Trump Reveals New Details About Previous Friendship With Bill Clinton

Trump Reveals New Details About Previous Friendship With Bill Clinton
Then-President Donald Trump and then-first lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, (2nd Row L-R) at the National Cathedral December 05, 2018 in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Jack Phillips
4/23/2023
Updated:
4/23/2023
0:00

Former President Donald Trump revealed details about his past connections with former President Bill Clinton and said he used to have a cordial relationship with the Clintons.

“They came to my wedding,” Trump told Fox News, noting that Bill and Hillary Clinton were guests at his wedding to Melania Trump. Other famous New Yorkers like Tony Bennet, Billy Joel, former New York Gov. George Pataki, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani were also in attendance, he said.

And Clinton also used to play at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course.

“He loved that course. He was there a lot. He just loved it. He loves playing golf, and he was... better [at golf] than people think… He’s got a certain athleticism, actually,” Trump told Fox’s Mark Levin over the weekend.

Trump noted that Hillary Clinton may have lost because her campaign didn’t deploy her husband on the 2016 trail, saying that the 42nd president is a “natural politician.”

“I think they did a great disservice by not using him when I went against Hillary. I think that they had this unbelievable weapon known as Bill Clinton, who was a natural politician,” Trump said. “[He] was a weapon that they decided not to use. They actually did the opposite. They shut him out. They shut him out, and I think that was a mistake.”

Notably, Bill Clinton appeared at a general election town hall between Hillary Clinton and Trump when Trump invited Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey as special guests. Those three women have long accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.

Trump has previously said that his relationship with the Clintons soured as he entered politics in 2015. A book of letters Trump published earlier this year includes a 2002 letter from Clinton, who thanked Trump for “generous contribution to Friends of Hillary.”
Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the platform at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the platform at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2017. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

The letter added that she had a “full agenda before us in Congress this year. I am working with my colleagues to ensure that New York has the resources to recover and rebuild, and to maintain our bipartisan commitment against the forces of global terrorism.”

“'What can I say about Hillary Clinton? I had a great relationship with both Bill and Hillary for a long period of time,” Trump wrote.

That all changed, however, as the 2016 campaign that pitted Trump against Hillary Clinton became increasingly more contentious. Clinton, at one point, referred to Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables,” while Trump coined the oft-repeated nickname “Crooked Hillary.”

After Trump was elected in November 2016, Clinton claimed that Trump committed election fraud amid now-debunked claims that the former president colluded with the Russian government. In 2019, she said Trump was an “illegitimate president” and “he knows” he stole the election from her.

“No, it doesn’t kill me because he knows he’s an illegitimate president,” she claimed. “I believe he understands that the many varying tactics they used, from voter suppression and voter purging to hacking to the false stories—he knows that—there were just a bunch of different reasons why the election turned out like it did.”

In that interview, Clinton suggested that Trump would lose to a Democrat in 2020. The reason why, she said, was “there were many funny things that happened in my election that will not happen again.”

Last week, Clinton said that she believes Trump will lose to President Joe Biden in a 2024 rematch. While Trump announced his candidacy in November, Biden hasn’t yet made such an announcement.

“He has a hard core of support that is likely to help him win the Republican nomination,” Clinton remarked. “But in a general election against President Biden, I do not believe he can win.”

She added that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won’t win the GOP nomination because he’s “unproven” and said Biden “will be reelected regardless of who the Republican nominee is.”

Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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