November 8, 2016

The Trump Files: The Many Times Donald Praised Hillary Clinton

Ivylise Simones

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Until the election, we’re bringing you “The Trump Files,” a daily dose of telling episodes, strange but true stories, or curious scenes from the life of GOP nominee Donald Trump.

It’s Election Day. Still undecided about whom to vote for? Perhaps these words of endorsement might help you make up your mind. They’re about Hillary Clinton—and they came from Donald Trump. He’s lavishly praised Clinton and her husband for years, including the time when he…

…told a reporter that “Hillary Clinton is a great woman. And a good woman.”

“I think she’s going to go down, at a minimum, as a great senator,” Trump told NY1, a New York cable news channel, after Clinton lost the Democratic primary to Barack Obama in 2008. “I think she is a great wife to a president, and I think Bill Clinton was a great president.”

…talked up Hillary in his book.

Trump made sure to include a photo of himself with Clinton within the first 10 pages of his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback, along with a fawning caption. “The First Lady is a wonderful woman who has handled pressure incredibly well,” he wrote.

Trump Clinton

 

…praised her hard work during a Fox News interview.

“I really like her and her husband both a lot,” Trump told Greta Van Susteren during the 2012 campaign. “I think she really works hard. And I think, again, she’s given an agenda, it is not all of her, but I think she really works hard and I think she does a good job. I like her.”

…wanted Clinton to win the nomination in 2008.

Wolf Blitzer asked Trump in 2007 about Clinton, his current sidekick Rudy Giuliani, and the pair’s chances of getting presidential nominations. “They’re both terrific people, and I hope they both get the nomination,” Trump said, adding at another point that “I know her…very well. She’s very talented.”

…blogged that she’d make a great president.

“I know Hillary and I think she’d make a great president or vice-president,” Trump wrote in a 2008 blog post discovered by BuzzFeed.

…wanted to help her and Bill buy a house.

Trump lamented to Larry King in 1999 that the Clintons hadn’t turned to him for help in buying a house in Chappaqua, New York. “I just wish I could have maybe represented him in buying the house, and her, because I think I could save them about $600,000 or $700,000,” he said. Trump was exploring a run for the Reform Party presidential nomination at the time, but he still told King of his future political rival, “I like her very much.”

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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