Atlantic City attack

Trump pre-buts Clinton's Atlantic City attack

By Nick Gass

Ahead of Hillary Clinton's speech in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Wednesday seeking to tie Donald Trump and his business practices to the economic downturn in the seaside town, the presumptive Republican nominee pointed his finger across the aisle.

"I made a lot of money in Atlantic City and left 7 years ago, great timing (as all know). Pols made big mistakes, now many bankruptcies," Trump tweeted, in reference to his resignation from the board of Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts in 2009, now known as Trump Entertainment Resorts.

The business is in Trump's name only, and is owned by Trump backer and investor Carl Icahn.

"Hillary Clinton should ask why the Democrat pols in Atlantic City made all the wrong moves - Convention Center, Airport - and destroyed City," Trump wrote in a subsequent tweet.

Clinton's campaign announced her appearance last Friday, touting it as an opportunity for the former secretary of state to take Trump to task over his boasts of superior business acumen. In a video released Wednesday morning ahead of her noontime speech, the Clinton campaign laid out its case, making note of the businessman's multiple bankruptcies for his hotels and casinos, unsatisfied contractors, as well as the hundreds of people who lost their jobs as a result. "In Trump's Atlantic City gamble, small businesses lost," on-screen text reads at one point, going on to say the same for vendors, local builders and casino workers.

"And Donald Trump stacked the deck for himself," the following text reads, before sharing an excerpt from a New York Times story that ran last month detailing Trump's business practices in the New Jersey city, headlined "How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions."

The video ends with a clip of the first Republican debate, as Fox News' Chris Wallace asks Trump, "With that record, why should we trust you to run the nation's business?"

"Atlantic City proves we shouldn't," the final title screen reads.

The specific question from Wallace was in reference to his businesses' multiple bankruptcies. Trump explained at the time: "Because I have used the laws of this country just like the greatest people that you read about every day in business have used the laws of this country, the chapter laws, to do a great job for my company, for myself, for my employees, for my family, et cetera."

"Out of hundreds of deals that I’ve done, hundreds, on four occasions I’ve taken advantage of the laws of this country, like other people. I’m not going to name their names because I’m not going to embarrass, but virtually every person that you read about on the front page of the business sections, they’ve used the law," Trump said last August. "The difference is, when somebody else uses those laws, nobody writes about it. When I use it, they say, 'Trump, Trump, Trump.' The fact is, I built a net worth of more than $10 billion. I have a great, great company. I employ thousands of people. And I’m very proud of the job I did."