Trump Tower Fire Kills Art Dealer Who Trump Called ‘Crazy Jew’
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Ari Feldman April 9, 2018
Donald Trump called the man who died in a fire at the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York a “crazy Jew” over two decades ago, the New York Daily News reported.
Todd Brassner, an art dealer, was a longtime resident of Trump Tower — but he couldn’t wait to get out. He had filed for bankruptcy in 2015, and was trying to sell is $2.5 million apartment on the 50th floor.
“He hated living at Trump Tower. He talked about not living there almost nonstop,” a friend of Brassner’s told the Daily News.
According to Patrick Goldsmith, another friend of Brassner’s, Donald Trump once called Brassner a “crazy Jew.” Trump asked the doorman who Goldsmith was after he saw Goldsmith staring at Trump’s famously small hands. Goldsmith told Trump he was visiting Brassner. “Oh, that crazy Jew?” Trump reportedly responded.
Brassner was the only victim of a fire that broke out at Trump Tower Saturday evening. Fire fighters were able to contain the fire to one apartment. Fire apartment officials said it was an electrical fire that had originated in the building’s heating system.
Trump tweeted about the fire as it was happening, but made no mention of Brassner’s death after it was announced.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
