Before the global financial crisis left millions of Americans without homes or jobs in 2008, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump expressed excitement over the possibility that a crash would bring him opportunities to fill his coffers.
"People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I'm excited if it is," Trump said in a 2007 interview with The Globe and Mail. "I've always made more money in bad markets than in good markets."
Trump's comments on what would turn out to be the worst financial crisis to hit the United States since the Great Depression resurfaced last week.
The business mogul said he was "sort of" hoping for a housing-market crash in a 2006 audio book for Trump University titled "How to Build a Fortune." Excerpts from the audio book were shared by CNN on Thursday.
"I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy, you know, if you're in a good cash position – which, I'm in a good cash position," he said. "If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know, you can make a lot of money."
He made similar comments in a 2005 blog post for Trump University. He encouraged students not to shy away from big business moves even as he admitted that industry watchers were sending up the alarm for a coming housing market crash.
"How you react to the so-called housing bubble can be a barometer of your business personality," he wrote. "Are you the type of person who takes advantage of positive situations when they present themselves, riding them out as long as they last? Or do you heed every message of doom and gloom, avoiding risks that could be some remarkable opportunities?"
Hillary Clinton, his likely Democratic rival for the White House, seized on the comments with a campaign ad released Tuesday. In it, Clinton's camp says Trump was "rooting for (a real estate crash) to happen."
"How cruel do you have to be to actually root for a crisis that would devastate millions of families, all to pad your own pockets?" she tweeted.
Trump has not commented on his resurfaced quotes.
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