Trump gets heated with Chris Wallace: ‘I have never gone bankrupt’

Donald Trump told Fox News anchor Chris Wallace that he’s living in a “world of make-believe” as he defended his business record in Atlantic City.

Wallace asked Trump in Thursday’s GOP debate why the nation should trust him to run the country’s business when Trump Corp.’s casinos and hotels have declared bankruptcy four times over the last quarter-century.

{mosads}In response, the real estate mogul argued he had used the country’s bankruptcy laws to help his businesses — and the people employed by them.

“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, my employees, myself and my family,” Trump said. “I have never gone bankrupt.”

“That’s your line,” Wallace said. “But your companies have gone bankrupt.”

“What am I saying?” Trump said heatedly.

Wallace responded by bringing up a specific property in Atlantic City that went bankrupt.

“Well sir, let’s just talk about the latest example, which is Trump Entertainment Resorts, which went bankrupt in 2009,” Wallace said. “In that case alone lenders to your company lost over $1 billion and more than 1,100 people were laid off.”

Trump responded by criticizing the banks he was in business with, and by suggesting the question was naive. 

“First of all these lenders are not babies,” Trump responded. “They are killers. These are not the nice sweet little people you think. You are living in the world of make-believe, Chris, if you want to know the truth.”

Trump took a shot at New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been publicly criticized for the number of casinos that have failed on the famous boardwalk.

“I had the good sense to leave Atlantic City, by the way,” Trump said. “Caesars just went bankrupt. Every company, Chris can tell you, every company virtually in Atlantic City has gone bankrupt.”