Trump Lied About What He Paid For Melania's Engagement Ring

[Judi Lynn]

FEB 8, 2018 @ 08:00 AM
Susan Adams

When Donald Trump told the The New York Times in 2005 that Graff Diamonds gave him a $1 million discount on Melania Knauss’ engagement ring, the future president of the United States was not telling the truth, Forbes has learned.

Graff Diamonds’ billionaire chairman Laurence Graff said in a January 26 email sent from his home in Gstaad, Switzerland, that Trump was “a pleasure to do business with” but that he was given “no favours” when he bought the ring, which sports an emerald cut D-flawless diamond weighing more than 10 carats.

“We don’t sell items for publicity value,” said Graff CFO Nicholas Paine. Publicity value was what Graff was seeking with the purported discount to Trump, wrote the Times, quoting Trump as saying, proudly, "Only a fool would say, 'No thank you, I want to pay a million dollars more for a diamond.’” The ring retailed for $1.5 million, according to the Times. Graff and Paine declined to specify a price.

A third source, with direct knowledge of the transaction, said Trump lied to the Times. “He paid for [the ring] in full, and he paid immediately,” said this person.

More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2018/02/08/trump-lied-about-what-he-paid-for-melanias-engagement-ring/#308c67dc371a

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. "The future president of the United States was not telling the truth."

And the sun rose in the east this morning. Also, the Pope is Catholic and bears shit in the woods.

[pandr32]

3. Exactly. No surprise at all.

He just can't seem to help himself. Not someone suited for high office--not even low office. He is nothing more than a shameless huckster.

[spooky3]

2. Im shocked that he paid.

All those contractors he stiffed would have liked to have seen some of that money.

[FSogol]

4. "He paid for [the ring] in full, & he paid immediately because we don't extend credit to the liar."

[redstatebluegirl]

5. I am surprised it didn't turn her finger green.

[Orsino]

6. Motherfucker didn't even pick it up himself. n/t

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. The New York Times article:

At Celebrity Nuptials to Die for, Vendors Give Themselves Away

By ALEX WILLIAMS and ERIC DASH JAN. 13, 2005

It seems only fitting that Donald J. Trump, a man eager to affix his name to every conceivable monument, has become a monument to whom others desperately hope to affix theirs. On Jan. 22, Mr. Trump is to marry Melania Knauss, a fashion model, and jewelers, florists, chefs and caterers are angling to get a piece of the nuptial action, even if it means cutting into their profits.

Graff, the diamond sellers, made national news by chipping in a 15-carat, $1.5 million engagement ring. (It was not free, as reported, but half that price.) ... "Only a fool would say, 'No thank you, I want to pay a million dollars more for a diamond,"' Mr. Trump said proudly.

Thus began the land rush among vendors to cash in on the Trump name, just as Mr. Trump always has. "Literally anything you can imagine from photos to flowers to food to jets to airports to diamonds," Mr. Trump explained. "And for every item, there's five people who want to do it. In all cases they don't want anything, but they want recognition."

There was a time when the words "wedding" and "commerce" were not inextricably linked, but at least for lovebirds nesting in the upper branches of the socioeconomic tree, that time is apparently over.

[TheBlackAdder]

8. Melania, I have both a gemstone and diamond tester. Perhaps you want to make sure it's legit.

[nadine_mn]

9. Like fake cuff links he gave to Charlie Sheen

Whatever your thoughts on Charlie Sheen, his story about Trump giving him his cufflinks as a wedding present .. a wedding he wasn't invited to...that turned out to be cheap cubic zirconia..is one of my favorite Trump is a big fat liar stories.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. Wow! I didn't hear of that one. He's such a tool.

[nadine_mn]

12. Sheen told the story on Graham Norton

It is just so vintage Trump

[unitedwethrive]

11. Wait...Trump lies?

[imanamerican63]

13. What!

He did not go to Jared's

[onenote]

14. Because there is nothing a woman wants to hear more than that her ring was bought on sale.

[Vinca]

15. If Trump gave me a ring I'd check to make sure it wasn't cubic zirconia.