President Donald Trump shocked Capitol Hill when abruptly stormed out of a budget meeting with congressional leaders -- but former business associates say that's one of his trademark moves.
The president flounced out of a Situation Room meeting Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic lawmakers, which he denounced later as a "waste of time," and one of his former attorneys says Trump frequently employs the walk-out during negotiations, reported Bloomberg.
“He crafted that approach, it’s one he owns,” said Jay Goldberg, who served as Trump’s lawyer from 1989 to 2014 and handled two of his divorces.
“He has a tendency to argue," Goldberg added, "and if he is not satisfied he will leave the room, disappear, doesn’t come back and the people are on edge wondering where he is, and then when he feels it is the appropriate time he comes back.”
Goldberg told the website that Trump stood up and left negotiations of a divorce settlement with his first wife, Ivana Trump, after they could not agree on alimony.
“Everyone was looking for him because without his presence a deal couldn’t be done, and he was gone for two hours and we didn’t know where he was,” Goldberg said. “When he came back, the other side was so concerned if they didn’t make a deal he would walk away again.”
Trump pulled the same stunt in divorce court, after he believed the judge had made an unreasonable request, and Goldberg said the ploy rattled the judge and lawyers on both sides.
In another episode during the divorce case, Trump walked out on a judge he thought had made an unreasonable request and didn’t come back, rattling the judge and lawyers from both sides, Goldberg said.
Trump has boasted about his move in his book, "The Art of the Deal," and on Twitter as an essential part of his negotiating skills.
“Negotiations 101: The best deals you can make are the ones you walk away from," Trump tweeted in May 2014, "and then get them with better terms."
