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As "the king of debt," Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began spending cash.
NEW: @realdonaldtrump has spent $400M+ in his own cash on property since ‘06, defying normal real-estate practices.
Link to tweet
Politics
As ‘the king of debt,’ Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began spending hundreds of millions in cash.
by Jonathan O'Connell, David A. Fahrenthold and Jack Gillum May 5 at 1:30 PM
jonathan.oconnell@washpost.com; david.fahrenthold@washpost.com; jack.gillum@washpost.com
In the nine years before he ran for president, Donald Trump’s company spent more than $400 million in cash on new properties — including 14 transactions paid for in full, without borrowing from banks — during a buying binge that defied real estate industry practices and Trump’s own history as the self-described “King of Debt.”
Trump’s vast outlay of cash, tracked through public records and totaled publicly here for the first time, provides a new window into the president’s private company, which discloses few details about its finances.
It shows that Trump had access to far more cash than previously known, despite his string of commercial bankruptcies and the Great Recession’s hammering of the real estate industry.
Why did the “King of Debt,” as he has called himself in interviews, turn away from that strategy, defying the real estate wisdom that it’s unwise to risk so much of one’s own money in a few projects? ... And how did Trump — who had money tied up in real estate and buildings — raise enough liquid assets to go on this cash buying spree?
....
Jonathan O'Connell covers economic development with a focus on commercial real estate and the Trump Organization. He has written extensively about Donald Trump's business, including how his D.C. hotel has affected Washington and what Trump hotels will mean to the Mississippi Delta. He joined The Washington Post in 2010.
Follow @OConnellPostBiz
David A. Fahrenthold is a reporter covering the Trump family and their business interests. He has been at The Washington Post since 2000, and previously covered Congress, the federal bureaucracy, the environment and the D.C. police.
Follow @Fahrenthold
Jack Gillum is an investigative reporter for The Washington Post. He previously worked for the Associated Press, where he focused on national politics and data journalism projects. He also pursued investigations into standardized test cheating and college athletics for USA Today, and he began his career at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.
Follow @jackgillum
As ‘the king of debt,’ Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began spending hundreds of millions in cash.
by Jonathan O'Connell, David A. Fahrenthold and Jack Gillum May 5 at 1:30 PM
jonathan.oconnell@washpost.com; david.fahrenthold@washpost.com; jack.gillum@washpost.com
In the nine years before he ran for president, Donald Trump’s company spent more than $400 million in cash on new properties — including 14 transactions paid for in full, without borrowing from banks — during a buying binge that defied real estate industry practices and Trump’s own history as the self-described “King of Debt.”
Trump’s vast outlay of cash, tracked through public records and totaled publicly here for the first time, provides a new window into the president’s private company, which discloses few details about its finances.
It shows that Trump had access to far more cash than previously known, despite his string of commercial bankruptcies and the Great Recession’s hammering of the real estate industry.
Why did the “King of Debt,” as he has called himself in interviews, turn away from that strategy, defying the real estate wisdom that it’s unwise to risk so much of one’s own money in a few projects? ... And how did Trump — who had money tied up in real estate and buildings — raise enough liquid assets to go on this cash buying spree?
....
Jonathan O'Connell covers economic development with a focus on commercial real estate and the Trump Organization. He has written extensively about Donald Trump's business, including how his D.C. hotel has affected Washington and what Trump hotels will mean to the Mississippi Delta. He joined The Washington Post in 2010.
Follow @OConnellPostBiz
David A. Fahrenthold is a reporter covering the Trump family and their business interests. He has been at The Washington Post since 2000, and previously covered Congress, the federal bureaucracy, the environment and the D.C. police.
Follow @Fahrenthold
Jack Gillum is an investigative reporter for The Washington Post. He previously worked for the Associated Press, where he focused on national politics and data journalism projects. He also pursued investigations into standardized test cheating and college athletics for USA Today, and he began his career at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.
Follow @jackgillum
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