Hillary Clinton used the announcement of a proposal to protect small businesses as an opportunity to criticize Donald Trump for allegedly abusing them.
Along with the proposal, the Clinton campaign released a video featuring small business owner Andrew Tesaro, who designed the Trump’s National Gold Club clubhouse in Westchester, N.Y. Although Trump approved of Tesaro’s designs and said he “loved” the result, Tesaro said his company was never paid for its years of work, leaving the Tesaro family and company bankrupt.
“They basically ganged up on me. I didn’t feel I had a lot of choices but to accept their low ball offer,” Tesaro said of the Trump employees’ who threatened him by saying if he sued Trump for not paying he would lose his business.
On Wednesday, Clinton gave a speech in Atlantic City detailing the ways she said Trump hurt small businesses. Standing behind the foreclosed Trump Plaza on the Atlantic City boardwalk, the presumptive Democratic nominee told voters that Trump would bankrupt America like he did Atlantic City.
Clinton’s small business proposal would strengthen penalties when large companies “stiff” smaller businesses by ensuring federal regulatory oversight of proven bad actors. She would also give small businesses recourse to take on predatory behavior. It would also use the leverage of over $400 billion in federal government contracting to ensure big businesses pay suppliers on time by expediting payments to contractors and increasing federal contracting with small businesses.
“Because I was the little guy, he was winning and wanted to keep winning, and his definition of winning is making sure the other guy loses,” Tesaro said. “And that way of doing businesses is just not very fair to the little guy. You can’t run a country that way Mr. Trump has run his businesses.”
