‘We dug in, we fought and won’ says Trump’s right-hand man

For Donald Trump, the decision to reject the golf resort proposal was made worse by the fact that his right-hand man George Sorial had suggested in a phone call a week earlier that victory would be a mere formality because the area committee had backed the plans.

That made for a very awkward conversation between developer Neil Hobday, Mr Sorial and the property tycoon – who would go on to become US president – when the application went south.

Mr Hobday said: “The news was pretty difficult to deliver to Trump.

“His reaction was not printable. You can imagine what he said.

“He was absolutely flabbergasted, shocked and dismayed and disappointed, and he expressed that.”

Mr Sorial said: “It was a difficult call. I knew once emotions subsided, I had no doubt the reaction was going to be ‘What do we need to do to win?’.

“Probably about 1am, I received a call from Mr Trump.

“He was very calm. He basically said ‘Look, forget about what happened today. Get a good night’s sleep, wake up tomorrow morning, and let’s fight. We don’t quit’.

“We dug in, we fought and we won.”