich strong and better than ever before. Not the time to get weak. I think at this moment there's a lot of weakness in Washington. And that's gonna keep the regime going.

16:48 Question about health care and abortion. I'm very in favor of powerful health care. Very substantial health care. If we can't take care of aged, of sick what is the purpose of all of it? We have two main things: military protection and health care. And those are two very vital areas. In terms of abortion, I'm in favor of choice. I hate the concept of abortion. I'm in favor of choice nevertheless. I really don't see the alternatives. I don't think that there's an adequate and satisfactory alternative. So while I dislike it, I have to say that I'm in favor of choice.

17:37 Question about what will happen to his business empire if he becomes leader of free world. Trump talking about great managers he has and probably putting it in trusts. I'd let Norma right behind you get involved a little bit more than she's already involved.

17:55 Trump takes a question about the odds. Trump: Basically the odds of running are... They're there. The odds of winning I think are good if I decide to run. (YouTube video cuts to footage of Anderson Cooper and CNN coverage of RNC stating party needs to unite around Trump the presumptive nominee.

Clip Labels: 991115_JP_486_A