In his first magazine cover interview and photo shoot as the leading Republican, the reality TV presidential candidate lets loose on Hillary's email scandal ("Watergate on steroids"), Bill Cosby ("Was he drunk?"), whether he'll go on Megyn Kelly's show, why he won't accept vice president, Melania as first lady, and if he even needs Fox News and the haters.
A version of story first appeared in the Aug. 28 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
I'm sitting in the reception area of Donald Trump's offices on the 26th floor of Trump Tower in New York when an assistant comes to fetch me: "Mr. Trump would like to see you," she says, as if I were a contestant on The Apprentice, the NBC reality series that brought the real estate mogul's bravado and business savvy to 20 million Americans each week at its peak. She leads me to a vast conference room where cameras click as Trump, 69, signs papers with another man. Standing at attention are two of his children, Ivanka, 33, andErik, 31, and about a dozen others. The scene has the pomp of historical significance one might associate with the Yalta Conference. Except this agreement being signed is for new Trump hotels in Asia in partnership with a gentleman who, Trump enthuses, is "the richest man" in his country (at press time, the deal was yet to be announced). Pens write with flourish, there is applause. Trump then calls me over: "Janice! You got to see this woman!" he says, motioning to a female dressed in a suit sitting next to the "richest man." It's never explained to me whether she is his wife or colleague. I don't know if she understands what is being said. "Isn't she beautiful? Beautiful!" he continues as she stands expressionless. "This is your business to know these things," he says to me, as an editor. "Just look at her!"
