The choice Trump made with Khadafy
Moammar Khadafy needed a place to stay. And I had just what he was looking for. In September 2009, the Libyan government contacted me about a stately Upper East Side townhouse that I was marketing for rent. Khadafy would soon make his first-ever visit to the U.S. and planned to speak at the UN General Assembly. This townhouse would be perfect for his stay; the Libyans were eager to secure it.
It was a tenuous time for U.S.-Libya relations. Shortly before he contacted me, Libyan Intelligence Officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi had been released from a Scottish prison on humanitarian grounds. He allegedly had weeks to live, although he would survive for three more years. Megrahi had been sentenced to life in jail for his role in the 1988 Pam Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.
Libya would later confess to culpability for the bombing, leaving little doubt that Khadafy himself was aware of the plot. Ultimately, Megrahi served about 11 days for each person killed in that terrorist attack. Khadafy’s private jet transported Megrahi back to Tripoli, where he received a hero’s welcome.
At the time of his release, the real estate market was reeling. The Libyans were prepared to pay me an exorbitant fee for the house.
I wasn’t going to take the money; I proposed something else instead. There would be no cost to rent the townhouse and I would waive my fee, I explained to the Libyans. I had just one condition: I requested they send Megrahi back to Scotland to serve out his sentence. I wanted Khadafy’s agents to know that the price of admission for luxury housing in America was out of reach for state sponsors of terrorism.
But the Libyans had another move to make. They knew there was one man who could be had, who couldn’t resist enrichment.
Donald Trump agreed to lease his Westchester County estate for Khadafy’s personal use. This was just one piece in a courtship that also involved, according to a report in BuzzFeed, a golf outing with the Libyan ambassador and requests for a face-to-face meeting with Khadafy to explore other business ventures, including “the Mediterranean waterfront and construction.”
To me, Khadafy was responsible for the slaughter of 270 people. To Trump, he was a business opportunity. Trump delighted in doing this deal even if local officials put a halt to Khadafy’s stay before he arrived. During a recent appearance on “Face the Nation,” Trump boasted:
“I made a lot of money with Khadafy. If you remember, he came to the country and he had to make a deal with me because he needed a place to stay, and he paid me a fortune.”
The presumed GOP nominee for President revealed that he will holster his principles if it enhances his portfolio. In a time of such global uncertainly, could there be any worse trait to be harbored in the potential leader of the free world?
In Nov. 1800, John Adams became the first President to occupy the White House. He remarked in a letter to his wife, Abigail, “May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.” That was the core of Adams’ prayer for our new nation. Indeed, 30 years before he first entered the White House, Adams risked his professional and political career. He represented eight British soldiers who stood accused of murder in the Boston Massacre. Adams took the case — one that no other respected lawyer in Boston would dare touch — because it was the right thing to do. His law practice suffered. His national standing slid.
He never wavered. This is the timber it takes to be President of the United States.
Trump has built many roofs. But his willingness to profit from terror demonstrates he lacks the timber to reside under Adams’.
Rolling out the carpet for the Libyan dictator