Tim Kaine hit Donald Trump on Tuesday for the Republican nominee’s history of spreading out a welcome mat for dictators.
“When Gaddafi was looking for a place to stay in America, and no one else would take him in, he found the one guy who was willing to host him: Donald J. Trump,” Kaine said.
The incident he referred to happened in 2009, when Gaddafi came to New York City for a UN meeting. He’d wanted to set up a bedouin-style encampment in Central Park, as The Daily Beast reported, but didn’t get the requisite go-ahead for that. So instead, he rented the Trump Organization’s Seven Springs estate. Local leaders weren’t as welcoming as Trump, though, and they threatened to prosecute the mogul if he didn’t shutter the encampment. So Trump complied and Gaddafi never got to actually camp out on his turf.
Trump bragged about the incident later to Fox News.
“I dealt with Gaddafi,” he said in 2011. “I rented him a piece of land. He paid me more for one night than the land was worth for two years, and then I didn’t let him use the land.”