In the weeks and months after Nov. 8, Donald Trump’s door always seemed open. Old friends and celebrities walked in and out of his namesake tower in Manhattan or hobnobbed with him at his New Jersey golf course – and so did real estate executives. Howard Lorber, Jonathan Gray, Thomas Barrack, the Hinneberg family (owners of 40 Wall Street), and others landed meetings with the president-elect, soon to be the most powerful man in the world.
“Initially it seemed Trump was very willing to meet with people” one lobbyist told The Real Deal.