N.Y.-to-D.C. shuttle fiasco sheds light on what a Trump presidency may be

In 1988, as general counsel of Continental Airlines, I was part of the team that sold the Eastern Airlines shuttle to Donald Trump. The transaction shed light on the kind of president Trump would be.

In 1988, Texas Air Corp., which owned both Eastern and Continental, approached Trump with a proposal to buy the Eastern Shuttle. Sensing that Trump was emotionally driven to acquire high-profile New York assets, Texas Air priced the shuttle at $400 million, twice what it was worth.

When Trump came back with a $300 million counter offer, I advised Eastern’s general counsel, Barry Simon, who was leading the negotation, to take it quickly, before Trump did the analysis that would show he was still overpaying by $100 million.

http://www.startribune.com/n-y-to-d-c-shuttle-fiasco-sheds-light-on-what-a-trump-presidency-may-be/397836001/