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Video Shows Trump Sitting Next to Mob-Linked Gambler He Denies Knowing

AP
November 2, 2016

A newly surfaced video shows Donald Trump standing alongside mob-linked gambler Robert LiButti during a WrestleMania event in 1988 despite the Republican nominee's repeated denials that he ever knew LiButti.

In the video, released Wednesday by Yahoo News, Trump is pictured sitting in between LiButti and his then-wife Ivana during the wrestling match in Atlantic City. LiButti's daughter, Edith Creamer, said that Trump had invited them to the event as his guests.

LiButti was banned from New Jersey casinos in 1991 because of his relationship with Mafia boss John Gotti.

That same year, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission slapped the Trump Plaza hotel with $450,000 in fines because of its business with LiButti, who frequently gambled at the business mogul's casino. The casino was also fined $200,000 for violating anti-discrimination laws after it agreed to keep black and female employees away from LiButti at the gambling tables. LiButti died in 2014.

Trump has insisted that he never knew LiButti, telling Yahoo News earlier this year that he didn't "recognize the name."

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks downplayed LiButti's appearance in the video in an email to Yahoo.

"This was obviously a massive event, which took place decades ago. Mr. Trump attended many similar events with thousands of people during this time period," Hicks said.