Report: Donald Trump Posed As His Own Spokesman Named ‘John Miller’
May 13, 2016 11:06 AM
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) — Back when Donald Trump’s love life was tabloid heaven, a Trump spokesman with intimate knowledge of the businessman’s personal relationships offered juicy stories about a failing marriage, a new live-in paramour and three other girlfriends he was juggling at once.
The spokesman’s name was John Miller. But The Washington Post says it was actually Trump, posing as his own spokesman on the phone with a reporter who wondered why Miller’s voice sounded so familiar.
The Post has unearthed a recording of that 1991 phone call.
In the phone call, the man who identifies himself as Miller calls the billionaire businessman “a good guy” while discussing Trump’s various relationships with his former wife Ivana, model Marla Maples, and former model Carla Bruni.
He also describes Trump as irresistible to women.
“He gets called by everybody in the book, in terms of women,” Miller said. “He’s got a whole open field, really.”
In the call with People magazine reporter Sue Carswell, who is now at Vanity Fair, the “spokesman” said “actresses just call to see if they can go out with him and things.”
He said Madonna “wanted to go out with him” and “came in a beautiful evening gown and combat boots” to hang out with Trump at the Plaza Hotel, which he owned. “He’s got zero interest that night,” said the man known as Miller, apparently meaning they did not have sex.
At one point during the call, Miller tells the reporter, “I’m sort of new here,” explaining that he’s handling PR for Trump part-time to field calls from the press.
“I worked for a couple of different firms and I’m somebody that he knows and I think somebody that he trusts and likes,” Miller says.
The Post reports Trump was known in those days for posing as public relations men to advocate for himself, under several alter egos.
On Friday, Trump denied being the voice on the phone, telling one morning news show, “I don’t know anything about it.”
But the Post reported he owned up to it at the time, describing the Miller call as a “joke gone awry.” Trump also testified in a 1990 court case that “I believe on occasion I used that name.” He also went by the name John Barron at times, the Post said.
Carswell told the Post she played the recording to Maples, who confirmed the call was from Trump himself and cried upon hearing him say that a ring he had given her was not meant to imply an engagement — although their engagement was announced weeks later.
Carswell says Maples persuaded Trump to invite her out with the two of them to make up for the trickery.
On Friday, “John Miller” was a top trending topic for hours on Twitter.
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