Offbeat | Trump tells Bush he didn’t want a Florida casino, but he did

2016 presidential candidate Jeb Bush said during a Republican Party debate that Donald Trump wanted casino gambling in Florida. Donald Trump said “I did not.” The fact is, despite what he said Wednesday night, Trump wanted it and didn’t get it under the Bush administration, even though he donated money to the state Republican Party and Bush.
“The bottom line is Donald Trump was interested in casino gambling in Florida, I can tell you that for a fact,” said former Florida House Speaker John Thrasher, who said he met with Trump twice and talked about the issue, once in New York and once in Trump’s Palm Beach Mar-A-Lago resort. Thrasher, now president of Florida State University, said during both meetings that Trump pushed for Florida to sign a compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to allow casino gambling.
At the time, early in Bush’s first term, Trump was working with the tribe on a deal to manage what’s now the Hard Rock Casino. That deal eventually fell through, but not before Trump pushed Florida leaders to come to an agreement. The stumbling block? Bush.
“It was pretty clear Jeb Bush wasn’t interested in casino gambling,” Thrasher said. When it was pointed out to the Trump campaign that he actually was interested in casinos during the Bush administration, spokeswoman Holly Hicks said by email, “Mr. Trump never asked Jeb Bush personally to approve casino gambling.”
But he did push for it. Former state Sen. Dennis Jones was at Thrasher’s second meeting with Trump, along with powerful Sen. Jim King, and confirmed Trump wanted to talk about casinos. Jones said Trump also said he wanted to be a player if Florida ever approved destination casino resorts, which Trump is still interested in. AP