DONALD Trump has lashed out at the creators behind The Apprentice biopic branding the movie a “political hatchet job” – just weeks before Election Day.
The Republican presidential nominee, 78, slammed one scene that appeared to depict the character Trump, who is played by Marvel actor Sebastian Stan, raping his first wife Ivana.
The biopic, written by journalist Gabriel Sherman, focuses on Trump’s career as a real estate mogul in the 1970s and 1980s and his relationship with prosecutor Roy Cohn.
Trump’s team reportedly tried to block the movie’s release, and the tycoon’s campaign’s communications director, Steven Cheung, has described the biopic as “garbage.”
Trump took to his Truth Social page and branded the movie “cheap and defamatory.”
In his tirade, he labeled it a “political hatchet job.”
Trump claimed the biopic, released weeks before Election Day, was put out to impact his campaign and branded the film “fake and classless.”
He also addressed his relationship with Czech-American businesswoman Ivana, who died in 2022.
“My former wife, Ivana, was a kind and wonderful person, and I had a great relationship with her until the day she died,” he said.
Cheung told The U.S. Sun: “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.
“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should never see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire.”
Trump also lashed out at Sherman in his Truth Social Post, who produced the “piece of garbage.”
The rape allegations surfaced in the book The Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, penned by Harry Hurt III, a former Newsweek reporter.
The book was initially published in 1993.
It is related to a deposition that emerged in Ivana’s 1990 divorce case against Trump.
Cast of The Apprentice
A biopic titled The Apprentice focuses in on Donald Trump's career as a real estate mogul in the 1970s and 1980s. It also refers to Trump's relationship with the prosecutor and lawyer Roy Cohn. The U.S. Sun has revealed who stars in the film:
- Sebastian Stan plays Donald Trump
- Jeremy Strong plays Roy Cohn
- Maria Bakalova plays Ivana Trump
- Martin Donovan plays Fred Trump
- Catherine McNally plays Mary Anne Trump
- Charlie Carrick plays Freddy Trump
- Mark Rendall plays Roger Stone
In 1993, Ivana had seemed to walk back from the statement, as reported by The Daily Beast.
Her remarks appeared on the front page of Hurt’s book.
“During a deposition given by me in connection with my matrimonial case, I stated that my husband had raped me,” it said.
“On one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage.
“As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent.
“I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”
In 2015, Ivana told ABC News she and Trump were the best of friends.
She said the pair had raised three children they were “very proud of.”
Ivana and Trump’s children are Don Jr, Eric, and Ivanka.
Trump’s team tried to block the release of the movie, but its director, Ali Abbasi, told NBC he didn’t want to make a “hit job” out of the tycoon.
“It fits very well with my outsider perspective,” he said.
Trump is seeking to be the first former president since Grover Cleveland to win two non-consecutive terms in office.
If the election were held tomorrow, Real Clear Politics analysis suggests Trump would retake the White House with 302 Electoral College votes.
Surveys suggest he is narrowly ahead in the key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
