FBI releases files on allegations that Trump properties discriminated against black people

The FBI has released roughly 400 pages of an internal investigation it conducted into Donald Trump’s real estate business in the 1970s, detailing allegations of systemic discrimination against people of color.

The trove of documents, which the agency made available online, includes dozens of interviews with managers, employees, and residents involved in Trump’s real estate business. While most of those interviewed by the FBI said they were not aware of racial discrimination, other accounts provided further evidence of the long history of racial discrimination at Trump’s properties.

One such story came from a former doorman at a Trump property in Brooklyn, who recounted how a supervisor instructed him to deter black residents from applying for apartments there.

The doorman said, as first reported by Politico, that the supervisor “told me that if a black person came to 2650 Ocean Parkway and inquired about an apartment for rent, and he, that is [redacted] was not there at the time, that I should tell him that the rent was twice as much as it really was, in order that he could not afford the apartment.”

In 1973, the Justice Department took up its own investigation into allegations of discrimination at Trump properties, back when the president was still his father, Fred Trump. In a move that should surprise no one familiar with Donald-the-politician, he called the allegations “absolutely ridiculous” and responded by accusing the DOJ of defamation in a $100 million countersuit. The matter was settled two years later, with the Trumps signing an agreement to admit no wrongdoing.