What the Trump biopic 'The Apprentice' got right, and what's fiction
As shown in the movie, Trump and Cohn met for the first time in a club in 1973 . Cohn would go on to play a pivotal role in Trump's early career, acting as a mentor and representing him in legal proceedings.
Their first meeting took place at Le Club, a private members club frequented by New York elites in the '70s, according to multiple reports.
Did Trump and his father face a federal lawsuit alleging racial discrimination?Cohn represented Trump in a case brought forward by the Department of Justice in 1973 that argued that Trump's father's real-estate company, Trump Management, had discriminated against Black tenancy applicants.
The case was settled after Trump unsuccessfully tried to countersue the Justice Department for $100 million.
Cohn, a one-time aid to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, also taught Trump a simple three-step playbook to live by at the time: "Attack, attack, attack," "admit nothing, deny everything," and always "claim victory and never admit defeat."
Did Trump get a 40-year tax break deal from New York City?Later in "The Apprentice," Trump is shown embarking on an ambitious project to transform the Commodore Hotel near Grand Central Terminal into the Grand Hyatt.
As noted on the Trump Organization's website , the former president was granted an "unprecedented contract" from the city: a 40-year tax abatement for the building.
The New York Times reported in 2016 that the historic deal had cost New York City $360 million in forgiven or uncollected taxes.
Did Trump rewrite his father's will?Before Fred Trump died at the age of 93 in 1999 , Trump had reportedly sought to rewrite his father's will to strengthen his position as the sole executor of his father's estate.
Citing depositions and other documents, The New York Times reported in 2018 that Fred Trump saw the move as an attempt to go behind his back and decided to remove his son from having sole control of the estate.
In a scene in "The Apprentice," Trump can be seen badgering his aging father to sign a document related to the inheritance of his estate at his parent's home.
Did Trump rape Ivana?Trump met Czech model Ivana Zelníčková in New York in 1976. The two married the following year and would welcome three children: Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric.
The movie depicts their initial courtship, wedding, and the events that led to the breakdown of their relationship before their eventual divorce in the early '90s.
One of the most controversial scenes in the film shows Trump violenting throwing Ivana to the ground and sexually assaulting her.
Ivana, who died in 2022, said in a 1990 divorce deposition that Trump had raped her.
However, she later disavowed the claim when it was published in Harry Hurt III's 1993 book, "The Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump."
In 2015, she released a statement about the alleged incident, saying: "I have recently read some comments attributed to me from nearly 30 years ago at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald," per ABC News .
"The story is totally without merit. Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised 3 children that we love and are very proud of," she added.
Did Trump take amphetamines?Trump has long said that he abstains from drugs and alcohol, but the film shows him taking amphetamines.
Journalist Gabriel Sherman, who wrote the script for "The Apprentice," told Vanity Fair : "There's been other reporting over the years that Trump, in the '80s, took these pills that essentially are amphetamines, and they kind of give you manic energy."
In "The Lost Tycoon," Hurt also reportedly wrote that Trump took unnamed pills that "made the already frenetic Manhattan mogul a holy terror both at home and at the office."
Trump denied the claims in Hurt's book at the time, Vanity Fair reported.
Did Cohn negotiate Trump's premarital agreement with Ivana?In the film, Ivana is shown looking over a pre-marital agreement and finding an issue with a clause about having to return gifts that Trump got her if they ever divorced. She throws her engagement ring toward Trump and Cohn and storms out.
Sherman has said that this scene is "almost verbatim" of what really happened ahead of the couple's wedding.
He told Vanity Fair: "Roy insisted on doing Donald's prenup. It was a few days before the wedding, and it almost blew up the wedding."
"She was so furious about Roy's prenup that Ivana insisted on Donald giving her money as a signing bonus," he added.
Trump confirmed to The Washington Post in 2016 that Cohn represented him with regard to the agreement.
Did Cohn died of AIDS-related complications?The film shows Cohn getting increasingly weaker as he suffers from AIDS.
Cohn died of complications from AIDS in 1986. He publicly insisted up until his final days that he had liver cancer.
Did Trump get liposuction and scalp reduction surgery?The end of "The Apprentice" shows Trump receiving liposuction to remove fat from his stomach and scalp reduction surgery to hide a bald spot on his head — a treatment that involves moving skin from a part of the scalp with hair and using it to cover bald areas.
The hair procedure was another claim put forward by Ivana in the couple's divorce deposition, per Vanity Fair .
Ivana reportedly said the operation was carried out by her own doctor, Dr. Steven Hoefflin. She also said that Trump underwent liposuction performed by Hoefflin.
As for his choice of making this the final sequence, Sherman told Vanity Fair : "It's really the final stage of making the monster that Roy Cohn created."
"So visually, seeing him being operated on, it's like Darth Vader getting his mask," he added.
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