♪ from our studios in new york city, this is "charlie rose." charlie: welcome to our broadcast. tonight we spend the night with a man who has left his mark on the history of new york city. if donald trump is not in the news for a controversial new development, he may be in the gossip column with his latest relationship. less than two years ago the trump empire was in trouble and some were quick to announce that the king had lost his crown. donald trump, some say is out to prove them wrong. he is writing his third book, "the art of the comeback." donald trump is here and i am he

-- i increase to have him. here is the casino journal saying gaming's greatest comeback. what, casino just player. here is new york magazine out trumpeek, fighting back scrambles off the campus. after the new hampshire primary went out front, had a press conference and he said, even though he came in second, that i in the comeback kid. look at what happened to bill clinton. if you could translate that for you, where would it be? where would it take you to? what would be the equivalent of reaching the white house for you? mr. trump: i think just doing what i am doing, charlie. i have had a great streak over the last year. the economy is in a horrible position. they destroy the economy and 1986. the tax law destroyed the real

estate industry, which destroyed savings and loans. got lucky anyway. i built the taj mahal and everyone said that would be a downfall. the taj mahal is over a billion dollar building. it is one of the best deals i have ever made. it broke records and one over $40 million a month. no casino in history has ever one anywhere near that. all three of my casinos were rated four stars. we are the only casinos in the united states that are rated. it has been an incredible six or seven months for me. it has been gratifying. think i probably care less about that than i would three or four years ago. it has been a pretty good experience for me. charlie: how are you different than you were three or four years ago? thetrump: i think i said in first book, maybe this was fullest, but i meant it. someday i would like to maybe ofe everything for a period

time to see who is loyal and who is not loyal. it, you cannots predict it. you think certain people will be loyal matter what and it turns out they are not. you cannot predict it, it is very difficult. charlie: what hurt the most? wholeump: it is a different scene. we have a situation where everything is going perfectly. wendy you wake up in the world is coming to an end in the standpoint of the economy. of lucki have had a lot and a lot of friends. a lot of good friends. overall, i have done well. i am very happy. charlie: help meet understand what it was to be you. what itme to understand was like to be you. some people have not been able to come back. some people's developers in canada and in the united states who had a representation for -- are now facing bankruptcy. what was it like for you before the crash, than how low did it

get for you when things began to go bad, and people were counting you out and saying that not only could you not recover, what you were that far from bankruptcy? wastrump: i never thought i that far from bankruptcy. as a lot of people weren't giving me a hard time. overall, it was an experience i don't want to go through again. you know what it is like. you are really in a position if you hadthink that to do it again, i am not sure you could. i went through a period of two years that was really tough. charlie: in what ways? -- trump: you havemr. trump: mr. trump: you have parents and people that adore you, all of a sudden, the world seems to be coming to an end. it was just sort of an incredible experience. charlie: did you have to go to your father and say, bell me out? -- bail me out?

help me? mr. trump: my father would not have been in a position to bail me out. i have a sister who is a federal judge. she is very strong. she is a fantastic woman. i never knew as to loyalty whether or not she would be there. other people were there. the incredible thing is, you cannot really tell who is going to be there and who is not. i would have bet my life on certain people. i would have said, politically speaking, that andrew stein would have been there. charlie: there for what? first 15 years i supported andrew stein. i never asked him for a thing. when i needed a vote, and until the very end when everybody else was on board, andrew was not there. i was really surprised. ultimately, he was there. it should not have been so difficult. charlie: here comes one of the

things they say about you, that ticks within you of vindictiveness about that. you will not forget that. the trump style is, at some point you will try to get steinback? mr. trump: i don't think i will try to get stein back. i am disappointed. there were people that were much more -- a man like allen who would call me every day. charlie: what would he say? , hetrump: he would boost me would say just keep fighting. he is a phenomenal guy and a leader. the company has done really well. alan has been a really loyal friend. i have had a lot of other loyal friends. i guess i will go into this in the third. i do one but, it's a bestseller, i do another book and it's a bestseller. frankly, i think this is the best book. i think this will be the best

put. i really believe i know much more now than i did for the other two. i have learned about hardships. i went to the best schools, i did great. i went to the school of finance. you do fantastically well. everything go smooth, he out of school and make a lot of money. -- you get out of school and make a lot of money. charlie: did you think you were invincible? seen too much,ve i never thought i was invincible. i have a 15 year what -- run that was unprecedented. 1990 hit. i remember there was an article that said welcome to the 90's. 1990 hit and the economy was crashing and the banks were crashing and everything was crashing. what happened was, i learned a lot about myself. charlie: you keep saying you learned, what did you learn about yourself? i think i learned

from real that i am a pretty tough guy. it takesa tough guy -- the brains and it takes this, but it also takes toughness. ofgo through a period turmoil where everything seems to be going in the wrong direction and surviving, and end up as they say, my new magazine covers are coming back. what greenberg says is trump went from owning 100% of nothing to 50% of something that is making money. fair? whatrump: i think that is he said. he actually said, making a lot of money. charlie: he did say that. is,trump: what's happened the casinos have turned out to be tremendous. a lot of people are criticizing the move into the casinos, but they are tremendous. real estate is coming back in a slow basis. i think it will take a long time. the casinos in particular has been fantastic. it has just worked out for me. it has not worked out for a lot of people.

i think a lot of that has to do with an inner strength. that is what i will write about. a lot of it has to do with other people. the loyalties of other people. how you treat other people so that they are loyal. charlie: did it slipped the family? -- split the family? did it cause division? no, i thought my brother would have fought harder. he is the opposite of my sister. i think my sister is a phenomenal lady. tremendous.he is my other sister, likewise was tremendous. i parents have always expected them to be. it is interesting, my attorney said always count on your mother. i may be took advantage of my mother. i never appreciated her as much. she was really fantastic. charlie: you came out in defense of mike tyson. that your mother said, an f donald, shut up.

up.nough donald, shut mr. trump: that was when my mother really got mad at me. when i came out in defense of mike tyson. my mother is 80 years old. -- she ise reason is quality. charlie: she said what? thetrump: she did not like fact that i was defending iron mike. . watched mike tyson i saw how badly he was defended by an attorney who was charging $5 million against a local attorney the best that the state hired that just eight the other man's lunch. way he did it. i heard about a girl that knocked on his door and was taken in. was raped, perhaps, perhaps not. i do not know. i the key was probably represented. she walks in he in the night. number two, she is dancing in a beauty contest at 8:00 in the

morning. i saw the tapes and she is dancing happily at 8:00 in the morning. now mike tyson is in jail for years. i had a real problem with that case and mike tyson's lawyers. i had a problem with dawn jean. i think he was really said out to the wolves. charlie: the fact is he raped her in a hotel, regardless of whether she came there. mr. trump: heed to this day denies it. i do not know that it happened. if he did not testify he would have been exonerated totally. ke was arrogant and a horrible witness. i would say, generally speaking you don't put him on as a witness. he was a horrible witness. to get four or five or six years, i think there were too many circumstances. she was in a beauty contest dancing with a big smile at 8:00 in the morning. charlie: the jury listened to her and had an opportunity to test her credibility.

questions.e the guy is not a bad lawyer, he may have handled the case that. he had an extraordinary reputation and a very good firm. mr. trump: i have been with mike and i have seen him, people take advantage of this man. i think this is one of those examples. i know we have a system of juries and a system where if you are found guilty you are guilty. somebody like me who has an independent streak could say, mike tyson in my opinion should have a break. they put him in jail before he was even guilty. charlie: do you believe you will fight again and be the heavyweight champ again? willrump: i do believe he fight again. in the prison that he is and they do not allow boxing. some of the young boxers in the heavyweight division are great. ali came back and was a unique man. maybe mike will come back. i think mike probably will be

the champ again. you have young heavyweight fighters coming up, likes lyness -- like lennox lewis. i think your next champion will be lennox lewis. charlie: he sure did a number. first round, wasn't it? second round. this gentleman went 18 or 20 rounds. charlie: did he survive being in the ring with tyson? mr. trump: he could be the first real thing since mike. he is younger or this and that. charlie: are you an athlete? scratch golfer? you do par 72, 73 on courses? up against good players? mr. trump: up against good players. i like playing for money because it gives you a good interest. aen i was really -- there is point where you have to sit back and wait to see how the chips are falling. period.he adversity

sometimes i go out with friends and you do not think of the problems of the world. play myself, but one of the things is, frankly, i was doing so well and it was also easy and i took it easy. i started relying on other people and i said you went to the school of finance and you take care of this and you to correct this. i stopped to i got rid of people and i did it myself. since then, things have been fantastic. charlie: his 1992 the best year of your life? it could be think because it came together for me financially speaking and in other ways. ♪

♪ i read all these numbers. this is not investigative journalism. we are interested in what makes you take. we don't have the resources or the manpower to do with somebody would do spending six months working on a piece about you. do you oh $5 billion? mr. trump: at 1.i guess i owed pretty close to $5 billion. i passed -- they passed the 1986 tax law, which was absolutely stupidity. charlie: bill bradley and a lot of other people say it was the best of all time.

mr. trump: i like bill bradley and a lot of the people you mentioned. much.radley did very i have to tell you, he destroyed the home building industry in the united states. he destroyed the savings and loans. what happened was, incentive was taking out of the real estate industry. , andthe values went down they absolutely plummeted. billions of dollars in real estate is one have to billions of dollars. charlie: during that time, when the savings came about, a lot of savings and loan met -- let money to developers. -- went money to developers. charlie: a lot of that -- mr. trump: a lot of that was exacerbated. --was made into band loans bad loans. you had resolution trust and you

are paying billions and billions in order to sell $5 billion in taxes we are paying trillions of dollars to save banks. charlie: some people came along and made a ton of money. someone the other day made a billion dollars. mr. trump: he is a good man, and hope he did make a lot of money. the government passed a stupid law. i think they are going to do it. charlie: here is the other side. --ple with great gifts like you get your stuff extended to far. too much debt and too much extension. when that happens in america, there is a business cycle. when the economy goes up and down, if you get extended to far and have eight huge debt service, push comes to shove and you find yourself in a very -- between a rock and a hard place. , extending yourself

to far that causes so many people to come to ruin. mr. trump: i think you are right. i will not not take blame for that. andody that does anything, the only people that don't get in trouble are the ones who don't do it. when i do things -- i built the taj mahal and they said it was not possible and now it's tremendously possible. it takes time to get over the hump. all, here ist of one of the arguments made about it. thefaced huge opposition on part of the planning commission. a lot of people who did not want to see -- see a huge development, you turned it around and most people give you the credit for turning it around. mr. trump: health. 12.lie: -- mr. trump: charlie: 12-0 vote. is it no longer in economically viable project? today, nothing is

viable. you can have the greatest piece of land in the best location in new york and nothing is viable. when i did the grand hyatt hotel, the hotel market was in shambles. everyone says i was crazy, by the time it opened it was tremendous. charlie: what have been tremendous without the zoning? mr. trump: no. now what we are doing is asking for certain things in able to make riverside sales successful. every civic association is supporting it. charlie: they are supporting it in terms of the concessions you may. the question remains, can you deliver? mr. trump: the bottom line, if the market comes back you deliver. up withinton will come a housing program where we get subsidized housing, in which case you do it a different way. we are looking to get zoning, a piece of land that is un-zoned people andloying no

is rat infested. if i get the zoning, which i hope to be able to get. if the city turns around and the economy turns around and there are incentives put back into real estate. are always gifts. when i did trump tower, people said i was crazy. it was too crazy and too expensive. it turned out to be probably the most successful condominium ever in this company. charlie: is it profitable? mr. trump: it was the most successful condominium ever built. two years before i started construction, people thought i was totally crazy to do it. it really worked out to be fantastic. you can say the tosh mahal, trump class of, so many of the jobs i do, at that time i am doing them are supposed to be not good. charlie: who makes the decision as to not go? is that made by the bankers? city is lucky to

have the bankers that i have. they have invested a lot. they have confidence in me and confident in the city. frankly, they are very lucky. otherwise it could be a war, it could be a this, it could be heard that -- a that and it would be better for everybody. they believe in me. ultimatelywhat, it the decision will be right. charlie: when you oh as much money as you did, they become your partners. mr. trump: nobody is partners with reitman and they are bankrupt. they are in bankruptcy. they are frankly in deep trouble. my banks have had a great confidence in me. they know i am good, they know i do it the best and they know i am honest. charlie: did they have a choice? were they there to get their loan back? mr. trump: i'm not saying i would have been easy had the other rock on.

i will to you this, they absolutely had a choice and they could have done a different route it could have been a contentious route. rather than working with me, it could have been a contentious route. that would have been better for me and them. charlie: they could have put you up against the wall and said you own this money? if they did that it would have been bad for everybody. i think they understood that. charlie: they would have less money? .r. trump: very much i think so. i find the banks to be very underrated in terms of intelligence level. i have worked with the banks very closely for two years. these guys have done a fantastic job. at least as far as my stuff is concerned. i have done great for them, they have done great for me. in six months, 12 months, i may be stronger than i was two or three years ago. i think i will be stronger than i was two or three years ago.

i think you will have an uptick in the market. charlie: why do you think there will be -- wide using cube will be stronger? mr. trump: what have i given up. i sold the shuttle for a lot of money. charlie: you sold it for my -- more money than you pay for? you still have a lot of money but you sold it for less? less, ip: not for reduced my debt by hundreds of millions of dollars by that sale. charlie: you sold it for less than you paid for? mr. trump: i sold it probably for more than i paid for. if we sit down with a pencil and paper we can maybe figure it out in five years. you don't want to bore everybody with it. i got rid of a lot of personal guarantees. charlie: unsecured loans from friends? mr. trump: personal guarantees from friends. -- from banks.

if you take the atlantic city, i have up to 80% of the taj mahal. charlie: stay with me, is it making a fortune or is it generating a fortune in revenue but has a fortune plus inexpensive -- in expensive's? how much of this in the end is cash flow? how much is that money is flowing in, but there is money going the other way? mr. trump: i have probably $80 million in interest. the taj mahal could have 40 million dollars. that is a great cash flow. yards,e rep -- west side i do other things. the taj mahal has turned out successful. i sold, i'd this, i that. when you think of it -- charlie: they say, you used to nothing.of

now your own 50% of things and making a lot of money? mr. trump: there is a difference. i am 50% of the castle or it i am paying much less interest because i sold 50%. in return for that i got a reduction in debt, and a reduction in interest. in trump plaza's case, i own 100% of it to that is turning out to be fantastic. charlie, i have to tell you -- the big differences, because of the fact -- charlie: if you are a winner, they are a winner. when things started going good i was on the cover. instead of my hands going up i was my chin down. charlie: was it in paris inc. -- was it in bears --ng for you that they say was it embarrassing for you that

they say they took your toys away? whether you were embarrassed or whether you said, wow. mr. trump: i did not love waking up in the morning. you were the big guy and papers run a story saying, trump is in trouble. mr. trump: i will tell you what the hardest part is. the hardest thing about life to understand. in baseball, if you get 15 runs in the first day and get no more, you still have 15 runs at the end of the day. generally speaking, you will win that game. charlie: after the atlanta braves. mr. trump: we have seen examples. in life i was 15-0. then i had a bad year. it was the government's fault, it was a lot of people's fault. --ould be a full if i did it didn't. a lot of smart people are in

real big trouble now. of really smart people are dead, gone, buried. why are they dead, buried, gone and you are alive and well? mr. trump: before i explain that, i just want to say that you have one bad year and people judge you by your last. you are only as good as your last article or what you have done lately. you take a guy like harry and he had 50 great years. unfortunately he married leona. charlie: here we go again. feel so sorry for harry, just be for a loan and find a new woman. years. they don't say the score is 50-2. harry is a major failure, and that is a shame. i had 15 great, then i had the one bad year, one and a half real bad years.

it was a struggle. it was surviving at the top. it was not easy, and it was not pleasant. charlie: did you ever think you would lose? did you ever lose confidence? mr. trump: no. not once. and the reason is i had to go back and do it myself. i built what i built myself, and i did it by working long hours, working hard, and working smart. there was a point where i was making so much, so fast, and it was so easy that i almost got bored. it is really -- charlie: i can believe you here saying, in a way, this was good, because it gave me a chance to test myself, it put me back and made me hungry again because everything was at stake and therefore i have to pay attention. mr. trump: i think i will look at it in the future as being good. when it was happening, i had no

choice. i will give you an example, riverside south. i have had riverside south for five years. i went through a secession of executives that were in charge. a year-and-a-half ago, i took it over myself. as you say, i got a 12-0 vote. i did it myself. largely by myself, with a group of people, but i really spearheaded something that turned out to be a great thing. i really went back to work and really did things myself, and i think that is why i survived, and maybe, who knows. charlie: let me point out a couple of other things. you lost three key executives. and friends. and that you went through some executives after that and finally put your lawyer in charge. mr. trump: he has done a great job.

charlie: you had a divorce. fair to say people were laughing at you about this divorce. we were amused, but at the same time people said enough of this. you are feeding the columnists, too. mr. trump: i was not feeding. it was not a feed, it was a frenzy. they were feeding themselves. they were making up stories. i called one of the top people in one of the new york tablets and said, look, this is ridiculous and did not happen. he said, i know it did not happen, but it is selling papers like crazy. i think the 28 days in a row, you talk about woody allen, this is the biggest of the big, crazy, out-of-control, and i guess it had all the elements of a soap opera. charlie: didn't bring any satisfaction to you that during this adversity, you were able to get out of the marriage at a time where you were able to give up a lot less money than you would have had another time?

mr. trump: there are a lot of people who said i did this purposely. charlie: but there are those who say you used that adversity -- people were saying you had better make your deal now. mr. trump: there are a lot of mr. trump: i was truly happy to pay even on the -- ivana what i paid her. if i had gone down the tubes and it did up with nothing, she and the children would always be taken care of. at the time, don't forget i was being sued for $2 billion at one point, by her, and i was going to be nasty, and frankly, had i not had a glitch, i would probably not be on this program right now. i would be a divorce court. charlie: if you had not bottomed out and put some pressure on her -- mr. trump: it was not a question of pressure. there was a point where she probably felt i was not going to make it. charlie: but were you telling

her differently? mr. trump: i was not telling her anything. all she had to do is read "the wall street journal." they were making dire predictions about me, but i guess i got more print than anyone else. what happened is, had i not been involved in a glitch, i don't believe that we would be here right now. i would be studying for tomorrow's examination before a trial. charlie: he would get out in lawsuit. mr. trump: i think ivana would have gone out further than she did. the stories were getting so bad that she thought, i had better take what i am entitled to, and she ended up taking $2 million plus this and that, probably a package of $20 million or $25 million. i think she was smart in doing it.

her lawyers were horrible. she could have gotten a lot more money at an earlier stage. i offered more money and she ended up getting. but ivana decided to hire these characters that were just looking for fame and fortune for themselves, in my opinion, and they did a bad job. my folks did a great job for me. i have a wonderful lawyer who did a great job for me. in the end, i seven by it, because i would have preferred the addition -- the original deal. ♪

charlie: there is also said, in this piece, that you love the limelight, and that you seek in the public, and the public's adulation is something, that the mirror of that is somehow important, confirming, true? mr. trump: i don't think so. i think i loved it at one point. i think i have gotten used to it. it is great for my business. the fact is, my casinos are up more than any casinos in the united states. we are up to number 1, 2, and three in increases in atlantic city, number 1, 2, and three every month. charlie: but at the same time, the most profitable.

you are saying they are up in revenue. you're not necessarily saying they are the most profitable. mr. trump: the trump taj mahal has the greatest gross operating margin of any casino in atlantic city, by far. it has the biggest gross, but the largest gross operating profit in atlantic city. i will say this, when people thought i was going down, they sort of deserted me. this is not the way it should be. charlie: tell me who deserted you. mr. trump: i am talking about customers, not local friends, this, that. when the casino customers, even the condominium -- when they thought i was going down for the camp, they thought i did not deserve it. now that they see i am back, i will tell you, one of the things that my casino is up so much more is that -- charlie: are you saying that therefore it makes sense to promote this notion?

look at this picture. you like this. is it good for you to promote that because it says "donald is back emco and all this stuff about scrambles off the cabinet -- "donald is back," and all this stuff about scrambles, it is good business. mr. trump: you are a fantastic guy, and you did this down in new orleans. here we are doing an interview. charlie: a heck of an interview it is. mr. trump: i hope you get good ratings. anything for you, charlie. it happens to be great for business. the fact that it is coming back -- and it would be nice if it were the other way. charlie: but apart from all that,, on, ego. mr. trump: i have an ego. i have never met a successful person that did not have an ego. charlie: mother teresa had an ego. mr. trump: absolutely. charlie: nevertheless, you love the limelight. you love, beyond the business,

you like it. you like the fact that there are security guys ahead of you and behind you, and there is this adulation, and women want to be with you, and wherever you go there are flashbulbs in all this kind of thing. you like it. mr. trump: i don't mind it. i used to like it more. i still like it. i probably would miss it if it were not here. charlie: but you have grown accustomed to it as part of your -- mr. trump: maybe. but i also think it is great for business. it is great for the casino business, the condominium business. there was a report that trump apartments in new york sell for more on a square foot basis than any apartments in new york, by far. it's not even close. a lot of that is all of this nonsense. charlie: let's talk about people

you might say sorry to. one is that guy in philadelphia a few days say you got fired. remember the guy? mr. trump: he did great, and now he is my biggest champion. charlie: but you got him fired. mr. trump: i can't help that i got him fired. charlie: did they fire him because of a call from you? mr. trump: i have no idea. charlie: but one man may have lost a job because you -- mr. trump: because he is a tough guy, a savvy guy, he is a stock analyst, and how he is my greatest champion. charlie: what is his name? mr. trump: marvin. he was a great critic of may, and now he is saying this is the most brilliant -- charlie: did you do him a favor by getting them fired? mr. trump: i think in the long run, he is doing better charlie:. charlie: but don't you regret that? mr. trump: no, because that is life. charlie: no regrets, then? mr. trump: if i had to do it

again, what i have done things differently? yes. charlie: what would you have done differently? mr. trump: instead of stopping at the sale, i would have sold some other things. i think i would have treated people differently. i think that some of the people that were most loyal to me are people that i did not think would be. some of the people least loyal to me, i think i would have treated them differently. i would have treated different groups differently. i would have wiped the floor with guys who were not loyal. i love getting even with people. charlie: you love getting even with people. mr. trump: absolutely. you don't believe me?

i know you well enough. i think you do. charlie: but you are going to get even with some people? mr. trump: if given the opportunity, i will get even with some people that were disloyal to me. charlie: but how do you define disloyalty? mr. trump: they did not come to my aid. charlie: do they turn your back on you? mr. trump: they did small things that would not have helped. charlie: give me one example. mr. trump: i have one man who was on the board of a company i was selling, and it was a tremendous sale. it ended up going through, but one of the things was it was a great thing for me, but i had to clear the board. i only put him on that board because i was doing him a favor. he got some money by being a board member, etc. when it came time to remove this slate, everyone said i'm leaving. everyone left, except this one particular person, who said, i don't want to leave. when i heard about it, i went nuts, and i blasted him, and all of a sudden he left. i consider that a great act of disloyalty. he did leave. it was a little like angela. angela ended up in favor of

riverside south. i had never asked him for anything, this is a great job. he had to do a poll in order to find out whether or not -- charlie: but how can you get even with andy stein? mr. trump: it is not a question of getting even. i can be disappointed and i was very disappointed. charlie: will you hit him back? mr. trump: time will tell, i guess. charlie: are you looking for the opportunity? mr. trump: no, i'm just really disappointed in him. i was disappointed in this one man who did not want to get off the board, and he got off after being hit on the head with a canon. charlie: what was the cannon? mr. trump: the cannon was me. charlie: what was the threat? mr. trump: a strong threat. he would have gone through a lot of hell if he did not get off. and he gets off and it was a favor.

it was one of the great jokes of the century, but it ended up that he got off and the deal went through, but that does not mean i have to love this particular guy. i want somebody that is loyal from the beginning, not somebody who is loyal because they are afraid. i have had a lot of instances like that, and i think, again, the new book -- and i don't know why i'm not promoting a book -- why i'm promoting a book that will not come out for three or four months -- the truth is, i think the most interesting aspect of that book is the loyalty chapters. charlie: you measure loyalty in your own relationships? you stuck with them, and you showed your stripes. mr. trump: i don't think i show my stripes. but i am so loyal people -- so loyal to people, that when

someone is this loyal to me, i view it as a great act of horror. charlie: who do you support for mayor? mr. trump: david dinkins has done one hell of a comeback in the last six months. you saw what happened in los angeles. people really like the man. i have watched him. he has really become a very popular guy. i have to tell you that a year and a half ago, nobody wanted to run against george bush. it took a man from arkansas for virtually one of the few people who wanted to run, because george bush was unbeatable. charlie: it looks like david dinkins could not have possibly won reelection a year ago. mr. trump: he has done a great comeback. charlie: do you support him over giuliani? mr. trump: i am not announcing

who i am supporting, and i don't think it is relevant, but i think dinkins has done a great job. i also think he is a great human being. he helps me, but he was tough, he was strong, very much for the people. but when he gave me his word that you would now support the job, i really looked up to that. charlie: there is also a guy on the scene named ross perot, a billionaire. were you once a billionaire? mr. trump: i don't know. i was projected as one. charlie: i saw at least $900 million, but did you actually have a net worth -- what did you hide yourself up to? mr. trump: maybe what i have right now. nobody knows what i'm worth. what is the taj mahal birth? i have no idea what i am worth. charlie: is it a trophy? it is vast and unique, and people pay a premium. mr. trump: people don't buy trophies so much anymore. charlie: but did you pay too much for that trophy? mr. trump: no, when i bought the plaza, i had a huge profit a

year after, and i decided not to take that profit. charlie: who sold it to you? mr. trump: a consortium of people area i am happy with the plaza hotel -- a consortium of people. i am happy with the plaza hotel. it's like sports, a question of how many bad shots do you have. charlie: in other words, minimize your bad shots. mr. trump: everybody is going to get in trouble. it's a question of how you get out of trouble. i think the plaza hotel will turn out to be a great deal for me. charli that metaphor may be correct, because in golf, if you were playing and you have to go over the water to reach the green, sometimes you don't make it over the water, and it puts you in kobe land -- bogey land. mr. trump: that's not where i am.

charlie: but are you back to par? mr. trump: i think in six months, i will be stronger than i was three years ago. charlie: that's a birdie. mr. trump: what i did, i restructured things in the early 1990's, bad times, and now it is turning out to be good. let's see what happens with the economy. charlie: ross perot had $3 billion, and he got 17% or 18% of the vote. there were times when you might wanted to run for president. mr. trump: people said that, but i never did. charlie: you did not go to new hampshire to test the water? mr. trump: i went to new hampshire because they wanted me to go to new hampshire. charlie: but you knew that your appearance would generate talks. mr. trump: it certainly generated talks, but i did not do that for that reason. i have no intention for running for president, and i would not

have an intention of running for president. i will say this, ross perot made some monumental mistakes. and he not dropped out of the election and made the gaffes, if he did not have three or four bad days, he could have won. charlie: you will get political people who are smarter than you and i both and will say the same thing, that he could have been very competitive. but at the same time, whatever it is that made him generate $2 billion enabled him to do as well as he did, in part. he was very effective in debates, and that had nothing to do with how much money he had. at the same time, you have to take the good with the bad, and maybe what made him $2 million made him the way he is with the paranoia. mr. trump: one of the problems with politics and politicians is that you really can't have done very much wrong, and that means

you can't have done very much. i do a lot of things. most of them turn out good, but some have to turn out bad. the bad makes it more difficult. charlie: franklin roosevelt, i'm not sure he said this, but i think he wants said, i proud of all my enemies, i have earned them. which enemies are you proud of? mr. trump: i am proud of having ed koch as an enemy, because i think he is a major loser. he did not do a good job as a mayor. after eight years of building the ice skating rink, i was able to do it in four months with 1/10 of the money they spent. i just wanted to have my kids go ice skating in central park. i got tired of people sitting on their -- i can't say asses on this program -- but i got tired of people having no leadership. instead of thanking me saying, donald, that's a great job, he went around saying, well, i

think we could have done it if we did this or that. charlie: what other enemy are you proud of? mr. trump: i'm not proud of enemies. i am the kind of guy with great friends and great enemies, but i am not proud of that. charlie: is your father still an influence in your life? mr. trump: i have a wonderful father, he is somebody i love very much. i would say my mother and father together. charlie: in what way did they influence you differently? mr. trump: the father is very business-oriented, but a very good man. if someone came up to my father on the streets and said, i need $100, my father has the softest touch to people who are in trouble. he is a great humanitarian, and a sense, but he is a strong man. he is not cold at all. my mother is openly warm. charlie: except when it came to mike tyson. mr. trump: it took 40 years, and she came out and said something. charlie: she made you like

yourself when growing up. her love help to reinforce yourself. a magazine said about you, if donald gives you his word, he is good as gold. however, it said -- mr. trump: he said that sometimes i have a bad memory. charlie: that leaves you wide however, it said -- open to the fact that -- mr. trump: i have a photographic memory. charlie: exactly, can you trust what donald says because his memory may be short. mr. trump: i think you meant that jokingly. he is a great friend and a great gentleman. i think. charlie: what brings you the greatest satisfaction? is a conquering adversity, or something else? mr. trump: i used to think

continued success, but i got word i it dashboard to buy it -- i got bored by it. i think i have handled things well from a business standpoint. charlie: and somebody says, this is just donald's hype. he is a giant promoter. he has not come back. it is not the great comeback he believes it is. mr. trump: all you have to do is look at the numbers. you look at the numbers, it has been a tremendous comeback. i am not saying i am as far back as i will be in six months. i am back and not in any trouble, and i am doing well in making money. money is not as important as people think it would be to a guy like me. charlie: so what is the most important thing to a guy like you? mr. trump: i think the way in which i survived the quality in which i have lived under the survival mode, the image i have per trade during the survival. thing. -- during the survival period.

some people to give up, i have to tell you, and you are not going to be doing interviews with them. many tough, smart killers gave up. they just gave up and said, i am not going to do it anymore. i think the way in which i survived is important. charlie: the arts of the comeback will be out in three or four months. you writing this alone? mr. trump: i have had two other writers, they were number one bestsellers. i am doing this on my own. it has become somewhat of a passion, because i think people will learn a lot from it. charlie: thank you. ♪ >> opec will need to for a long

output just to eliminate the glut. we speak exclusively to patrick -- >> saudi prices fall for the first time in a decade. ousef: it is all in the timing. the central bank should not wait too late to hike. prepares version two of his travel ban trump