November 8, 2016

The Trump Files: The Many Times Donald Praised Hillary Clinton

Ivylise Simones

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Until the election, we’re bringing you “The Trump Files,” a daily dose of telling episodes, strange but true stories, or curious scenes from the life of GOP nominee Donald Trump.

It’s Election Day. Still undecided about whom to vote for? Perhaps these words of endorsement might help you make up your mind. They’re about Hillary Clinton—and they came from Donald Trump. He’s lavishly praised Clinton and her husband for years, including the time when he…

…told a reporter that “Hillary Clinton is a great woman. And a good woman.”

“I think she’s going to go down, at a minimum, as a great senator,” Trump told NY1, a New York cable news channel, after Clinton lost the Democratic primary to Barack Obama in 2008. “I think she is a great wife to a president, and I think Bill Clinton was a great president.”

…talked up Hillary in his book.

Trump made sure to include a photo of himself with Clinton within the first 10 pages of his 1997 book, The Art of the Comeback, along with a fawning caption. “The First Lady is a wonderful woman who has handled pressure incredibly well,” he wrote.

Trump Clinton

 

…praised her hard work during a Fox News interview.

“I really like her and her husband both a lot,” Trump told Greta Van Susteren during the 2012 campaign. “I think she really works hard. And I think, again, she’s given an agenda, it is not all of her, but I think she really works hard and I think she does a good job. I like her.”

…wanted Clinton to win the nomination in 2008.

Wolf Blitzer asked Trump in 2007 about Clinton, his current sidekick Rudy Giuliani, and the pair’s chances of getting presidential nominations. “They’re both terrific people, and I hope they both get the nomination,” Trump said, adding at another point that “I know her…very well. She’s very talented.”

…blogged that she’d make a great president.

“I know Hillary and I think she’d make a great president or vice-president,” Trump wrote in a 2008 blog post discovered by BuzzFeed.

…wanted to help her and Bill buy a house.

Trump lamented to Larry King in 1999 that the Clintons hadn’t turned to him for help in buying a house in Chappaqua, New York. “I just wish I could have maybe represented him in buying the house, and her, because I think I could save them about $600,000 or $700,000,” he said. Trump was exploring a run for the Reform Party presidential nomination at the time, but he still told King of his future political rival, “I like her very much.”

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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