Donald Trump

Donald Trump — 45th and 47th President of the United States.

Herbert is connected to Trump through Doug Eaton, who had a direct face-to-face encounter with Trump in the mid-1980s. Doug was retained by an electrical contractor as trial counsel in a lawsuit against Trump over unpaid progress payments on Trump Tower. Trump had refused to pay his change orders and counter-claimed the contractors' work was defective.

Trump scheduled a meeting to discuss settlement — and then, once the parties were assembled, demanded that the two lawyers leave the room while he spoke to the clients alone. After 15 minutes, the clients emerged. Trump had promised them consideration for all future projects if they dropped their suits immediately, and had threatened to blacklist them permanently if they refused. They withdrew their lawsuits.

Doug was in the room for about 15 minutes before being sent out. That was enough.

Cross-Connections

• Rudy Giuliani — Doug and Rudy were colleagues in the U.S. Attorney's Office at the same time Trump was building his Manhattan empire