Donald Trump says he barely knows Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe who said the GOP nominee derided her for gaining weight after she won the crown in 1996, but that he’s the one who saved her job when others wanted to fire her.
“She did not do well. She had a lot of difficulties. And, you know, they wanted to fire her. The company itself wanted to fire her. I saved her job,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday’s “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News.
Hillary Clinton, Mr. Trump’s Democratic rival, has sought to highlight Ms. Machado this week, bringing her side of the story up at Monday’s presidential debate. Mrs. Clinton’s campaign also organized a conference call with Ms. Machado on Tuesday.
But Mr. Trump estimated he has probably spoken to Ms. Machado for a total of less than five minutes.
“I had nothing to do with this person, but they wanted to fire her. I saved her job because I said that’s going to be ruinous. And I’ve done that with a number of the young ladies where I saved their job,” he said.
“I saved her job because they wanted to fire her for putting on so much weight. And it is a beauty contest. You know, I mean, say what you want. … I mean, they know what they’re getting into. It’s a beauty contest,” Mr. Trump said.
“And I said don’t do that. Let her try and lose the weight. Can you imagine? I end up in a position like this. So that’s the way it is. I really just don’t know her,” he said.
Mr. Trump said he thinks it was a cheap shot for Mrs. Clinton to bring it up.
“And now a lot of things are coming out that I wasn’t aware of, like they say that she threatened the life of a judge and got involved in all sorts of problems,” he said.
“But again, I helped somebody, and this is what you get for helping somebody. But I just don’t know her,” Mr. Trump said.
The Associated Press reported in 1998 that Ms. Machado was accused of driving a car in which her boyfriend sped away from the scene where his brother-in-law was shot near a church, and that a judge later accused Ms. Machado of threatening to kill him for indicting her boyfriend for attempted murder.
“I have my past. Of course. Everybody has. Everybody has a past. And I’m not a saint girl,” Ms. Machado told CNN this week. “That moment in Venezuela was wrong, was another speculation about my life because I’m a really famous person in my country, because I’m an actress there.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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