Trump’s tall tales

PRESIDENT Trump — while berating his top generals about “losing” the war in Afghanistan — told a story about the renovation of the ‘21’ Club that was completely wrong in every detail, both the former owner and the former CEO of the restaurant told me.

Marshall Cogan, who owned ‘21’ from 1985 to 1995, told me, “I have no idea what was in his head. I never have.”

Ken Aretsky, the restaurant’s CEO from 1986 to 1995, said, “Once again, Trump exaggerated another story.”

NBC News reported that Trump told his national-security advisers that ‘21’ had shut its doors for a year and hired an expensive consultant to plan the renovation.

“The clear message . . . was: High-priced consultants, or high-priced anybody, expen- sive, supposedly big-brained people, but who are physically far from the source of the problem, often give you much worse advice,” an unnamed official said.

But Aretsky told me there was no consultant and the renovation in 1987 took less than six months.

“I signed all the checks. We didn’t make any mistakes. The kitchens were 60 years old. We put in all new equipment and ductwork.”

Cogan said, “There was no consultant. We had [architectural firm] Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.”

He added, “I think [Trump] has a psychological problem that only a therapist can define for you. I can’t.”