Washington Post - 1991 People Magazine Phone Recording With "John Miller" lyrics

MILLER: Who are you? CARSWELL: Good, how are you.. what's your name again? MILLER: John Miller. CARSWELL: And you work with Donald Trump? MILLER: Yes, that's correct. CARSWELL: John Miller. Can you sort of, I guess we're going to try and put a story together and we have a deadline today, because our magazine closed, well, basically yesterday but we'll probably get something together for [sic] the cover both here and the Post. MILLER: Yeah, I saw that. CARSWELL: What kind of comment is coming from, you know, your agency or from Donald? MILLER: Uh, well, it's just that he really decided that he wasn't, you know, he didn't want to make any commitment. He didn't want to make a commitment. He really thought it was too soon. He's coming out of a, you know, a marriage, and he's starting to do tremendously well financially. As you saw, he got his licenses five to nothing the other day and totally unanimous. And he's really been working hard and doing well. And probably, as you know, there's a real estate depression in the United States, and he's probably doing as well as anybody there is. And frankly, he wants to keep it that way. And he just thought it was too soon to make any commitment to anybody. CARSWELL: So what is going to happen when–is she being asked to leave or is she going to be allowed to stay? MILLER: Well, she–he treats everybody well. You don't know him, but he's a— CARSWELL: No, I have met him. MILLER: Have you met him? He's a good guy and he's not going to hurt anybody. I mean, the one article said he was going to throw her out of the apartment is total nonsense. Uh, he's uh, he is.. uh, going to always treat her well as treated his wife well. I mean, he paid his wife a great deal of money. He did in a very bad period of time and, ultimately, that was settled. There was those that say that, that was even put that way. I don't know if you heard that but that Trump became poor until he got his divorce. And then all of the sudden, he's been doing very well.. and I guess you probably heard that, too. But he treated his wife well and he treated–and he will treat Marla well. Well, he.. he's somebody that has a lot of options, and frankly, he gets called by everybody. He gets called by everybody in the book, in terms of women. And uh... CARSWELL: Like who? MILLER: Well, he gets called by a lot of people. And.. CARSWELL: Yeah. MILLER: And... CARSWELL: Well, what about–I mean, this Carli Bruni. How important is he right now? MILLER: Well, I think it's somebody that–you know, she's beautiful. I saw her once quickly and she's beautiful and all, but I think that he's got a whole open field really, and, uh.. you know, a lot of the people you right about, and you people do a great job, by the way, but a lot of the people you write about really are–I mean, they call. They just call. Actresses, people that you write about just call to see if they can go out with him and things. CARSWELL: He can't say, like, "did Madonna ever really call?" MILLER: That would, that.. he was so set up with that. You know, Madonna called.. and what happened–I mean, I don't know if you want to listen to this. Do you? Do you have a second? CARSWELL: Yeah, obviously. MILLER: Uh.. what happened is it was a benefit at the Plaza Hotel, which he owned for Vreeland, Diana Vreeland. And, oh no, for Martha Graham. And it was a, you know, a ball benefit for Martha actually just before she pa**ed away. And, Madonna was there and she cam in a beautiful evening gown and combat boots, She was wearing combat boots. And Trump was asked to go over and meet there. He was there just for a while to say hello and make a speech, and make it like an introductory speech. Madonna was in the room, and so somebody from Madonna's entourage, because she comes in with an entourage of dancers and everything else, somebody from Madonn—Madonna's entourage came over and said, "Would you.. go over and say hello to, Madonna?" And so he went over and said hello to Madonna and, he got, he gave his autograph to the dancers. She said, "These are fans," and all this. "Will you give them the autograph?" So he said "Best wishes" or something, he said. Uh.. and then all of a sudden–and that was the end. And then he said goodbye to her and that was literally the end. He's got zero interest in Madonn—It was, literally the end. And the next day in the newspapers, they had a story that he wanted to out with her and everything else. Besides that, that she was sitting there with her boyfriend. I think his name was Ward or something–and she was sitting there right with her boyfriend. CARSWELL: Yeah, Tony Ward. MILLER: So, I mean, it wouldn't be appropriate. Then the next day, there was a story, that Trump went to [sic] and Madonna was supposedly at [sic], and that was another total nonsense story. So, somehow, there was a thing. And then she called recently about this flight and wanted to go out, and.. You know, she's got this PR machine that I guess you people play to very well, but it's, uh, it really was nonsense. So, anyway. CARSWELL: But I don't think we ever reported that about Madonna and Donald. MILLER: Well, she called and wanted to go out with him, that I can tell you. And one of the other people that you're writing about–by, by the way, I'm sort of new here. And I'm– CARSWELL: What is your position there? MILLER: Well, I'm sort of handling PR because he gets so much of it. CARSWELL: Yeah. MILLER: And frankly, I mean, I could tell you of the record. Until I get to know you, and talk a little bit off the record, I can tell you that he didn't care if he got bad PR until he got his divorce finished. So when he got a lot of bad financial stuff, he liked it, because, you know, it was good, because he could get a divorce finished. Once his divorce is finished, if you noticed since then.. he's doing.. well financially, and he's doing well in every other way. The licensing was five to nothing. And people are saying "How come all of a sudden he's doing so well?" And then I guess Newsday about two weeks ago did a story on that. So I've sort of been put in here to handle, because I've never seen anybody get so many calls from the press. CARSWLL: Where did you come from? MILLER: I was, I was, I basically worked for different firms. I worked for a couple of different firms, and I'm somebody that he knows, and I think somebody that trusts and likes. So I'm going to do this a little part-time, and then, go on with my life, too. CARSWELL: Is he trying to–I mean, is Marla trying to reconcile all this or is this– MILLER: Marla wants to be back with him, and he wants to be with her, but he just, he just feels it's too soon. CARSWELL: What about the ring? MILLER: Well, it was never an engagement ring, because that was my first question. It was never an engagement ring. It was a ring–I mean, he wouldn't buy the engagement ring. A-actually, he bought the ring at the Taj Mahal at Tiffany's. He.. the only place that Tiffany's has that's in a hotel is because of his relationship with Tiffany being the neighbor next door to Trump Tower, and many decided to open up a store at the Taj Mahaj. And this was a way of giving Tiffany some business in addition to getting Ivan–getting Maria something that would—that would be nice. So he did that, and as I told him and other people told him, when you want to buy a present, don't make it a ring the next time. By the way, it was a little confusing. CARSWELL: Make it a chain. MILLER: Make it anything. Anything but a ring, I guess. CARSWELL: Do you, do you think there's any fear that Marla will spill everything at all or–? MILLER: It doesn't matter to him. He truly doesn't care. I've never seen somebody that's so immune, that he gets immune to, you know, some people would say he got bad press three or four months ago. Now, he's starting to get good press where–I mean, I don't know what you call this, but this is a big press. But, I've never seen somebody so immune to–he actually thrived on the bad press initially. And once the divorce was over, he said, "We have to change this," and it's very interesting. Frankly, if he got good press during the divorce, he'd be in court right now, because she settled because she thought that, she better believe the press and she settled. And now, he's doing great and now she would like not to settle. Ivana, when she didn't settle, she felt she made a huge mistake, and she's now had a huge fight with her lawyer. Michael Kennedy, over why they made the settlement. And it's over. He sort of laughs at everything. CARSWELL: How does Donald feel about Ivana's [sic] with Barbara Walters? MILLER: Well, he– he– it was a total violation of– I mean, I could tell you– CARSWELL: Yeah. But then, that was– I mean, did the judge– Phyllis What's-Her-Name? MILLER: Gangel-Jacob, yeah, but that's going to be– the judge felt that when Donald got Ivana to sign that agreement.–that Donald got Ivana to void her rights, and that the judge was wrong, because there's so much case law on that. And what happened is the just said–by the way, she can take that clause out. She just said she's not going to hear Ivana in contempt. In other words, if somebody–if she violates then she's not going to put Ivana in jail for violating. Okay? So she didn't void that clause. Now, Donald's got a decision as to whether or not he wants to pay her any more money, because by violating that clause, he-he in theory, doesn't have to pay her any money. CARSWELL: Being the good guy that he's trying to be, I mean– MILLER: I think he–I'm not sure what he's going to do. Again, you could say that she shouldn't have done that either. I mean, you sign an agreement, you go through months and months, so she can't say she didn't know this one. And what he did was smart, because he got, not only Ivana to sign the agreement–but he got Ivana's lawyers to sign the agreement that she'd do it, that she peaks English perfectly, that everything in the agreement is known and studied and everything else. So, in theory, I think he could probably–you know, I think that could have cost her many millions of dollars. I don't know that he's going to enforce it or not. CARSWELL: What about this whole thing that was brought up in the news whether Marla wouldn't sign any sort of prenuptial? And what was.. did that have anything to do with the ending of the relationship? MILLER: No, no. CARSWELL: Was that true? I mean, was he trying to get her to sign anything? MILLER: well, I can tell you this. Just off the record, there's no way he gets married without a prenuptial agreement. You understand that. It was.. it was, painful but worked in the Ivana case. Because.. you know, while it was, you know, challenged, it still ended up being upheld and worked. And frankly, she got not exactly one penny,s he didn't get one penny more than what the agreement called for. You know, so that's that. And she spend a lot of money on lawyer and a lot of money on everything and that was the year of the circus, but if–they do stand up. I can tell you there was never any talk of marriage of.. from Donald's point of view. I-I can also say that Marla would've liked to get married, obviously, but it was just something he didn't want to do. It's just too soon. And he, you know, hopefully, he'll maintain a good relationship with Marla. [Sic] but it's just too soon. CARSWELL: What about this Ivana thing? It says in the Newsday, Trump also told friends that when he and Ivana met last week, she indicated that she would be interested tin a reconciliation? MILLER: Ivana wants to get back with Donald, but she– CARSWELL: After saying on Barbara Walters that she never would? MILLER: What's she going to say, what is she going to say? She's going to say when he's with somebody else and had other people lined up, is she going to say, "Yes, I want to get back, I want to get back." You know, she's a pretty savvy woman and she's not going to say–I mean, he's living with Marla and he's got three other girlfriends and she's not going to say, I really want to get back, you know? She wants to get back. She's told it to a lot of her friends, and she's told it to him, but, uh.. it's so highly unlikely. That's off the record. He left, I mean, it was his choice to leave, and he left. CARSWELL: He left for Marla. MILLER: No, he didn't leave, no. See, that's the biggest misconception of this whole thing. And this is, the second question I asked about after the ring was.. the biggest misconception is he left– he didn't leave for Marla. He really left for himself. He didn't leave for Marla. He never for Marla. He was going to leave anyway. Marla was there, but he was going to leave anyway. Whether three was a Marla or not, he was going to leave anyway. So now he has, somebody else named Carla who is beautiful and I guess you have something on her. I don't know if you do not. CARSWELL: No, they won't talk about her. He didn't say anything about her. I mean, she's a daughter of.. who? MILLER: Uh.. uh.. well, she's a very successful, et cetera, et cetera. But again, he didn't leave Marla for her. He just wants–he does things for himself. He leaves himself, he does things for himself. He.. what–when he makes the decision, that will be a very lucky woman. But he's not going to do that until he makes the decision. You know, when he makes the decision, he's very capable of a, total commitment when he makes the decision. But he felt it's too soon, Off the record, he probably felt Marla wasn't the right one, or whatever, but he just felt that it was too soon. CARSWELL: How did he meet Carla? MILLER: Uh, at the Plaza Hotel, she was doing a, uh, Carolina Herrera fashion show. CARSWELL: Was Ivana there, do you think? MILLER: Uh... CARSWELL: Does she go to fashion shows? MILLER: Well, she goes to them, but less so since, uh, you know–since– CARSWELL: When did he meet Carla there? MILLER: Probably a few months ago. CARSWELL: Uh-huh. Have they been able to see each other with–? MILLER: Well, not really. And again, I heard Carla–I mean, I'll give you–this is getting to be–this is a little different from what I normally discuss. This is, I think an interesting point. Carla is a very beautiful girl from Italy, whose father is one of the wealthiest men in Europe. CARSWELL: Who is her–what's the name of her father? MILLER: Well , her father's name is–her name is Carla Bruni Tedeschi. CARSWELL: How do you spell that? MILLER: I don't know. Tedeschi. She doesn't use the last name because it's too complicated, you know [sic]. But anyway, her father is one of the wealthiest men in Europe. Carla is, uh.. extraordinarily beautiful and didn't want to be a model, except that every time she'd go to a show [sic] to look, people–Ralph Lauren and various people would say, "Carla, you have to be on the show," et cetera, et cetera. So she does all of the top shows, and she's always very busy and very successful, et cetera, et cetera. She saw having a big thing with Mick Jagger. Did you hear about this? CARSWELL: Well, I've just been reading about it. MILLER: What happened is she was going with Eric Clapton. CARSWELL: Mick Jagger, who was married at that point? MILLER: Mick Jagger, as of three months ago she was having a big thing. What she–just doesn't want to be in the limelight. What she–and she was having a big thing with Mick Jagger. And then what happened, she was going with Eric Clapton, and Eric Clapton introduced her to Mick Jagger. And then Mick Jagger started calling her, and she ended up going with Mick Jagger. And then she dropped Mick Jagger for Donald, and that's where it is right now. And again, he's not making any commitments to Carla either just so you understand. CARSWELL: What kind of things have they done? I mean, do they go out? At-who? MILLER: Well, they just get along very good, and she's a very pretty and all of that stuff. But, but, you know, he doesn't have any idea who she is, right? When he meets the right woman, it's going to be a great relationship and it's going to be a very, you know, because he believes strongly in the marriage concept. In all fairness, he was married for twelve years. And he was happily married for twelve-for how many of those years, I guess. And, and he believes in it, especially in this society today, I can tell you. But he believes in it. CARSWELL: Where is he living now? I mean is he– MILLER: He lives in Trump Tower. He has the apartment at the top of Trump Tower. CARSWELL: Okay. And Ivana also has an apartment at Trump Tower? MILLER: She has an apartment at Trump Tower, but the court order is that she has to leave within a period of less than a year. CARSWELL: Right. Okay. Listen, can I– Audio is abruptly cut off.