Trump’s towering skyscraper sees support, doubts from visitors, staff Trump aide lobbied for group that was front for Pak ISI
Midtown Manhattan, his fate as a candidate takes backstage to continuing curiosity about the man.
The building – partly accessible to public, the lobby, atrium and parts of the underground – has witnessed a rising tide of visitors since Trump jumped into the race.
They come to see him and find out more about the man who has the world talking about him. The building serves as a useful proxy occasionally, as it did to engage Ian Simpson.
An IT professional from England who is holidaying in New York with his wife, Simpson came to Trump Tower completely out of curiosity – “to know the man a little”.
And he was impressed by what he saw. “He is a definitely a clever man, a very smart man,” Simpson said, pointing to a hard-to-miss gently cascading waterfall in the atrium.
Can he now after this visit, as a Brit, see his country dealing with Trump in the White House? “Yes, sure, if we can deal with Putin (Russian president Vladimir Putin), why not?”
UK politicians nearly banned Trump from visiting their country earlier this year for his remarks about disallowing Muslims from entering the US. But they backed off after calling him names.
The Republican frontrunner is a deeply divisive figure who is forcing his party to choose between him and riots on the streets if he was denied the nomination at the end of the primaries.
The California primaries are on June 7, the last stop in the nominating season.
But can he win the nomination? Can he win?
David Skellington, who has served as doorman at Trump Towers for eight years, is constantly fielding these questions, despite the fact he is several floors removed from those who can answer it.
But people just walk up wanting to know more about Trump. How often does he see him? Does he pay well? Does he treat him well? Can he win?
He is voting for him, Skellington tells them. NEW YORK: A top aide to Donald Trump had lobbied for a US-based outfit busted by authorities in 2011 for operating as a front for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, according to a Yahoo News report.
The aide, Paul Manafort, was part of the lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, which was paid $700,000 by the Kashmiri American Council (KAC) between 1990 and 1995.
The KAC was shut down by authorities in 2011 and the man who ran it, Ghulam Nabi Fai, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax fraud and was sentenced to two years in jail.
The KAC, which received money from the ISI through contacts in the US, lobbied the administration, lawmakers and opinion-makers for independence for Kashmir.
Neither Manafort nor Trump has responded to the report. HTC