The 2008 housing crash ravaged Arizona's economy...but did Donald Trump actually hope it would happen?
Hillary Clinton claimed as much in a May 24 attack ad against the GOP presidential nominee.
"In 2006, Donald Trump was hoping for a real estate crash," it says, showing a picture of Trump giving two thumbs up.
"And the man who could be our next president was rooting for it to happen," the ad contends.
That's followed by audio, identified as being from 2006, of Trump saying, "I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy ... If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know, you could make a lot of money."
We wondered if there was more to the story.
When we emailed the Clinton campaign, they sent us two links. A May 19 CNN story offers details of Trump's comment, along with context. A May 23 story from NBC News shows that Trump's remark wasn't a one-time affair.
His statement reported in the Clinton ad comes from the audiobook How to Build a Fortune, created as part of Trump University, which has been the subject of three lawsuits from former "students" who allege they were ripped off by the billionaire.
The man interviewing Trump for the audiobook says, "There's a lot of talk, which you've no doubt heard too, about a so-called real estate bubble. What's your take on that pessimism?"
"Well first of all, I sort of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy. You know, if you're in a good cash position — which I'm in a good cash position today — then people like me would go in and buy like crazy," he says in a portion of the audiobook posted by CNN. "If there is a bubble burst, as they call it, you know, you can make a lot of money."
Whether the "bubble burst" that Trump was hoping for deserves to be called a "crash," especially a crash on the scale of what occurred during the Great Recession, is open to debate.
But it's important to stress that Trump was doing nothing than articulating an investment principle — look for a bargain. Good investors, he was arguing, should buy low and sell high.
A year later, in 2007, Trump was telling the Toronto Globe and Mail that he was ready to invest in real estate because the market was starting to head down.
"People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I'm excited if it is," he told the paper. "I've always made more money in bad markets than in good markets."
But, once again, it's clear that Trump didn't see what was coming.
Our ruling
Clinton said, "In 2006, Donald Trump was hoping for a real estate crash."
He said on more than one occasion that he welcomed a downturn in the real estate market because it would give him a chance to buy properties at a bargain and sell them at a higher price later.
What's far less clear is whether Trump was rooting for something on the scale of the Great Recession, a suggestion made in the Clinton ad.
In fact, his comments in his audiobook and to the Globe and Mail show that he didn't envision the financial meltdown that followed.
Because Clinton's statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information, we rate it Mostly True.
For the complete fact-check, visit our news partner, PolitiFact.
