 |
| Donald J. Trump, in red hat, and Bill Clinton, center, at a golf tournament at Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., in 2008. Also there were Rudolph W. Giuliani, Michael R. Bloomberg, Joe Torre and Billy Crystal |
The May call was confirmed by two people with knowledge of it, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss a private conversation. The call was first reported by The Washington Post.
The conversation was initiated at Mr. Trump’s request, according to one person briefed on the call, who said the real-estate developer tried Mr. Clinton’s office a few times before the former president returned the call.
According to the Washington Post account, some people privy to the call described Mr. Clinton, who is often typically solicitous of whomever he is speaking to, as suggesting to the candidate-to-be that he was “striking a chord” with the Republican base.
Others described it as a friendly phone call in which Mrs. Clinton and her campaign didn’t come up.
An aide to Mr. Trump declined comment. An aide to Mr. Clinton confirmed “that Mr. Trump reached out to President Clinton a few times.”
“President Clinton returned his call in late May,” the aide said. “And, that while we don’t make it a practice to discuss the president’s private conversations, we can tell you that the presidential race was not discussed.”
The relationship between Mr. Trump and the Clintons goes back years. The Clintons attended Mr. Trump’s wedding to his third wife, Melania. Mr. Trump also donated $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation, and Mr. Clinton is a member of one of the developer’s golf courses.
Still, news of the call is almost certain to inflame conspiracy theories about the political motivations of Mr. Trump, who has spent weeks vilifying many of his Republican rivals and making comments that have sent tremors through the Republican establishment.
Mr. Trump did not take shots at Mrs. Clinton in his announcement speech at Trump Tower in Manhattan. But in recent weeks, Hillary Rodham Clinton has seized on his remarks about immigrants and chastised him by name.
Since then, he has described her as the worst secretary of state “in history,” and has said that she would be a terrible president.
But the Clinton campaign has been barely able to contain its glee at having Mr. Trump as a foil to use against the entire Republican field.
While most political observers don’t believe that Mr. Trump can capture the Republican nomination, his candidacy has proven strikingly resilient since his campaign kickoff, with each new controversy only appearing to galvanize his supporters.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/08/05/donald-trump-and-bill-clinton-chatted-by-phone-before-trump-announced-candidacy/?_r=0