Former US president Donald Trump has said he will be calling his hotel in Co Clare Doonbeg on the Ocean because “we have the ocean and nobody else does”.
Speaking after he played his round of golf at the resort on Thursday, Mr Trump said:
“It’s called Doonbeg on the Ocean,” he said. “It’s not a new name, but we’re adding the word ‘Ocean’. Because I said to myself, ‘it’s on the ocean, if it’s on the ocean, we call it Doonbeg on the Ocean, we have the ocean, and nobody else does, so that’s what we’re calling it”. He said the name Trump would remain on the property.
Podcast: Trump goes on the attack in Doonbeg
Earlier, Mr Trump said the civil rape case he is facing in New York is a “political attack”, going on the offensive during a diatribe from the first tee at his Doonbeg golf resort in Co Clare on Thursday.
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He said he had been “falsely accused” and that he was cutting short his trip to Scotland and Ireland to go back to New York, claiming he was being targeted because he was a “famous, rich and political person that’s leading the polls by 40 points”.
“I have to go back for a woman that made a false accusation about me and I have a judge who’s extremely hostile. I’m going to go back, and I’m going to confront this woman, this woman is a disgrace and it shouldn’t be allowed to happen in our country,” he told journalists as he began his round of golf in Doonbeg.
“I’ll be going back early because a woman made a claim that’s totally false, it was fake, she’s a fake, she wrote a book, she’s a Democrat,” he said, targeting his accuser, writer E Jean Carroll.
“I have no idea who she is, it’s ridiculous. She made a claim, she wrote a book, she made a claim.” He made repeated references to a coat which he said his legal team had accepted could be used in evidence, but suggested then that it had not been produced.
In a 2019 publication, Ms Carroll said she still has a Donna Karan coat-dress she wore on the day of the alleged assault in 1996.
‘Democrat deal’
Mr Trump’s lawyer has told the court in New York that the defence will not be calling any witnesses.
“She said she has a coat, now she doesn’t want to produce the coat. You know, try to play the Monica Lewinsky stuff and it’s a disgrace,” he said. He also targeted the judge hearing the case, saying he “doesn’t like me much, appointed by Bill Clinton”.
“It’s a disgrace but I have to do it, that’s part of life. It’s a fake claim, just like all the other fake claims. Just like Russia, Russia, Russia. This is a Democrat deal, she’s financed by a Democrat, the biggest Democrat donor.”
“This is a political attack, this is the only way they think they can win the election cause they’re losing, Biden is losing, he’s down by 11. And my Republican opponent is down by 45, he’s disappeared. But this is a political attack, but I’m going to go back early. It’s a disgrace that it can happen, where’s the coat, show the coat, we want to see the coat,” he said.
Mr Trump has declined to appear in person to testify at the civil trial of Ms Carroll’s claim that he raped her in a New York department store changing room in 1996. She is also suing him for defamation after Mr Trump accused Ms Carroll of lying when she went public with her account of the alleged assault in 2019.
Mr Trump claimed to have hit a 285-yard drive from the first tee at his club, saying: “Biden can’t hit a ball 50 yards.”
“You think Biden can do that?” he asked.
He said he was confident of beating Joe Biden in the next US election.
Asked whether he would run as an independent candidate in the 2024 US presidential election if he did not secure the Republican nomination, Mr Trump said: “The Republican nomination, I guess we’re leading by about 40 points, so we’re looking very good and I think we have a country that wants to see big changes made, and we’re going to have a great country again. Right now it’s not a great country, but we will have a great country again, and it’ll be soon”.
Leaving his hotel to play the round of golf at the adjoining course, he said when asked if he was confident he could defeat Mr Biden: “I could win it three times.”
Mr Trump was wearing a Make America Great Again (Maga) hat.
He was accompanied by his son Eric as well as members of the US secret service as he departed in a golf buggy.
After his round of golf at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Mr Trump is due to leave Ireland this evening after his private business visit. - additional reporting: PA
