NEWS ANNOUNCER: The Trumps are good copy,
and the gossip columnists are in for a field day.
NARRATOR: In 1991, when Donald Trump's personal life
was headline news...
NEWS ANNOUNCER: A high octane mix
of the stuff that sells newspapers.
NARRATOR: ...he did a phone interview with People magazine
under the name "John Miller."
MAN: It's an artifact of the time
in that he never disguised his voice.
It's clearly Donald Trump when you listen to the recordings.
FISHER: This was his way
of pulling himself out of himself
and touting himself to reporters in a way
that even Donald Trump with all his unbridled ego
couldn't bring himself to do.
FISHER: When we confronted Donald Trump with this,
he didn't exactly deny it.
He now is at a point where he is sort of sheepishly saying,
"Well, some people say that."
NARRATOR: It wasn't the first time
Trump had used a pseudonym.
It happened in 1980.
Donald Trump was looking to make his mark
in Manhattan real estate.
WOMAN: And Donald came upon this site
which had the Bonwit Teller building on it.
It was kind of a landmark building.
It was next door to Tiffany's.
He loved it.
NARRATOR: It was to be called Trump Tower,
58 stories of high-end retail and high-priced condominiums.
But before he could begin construction,
Trump had vowed to preserve two valuable sculptures.
And these were absolutely beautiful Art Deco sculptures
that had been promised to the Metropolitan Museum.
MAN: It was delaying Trump's construction,
so he brings in a gang of workers
to just break the stuff up.
And boom-- dust.
Gone forever.
NARRATOR: The press was all over him.
FISHER: Trump suffers a major hit
in his reputation in New York
because people see this as an act of vandalism.
BRENNER: And everyone came down on his head.
He was in a lot of trouble in the city.
He was in the headlines every day.
NARRATOR: Donald Trump went underground.
READER: Repeated efforts over the last three days
to reach Mr. Trump have been unavailing.
NARRATOR: But the press would hear from John Baron.
READER: John Baron,
a vice president of the Trump Organization,
said three independent appraisals of the sculptures
had found them to be "without artistic merit."
MAN: There was a Trump spokesman,
John Baron, who called the press
and explained why these things couldn't be preserved.
READER: John Baron said, "The merit of these stones
was not great enough to justify the effort to save them."
D'ANTONIO: And it was
his first employment of this fake persona.
NARRATOR: Trump had learned the tactic
from his father, Fred Trump,
who sometimes used the name "Mr. Green."
WOMAN: He was Mr. Green, Fred was, when he called up,
and asked questions.
He said, "This is Mr. Green."
And Donald was later
John Baron.
WOMAN: I don't think Donald was necessarily evasive
with the press when he used his alter ego
"John Baron."
I think it gave him the opportunity to say things
that he couldn't say as Donald Trump.
NARRATOR: John Baron helped take the heat off Trump.
The media moved on,
and Trump Tower became his most iconic property.
FISHER: He saw this as a crowning achievement,
and he was willing to take the PR hit because ultimately,
Trump Tower would be this great monument to himself.
NARRATOR: For Donald Trump, the experience would shape
his dealings with the news media for decades to come.
SUNSHINE: He doesn't care.
He simply doesn't care.
He simply thinks that bad publicity is good publicity
and it's certainly better than no publicity at all.
MAN: The clear lesson that Trump took away from all of this was
the worst publicity in the world
can end up being good publicity, meaning,
"Yeah, people said terrible things about me,
but they sure know who I am."
And a month later or three months later,
they don't remember what it was they didn't like about you;
they just remember they know your name.