Donald Trump’s old New York dealings earn a new review
Donald Trump had dealings with the late Brooklyn Democratic boss Meade Esposito, above, before Esposito's conviction in a federal case involving an illegal gratuity to the late Rep. Mario Biaggi. Credit: Newsday / Dick Yarwood
All Donald Trump’s old New York dealings are coming in for a hard new look. His past teems with transactions with public figures that advanced him financially and socially beyond his elite origins as son of the rich developer Fred Trump.
On Feb. 8 the candidate appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” where host Chris Matthews pushed him about those dealings, such as with the late Brooklyn Democratic boss Meade Esposito before his conviction in a federal case involving an illegal gratuity to the late Rep. Mario Biaggi.
“He was great,” Trump said. “Meade Esposito in his own way was a very, very honest guy. When he gave you his word on something, it was done.”
Published accounts over the years also described the Trumps’ longtime relationship with the late Abraham Beame, a one-term Democratic New York City mayor in the 1970s.
Perhaps more important, young Donald Trump’s allies included lawyer Roy Cohn, the onetime top aide to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, famous for his loose-cannon red-baiting antics before an eventual censure by legislative colleagues.
And yet, for all his big-shot connections, Trump has a certain following from among those who are not considered part of an “establishment.”
When Trump wanted to build a luxury catering hall on Jones Beach called “Trump on the Ocean,” controversy erupted. One vocal protester was Patricia Friedman from Garden City South.
While Trump mulled a White House run five years ago — and before his floundering beach deal was deemed dead in the wake of superstorm Sandy — a most surprising endorsement came from none other than Friedman.
“The way we’re going, we’re going to be owned by China,” she told Newsday then by way of explanation. Friedman, now 79, is backing Trump again. Last week she described how she and family members have volunteered in Vermont, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
“He’s going to win,” she predicted. “It’s just a question of time.” She has two suggestions for his campaign: Donate his presidential salary to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Shriners Hospital for Children, and end the practice of electronic switchboards demanding that callers “press 1 for English.”
“This happens to be an English-speaking country,” she said.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
