Donald Trump Goes 'On the Record' on Rosie's New Book

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," September 12, 2007. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: The gloves are off, if they were ever on, Rosie O'Donnell versus Donald Trump. You will not believe what she's calling him in her new book. Tonight, Donald Trump fights back.

Donald, nice to have you back on the show.

DONALD TRUMP, PRES. & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Thank you, Greta.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, what do you think about Rosie O'Donnell's new book, "Celebrity Detox," due to hit October 2? Why is she doing this?

TRUMP: Well, I looked it over, and it's pathetic. It's poorly written. It's — I'm not surprised. You know, I've known Rosie for a long time. She's not a smart person. And the thing that's most surprising is the way she attacks Barbara Walters. Barbara Walters gave her a second life. Her show failed, her Broadway show failed, her magazine, as you know, was a total catastrophe. It failed, went out of business. And she was in limbo. She was not a hot person at all. Barbara gave her a certain extra life, and then she attacked Barbara. I mean, she said she was old and she should retire, essentially. And I thought that was disgraceful.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it's being reported that she sent a copy off to Barbara in advance. What do you make of that?

TRUMP: Well, it's a sickness. I mean, she said horrible things in the book, and yet she sends Barbara a copy. And Barbara really resurrected Rosie's life in terms of her career because Rosie was dead. And you know, it's just — a very disloyal person would do that. It's very sad, actually.

VAN SUSTEREN: Well, she accuses Barbara of — during commercial breaks, that people during the show would say, We love you Rosie, and that Barbara, according to Rosie, her nose was a little bit out of joint that people weren't saying, We love you, you know, everybody else, Joy and Barbara and else — I mean, she sort of — she doesn't make — she attempts to make Barbara look small.

TRUMP: Well, people like Barbara a lot more than they like Rosie. And a lot of — Rosie's got a lot of enemies. And a lot of people don't like Rosie. You know, the interesting thing about Rosie — her ratings weren't good until she and I went into a war together, then everybody wanted to watch and her ratings went up very substantially. But her ratings were not good. Her ratings were about the same as they were, and then she attacked me and everybody was watching the show. They ought to pay me. I mean, honestly, "The View" ought to write me a nice, big, fat check.

VAN SUSTEREN: In looking at the book — we understand that all the proceeds are going not to Rosie but to one of her charities, which is certainly, you know — I applaud her for being — you know, to give to charity...

TRUMP: I doubt that. By the way...

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: You don't believe that?

TRUMP: Just because Rosie says it, I doubt it. I don't believe anything Rosie says. So you know, I doubt that she's giving all the money to charity.

VAN SUSTEREN: Is this the end of her career, or does this book launch her career again?

TRUMP: Well, I think somebody will hire her. You know, it's easy to get on television, that I can tell you. If you have a little bit of a name, it's pretty easy. It's not so easy to stay on. Now, Rosie was — you know, her ratings were very poor for her last show, and she was thrown off. She was terminated. She didn't leave, she was terminated from her show. Now what will happen is somebody will put her on, and she'll do well for about a month or so, and then she'll self-destruct because she always self-destructs. I mean, her history and her life is self-destruction. So she'll go on and she'll do wonderfully for a very short while, and then she'll self-destruct.

Even with Barbara — she had a fight with Elisabeth Hasselbeck, who is, you know, a sad character in her own ways. This is not the brightest light on the planet. And Elisabeth Hasselbeck killed her. She wiped her out. And it was amazing. And I got to see it, I couldn't even believe it. But Elisabeth Hasselbeck easily outdebated Rosie. And I've long said that Rosie is not a smart person, and I think that even proved it. She was pathetic.

But you know, the way that she didn't come back to the show at that point — instead of just — she had two weeks to go. She could have come back for two more weeks, and frankly, the Hasselbeck story wouldn't have been such a big story. Instead, she destructed, she self-destructed again. She didn't go back to the show the next day, and then she quit. And all she had to do was just run out her term, go until whatever the June date was, and she would have been fine. Nobody would have cared. But she didn't show up because she's gutless. She didn't show up. It was terrible.

VAN SUSTEREN: Have you seen — (INAUDIBLE) not even necessarily spoken to, but seen either Barbara Walters or Rosie O'Donnell in person since Rosie left the show?

TRUMP: I don't want to comment.

VAN SUSTEREN: Whether you saw them?

TRUMP: Yes, I just don't want to comment on that. It's irrelevant.

VAN SUSTEREN: Have you had a conversation with Barbara at all?

TRUMP: Well, I'd rather not comment.

VAN SUSTEREN: I guess — does that mean that you've had a conversation, you just don't want to tell us?

TRUMP: No, I just don't want to comment. You know, I don't want to comment. I feel sorry for Barbara. Barbara is a woman who has had a great career, and it's been badly tarnished by Rosie. And as you know, Barbara obviously lied when it came to me, and now people — and one of the things that Rosie goes after Barbara, she thought she was sort of sticking up for me. But she wasn't sticking up for me, she was trying to tell the truth. And Rosie forced her to do things that she shouldn't have done and said.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. October 15 — that day have any significance to you this year?

TRUMP: Well, October 15 is a day that — couple of things. I'm opening a new building in Soho. I'm launching my own book. It's called "Think Big and Kick Ass," and it's going to be a great book. Five hundred thousand copies are going into print, the initial printing, which is a monster initial printing, and everybody's going wild over it. And yes, I do mention Rosie in the book. And what else — am I supposed to know something?

VAN SUSTEREN: No, no. I was just teasing you because I know the book's coming out...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: The book comes out October 15, and I'm launching a big 45- story building in Soho on October 15, also.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. The book is — I mean, it sounds like an advice book, and now you tell me there's a little bit of Rosie in it.

TRUMP: Well, no, it's an advice book, but it's really a book on life and it's a book on success and how to be successful. And I think it's going to be great. You know, I have the honor of having the biggest- selling business book of all time. It's called, "The Art of the Deal." And it's the largest-selling business book of all time. And I'm very honored by that. I think this book might top it. It's really a good book. And it took a while to do, and it's one of the best things I've ever done.

VAN SUSTEREN: Would you call it a sequel to the first book, or not? Is it something completely different?

TRUMP: Well, I've actually done five books, and every one of them has been a number one bestseller. I think this book could be the best of all.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Now, you've given me the tease that you mentioned something about Rosie. So the viewers are going to want to know, too, is what do you mention about Rosie in this book that comes out in — actually, in a month?

TRUMP: Well, I talk about attitude and I talk about bullies. You know, Rosie is a bully. And a bully, I learned a long time ago when I was going to school, that when there is a bully and you're involved with a bully, you have to hit that person squarely and hard right between the eyes. And that's what I did with Rosie. And you know, she totally — I mean, she didn't even want to comment a couple weeks ago. She was someplace and they asked her, she said, I won't comment. I won't — well, if you look at what she did, she went after Kelly Ripa. And nobody fights back.

I mean, Kelly is a terrific person, but you know, I would have said maybe she should have fought back. And Kelly happened to be right on that. She went after Danny DeVito. She went after Selleck, Tom Selleck, a long time ago. I mean, this guy walks on her show, all of a sudden, she ends up trying to kill him.

Rosie is a bad person. Rosie is a bully. And I talk about bullies because the world is full of bullies, and you have to hit a bully between the eyes very, very hard and very solidly.

VAN SUSTEREN: In your book — if I read your book, is it going to make my — you know, am I going to learn something from it in terms of my business?

TRUMP: I think if you read the book — you're doing very well. If you read my book, you would probably get from the great, really, the legendary great Roger Ailes about twice what you're making right now, maybe three times.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Well, in that case, I'm going to get off the air and order three copies, not just one copy.

TRUMP: Three copies. Roger doesn't need one. He's the best...

(CROSSTALK)

VAN SUSTEREN: Another quick question...

TRUMP: It's going to be great.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. One quick — the title — did you come up with the title of your new book?

TRUMP: I did. And at first, I thought it was a little bit rough. But really, that's what it's all about. And somebody else said, Let's tone it down. Let's call it, "Think Big and Kick Butt." And I said, Man, that really doesn't play. That doesn't have the same flavor. So we're going to see. It's a tough title, but that's what it's all about. And frankly, that's what life is all about.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Well, I want an advance copy, and I want you back on to talk about the book before October 15, when it hits bookshelves.

TRUMP: I would look forward to that.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Thank you, Donald.

TRUMP: Thank you, Greta.

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