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This is FRESH AIR.
I'm Terry Gross.
Donald Trump's claims to being one of the wealthiest, most successful and brilliant businessmen was created with smoke and mirrors using his father's wealth.
Media created myths, lots of enormous loans, instances of tax fraud, along with false claims and unkept promises.
The details are laid out in a new book by my guests Suzanne Craig and Russ Buettner, two New York Times reporters who have been investigating Trump's business practices and finances ever since he campaigned for the presidency in 2016.
One of their early clues came from several pages of Trump's tax documents that were leaked to Suzanne Craig in a Manila envelope she found in her New York Times mailbox.
Craig and Buettner won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting.
Now they've written a new book called Lucky how Donald Trump squandered his father's fortune and created the illusion of success.
Suzanne Craig and Russ Buettner, welcome to FResh Air.
I want to start by saying that we're recording this on Monday, and whatever we discuss about Donald Trump's finances doesnt change the fact that the second attempted assassination of Donald Trump and all the threats of violence surrounding this election is deeply upsetting, deeply disturbing.
Im wondering if this is an awkward moment for you to be talking about the book.
Well, anytime theres an attempt on someones life, it does have a way of making everything else seem inconsequential.
But we are still propelling ourselves towards a presidential election when the voters are going to have to decide, make some very hard decisions.
And so we have to handle all those things at the same time.
I also want to mention that you just got a cease and desist letter from one of Trumps lawyers regarding an excerpt of the book or an adaptation of a chapter of the book about the apprentice that was published in the New York Times.
So what does that mean and how are you handling that?