in hours of previously unpublished interviews with his biographer, michael d<u+2019>antonio, donald j. trump covered a wide range of topics , from his marriages to his views on women in the military. below are excerpts from those conversations, which occurred in 2014. on women in the military: well, i went to a military academy, which was from a different planet. ... we didn<u+2019>t have women in the academy at that time. today you have women, which is a whole other story, women in the army and you see what<u+2019>s going on. it<u+2019>s like <u+2014> it<u+2019>s like bedlam. it is bedlam. ... it<u+2019>s something that people aren<u+2019>t talking about, but what<u+2019>s going on is bedlam, bringing women in the army. on a female employee: lily, she<u+2019>s the general manager [at trump turnberry, a resort and golf course in scotland]. she<u+2019>s also beautiful. she<u+2019>s been there for years. she started as a cocktail waitress. ... we made her the ma<u+00ee>tre d<u+2019>, we then made her the head of the restaurant and then made her the manager. i said, <u+201c>you know, i have a problem. i have a woman who<u+2019>s smarter than my managers.<u+201d> on why most politicians fail: they don<u+2019>t know how to speak properly. they don<u+2019>t know how to talk. they don<u+2019>t know how to sell. to be a good politician you have to be a salesman, o.k.? i<u+2019>ve known every politician. i know <u+2019>em all. many of them are friends of mine. many of the enemies that you see on television talking about me are friends of mine <u+2014> you understand that. guys that you would never believe, but they<u+2019>re friends of mine. i know <u+2019>em all. to be a great politician, you have to be a great salesman. on the genetic component of success: you gotta make the putts. in life you gotta make the putts, but a lot of it is genetic. i<u+2019>m not sure if you can teach people this. on his wives: well, it<u+2019>s very hard for somebody to be married to me. now look, they have compensating balances. this isn<u+2019>t so bad, right? [points to apartment inside trump tower.] but it<u+2019>s very hard, because i<u+2019>m very business oriented. and work, and enjoy myself, but for long hours. and i remember years ago i watched an interview with john paul getty, when he was the hot guy. and he said, somebody asked him <u+2014> he was married many, many times, and he was a very difficult man <u+2014> and he said it was very unfair for my wives because they have to compete with my business, and he said it<u+2019>s very hard for them to compete with my business. it was an interesting statement. on whether bill clinton is an honest golfer: i<u+2019>ll tell you, he doesn<u+2019>t cheat on the golf course. what he does is very honest, actually. he<u+2019>ll say, <u+201c>can i hit another ball?<u+201d> we<u+2019>re not playing for money. so he wants to hit because he doesn<u+2019>t get out very often. ... but that<u+2019>s not cheating. he just wants to have some fun playing golf. so he<u+2019>ll hit a few balls and we<u+2019>ll walk to the green and there<u+2019>ll be a few balls. that<u+2019>s not cheating though, to me. because i<u+2019>ve heard that about him. i<u+2019>ve heard that. on the downside of his candor: i think my honesty gets me in trouble. i think that i<u+2019>m so honest that it gets me in trouble. ... i<u+2019>m a very smart person. i could give an answer that<u+2019>s perfect and everything<u+2019>s fine and nobody would care about it, nobody would write about it, and it would be fine. or i could give an honest answer, which becomes a big story. on a reporter<u+2019>s use of a tape recorder: do you have a tape recorder? i don<u+2019>t mean that negatively. i mean that positively because i<u+2019>m sitting here, like i<u+2019>m talking fast. ... i<u+2019>d like to be quoted accurately as opposed to somebody that says they<u+2019>re taking shorthand. diantha parker contributed reporting. find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via facebook , twitter and the first draft newsletter .
women, the military and bill clinton: donald trump on tape
michael barbaro maggie haberman