- In 2005, Trump told The New York Times he had secured a $1 million markdown on the ring.
- On Thursday, Graff Diamonds informed Forbes that the president in reality paid the complete price.
It may come as a surprise: President Trump has been discovered overstating the influence of the Trump family brand. On this occasion, he appears to have misrepresented the discount he allegedly obtained on Melania's engagement ring. Graff Diamonds, the firm that provided Trump with the 15-carat diamond ring, stated to Forbes on Thursday that the president paid the full amount for the gem, contrary to his account in a 2005 interview with The New York Times.
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In a feature named “At Celebrity Nuptials to Die for, Vendors Give Themselves Away,” Trump bragged that he received a massive $1 million reduction on Melania's ring, which supposedly had a retail price of $1.5 million, reasoning that “only a fool would say, ‘No thank you, I want to pay a million dollars more for a diamond.”
Trump, who co-authored The Art of the Deal, additionally informed the outlet that he could negotiate favorable rates with wedding suppliers due to the Trump name's considerable influence. “Literally anything you can imagine from photos to flowers to food to jets to airports to diamonds,” Trump said. “And for every item, there’s five people who want to do it. In all cases they don’t want anything, but they want recognition.”
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Yet nearly 13 years following that interview, Graff Diamonds' billionaire chairman Laurence Graff is refuting Trump's assertions, informing Forbes that the London-based firm offers “no favors.”
“We don’t sell items for publicity value,” added Graff CFO Nicholas Paine. An anonymous third source verified that Trump “paid for [the ring] in full, and he paid immediately.”
Graff Diamonds is reported to have sold the president a distinct 25-carat diamond for the couple's tenth wedding anniversary, priced at $3 million. Per Forbes, the president also settled that ring in full.
