Watch this never-before-seen trailer that Donald Trump tried to hide from the public

25 years ago, a doc showed Trump in an unfavorable light. He asked that it be taken down immediately

Published July 31, 2015 8:29PM (EDT)

Donald Trump  (AP/Stephen B. Morton)
Donald Trump (AP/Stephen B. Morton)

It's been nearly a quarter of a century since real estate developer and bestselling author Leonard Stern set out to create a documentary about Donald Trump. It was the first in a series of documentaries about celebrity businessmen. Little did Stern know that he'd picked the wrong subject and all his hard work would never see the light of day.

As the story goes: The Donald was furious after viewing the documentary. In it, he was revealed to be "the opposite of a small-government conservative" and someone who'd made money "on the backs of taxpayers." So, he fired back.

As the public has recently been made well aware of, Trump loves to sue people. And that's precisely what he did.  "Trump went after Leonard Stern --- in a big way. Lawyer's letters. Threats of lawsuits. Personal attacks," Jesse Kornbluth writes in Huffington Post.

"I was called in to write the piece after the filmmakers shot the footage," Kornbluth continues. "It was easy work, because they had remarkable stuff: Donald working with the mob in Atlantic City, intimidating tenants, hiring illegal immigrant labor, verbally assaulting his family and underlings, trying to move a Florida airport because jets flew directly over his home... the list goes on and on."

As the GOP frontrunner gains visibility today, there's been a lot of archive-digging going on -- including, of course, accounts from ex-wife Ivana Trump. Today, it's a trailer for the Stern-fronted documentary that Trump never intended for anyone to ever see.

Watch the trailer below:


By Colin Gorenstein

Colin Gorenstein is Salon's assistant editor of internet and viral content. Follow @colingorenstein or email cgorenstein@salon.com.

MORE FROM Colin Gorenstein


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Donald Trump Video