Donald Trump Was Pressured on Live TV to Reveal His Bank Balance in the ’80s: “Right Now You Have…”

Donald Trump made several lucrative business deals during the 80s and built a respective name for his brand. He co-authored the book Trump: The Art of the Deal detailing his business tactics and practical advice in 1987. The same year he sat down for an exclusive with David Letterman. During the interview, the well-known host pressed him to disclose his bank account details. The clip recently went viral on social media , “I read something this afternoon that said, in the bank, right now, you have $500 million in cash,” Letterman can be seen stating. “Is that fair?” he asks. “Which paper did you read that in?” Trump tries to dodge the question. “Well, I can’t divulge those sources,” the talk show host continues.

Their conversation continued to the point where Trump was in denial mode. “You have to give me the newspaper,” he said. “No, no, just tell me. Is that not true, or is that close? Am I nuts here?” Letterman quizzed the real estate magnate. “Well, I don’t know. I just, you have to tell me where you got that, David.” Letterman then asks, “You won’t put a figure? Just an imaginary figure?”  Trump refused to answer, “Never would.” Letterman then picks a guess, “A billion. You’re worth a billion dollars ?” “Perhaps,” Trump cleverly responded. “Are we the low side of perhaps or the high side of perhaps?” the seasoned host continued. But failed to evoke any kind of reaction from the business tycoon.

Letterman persisted in asking Trump about his companies, stock investments, and deals, but the future president evaded straightforward responses. “What’s the biggest bath you’ve taken on a deal?” he asked. “I don’t know if I can answer it yet. I mean, let’s see what happens. So far, I’ve been very fortunate, but I mean, we’ve all been fortunate. Markets have been going up, other than a few,” Trump answered. “Did you get hurt in the stock market?” Letterman inquired. To this, the business magnate replied, “Not particularly. But I think everybody gets hurt because, when you lose a trillion dollars or whatever throughout the world, I suspect everybody’s hurt indirectly.”

“I look better if I’m worth $10 billion than if I’m worth $4 billion,” Trump famously said while arguing about his ranking on the Forbes billionaires list. According to PBS News , despite claiming to have nearly half a billion dollars in cash, the Republican leader stated that he would prefer to use the funds for his presidential campaign rather than the $454 million civil fraud judgment against him in New York. He did not, however, substantiate his financial claim with any paperwork.

In February, a judge concluded that Trump had routinely misrepresented his wealth on financial statements he provided to banks and other parties to negotiate agreements and obtain loans. “Through hard work, talent, and luck, I currently have almost five hundred million dollars in cash, a substantial amount of which I intended to use in my campaign for president,” he attacked the judge on his Truth Social account. As per NBC News , the fraud judgment holds Trump accountable for $454 million, but the amount he owes has been growing daily by almost $111,000 due to interest. However, his assets were not seized on time because his legal team was able to secure a stay on the civil fraud judgment. Trump’s current net worth is estimated to be $6.32 billion.