Load of Bullion! Trump Takes 40 Wall Street Deposit in Gold, Blames Obama
By Matt Chaban September 14, 2011 3:51 pm
reprints
Even though he left the presidential race four months ago, Donald Trump is still taking pot-shots at the president. The latest is an unusual lease agreement at one of his properties, 40 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan. For the $176,000 deposit on a new 10 year lease, the Journal reports that the tenant will be handing over three 32-ounce bars of pure gold each “about the size of a television remote control.” (Would that be one of those big, multi-system ones, like you get with the cable box, or something slimmer?)
In announcing the lease, Mr. Trump said it was a sign of the unfortunate standing of the United States and the U.S. dollar in the world that led him to do this.
“It’s a sad day when a large property owner starts accepting gold instead of the dollar,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “The economy is bad, and Obama’s not protecting the dollar at all….If I do this, other people are going to start doing it, and maybe we’ll see some changes.”
Mr. Trump said he has some gold in his personal portfolio, but declined to say how much.
(Mr. Trump is the father-in-law of Observer publisher Jared Kushner.)
The idea was actually the tenants’s, The Journal points out, which if it takes off should help cover that deposit: Apmex is a precious metals dealer that “is promoting the use of gold as a replacement for cash in some situations.”
