In a strange twist, the father of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand once worked for Donald Trump, the man she is trying to defeat in the 2020 election, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
Gillibrand’s father, Doug Rutnik, was one of 10 lobbyists and firms that Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. hired in 2000 and paid some $300,000 in the first half of that year.
Trump’s company was lobbying against an attempt by the St. Regis Mohawk tribe to develop a casino in the Catskill Mountains, because Trump feared such a new enterprise would harm his business as a major operator in Atlantic City.
According to the records, Rutnik was paid $22,715 for his work.
Roger Stone was in charge of the effort, and led conference calls in which Rutnik participated, according to two other lobbyists who were involved in the process, according to the Journal.
Trump’s team successfully pushed to require legislative approval of any casino contract between then-Gov. George Pataki and the St. Regis Mohawk Indians, as the following year a judge ruled that the Mohawk’s desire for a Catskills casino would indeed require the approval of the state legislature.
A Gillibrand campaign spokeswoman said that Rutnik never met with Stone and Trump, nor does he recall talking with either man during his lobbying effort.
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