A gift Donald Trump gave to Bill Clinton several years ago has raised some eyebrows this week.
On Friday, The Washington Post published a story about Trump and his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, with details about the resort and its residents as well as the guests the former president invites there.
The piece mentions an incident in 2002 when Trump invited Clinton and Terry McAuliffe, a former Virginia governor and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee at the time, to his Trump International Golf Club, which is in West Palm Beach and near Mar-a-Lago.
McAuliffe told the Post that during their round of golf, Clinton and Trump were followed by a photographer. After they finished playing, Trump gave Clinton several pictures from their round, which he signed with a Sharpie, McAuliffe said.
"I remember thinking to myself, 'What does a former president do with an autographed picture of Donald Trump?" McAuliffe told the Post.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
The Post's story comes as the former president is on trial in Manhattan on charges of falsifying business records while facing other legal battles.
Over the past four weeks, Trump has been in a New York City courtroom for the trial, which concerns a hush money payment made to former adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump was indicted last year by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who charges that the former president "fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information—including a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels—from the public during the 2016 presidential campaign."
Trump has continued to deny any wrongdoing in the case, including Daniels' allegation that they had a sexual encounter, and has repeatedly said it should be dismissed.
Trump is also facing two federal indictments from special counsel Jack Smith, one for his alleged mishandling of classified documents and the other related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, culminating in the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump is also charged in a criminal case in Fulton County, Georgia, where he is accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.
Earlier this month, Trump got a legal victory in his classified documents case following a ruling from Judge Aileen Cannon.
Cannon temporarily stayed a May 9 deadline for Trump and two of his 18 co-defendants in the case to submit court filings. The trial is scheduled to start on May 20, but Cannon did not immediately set a new date for Trump to file documents related to the Classified Information Procedures Act. This increases the likelihood that the trial won't start before November's presidential election.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
