Trump wanted only 'pretty ones' at golf club: employees

An attorney for the 70-year-old denied that the club engaged in any discrimination against employees

LOS ANGELES: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested management at his golf club in California fire less attractive female employees, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday, citing court records.

The paper said staff at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes were so concerned about the mogul's repeated calls for attractive hostesses that they made sure "young, thin, pretty women" were scheduled to work on the days he visited.



"I had witnessed Donald Trump tell managers many times while he was visiting the club that restaurant hostesses were not 'pretty enough' and that they should be fired and replaced with more attractive women," Hayley Strozier, who worked at the club until 2008, says in the court documents related to a lawsuit filed by employees who said they were denied breaks at the facility.

Several employees said Trump, who has struggled to attract female voters during his campaign for the White House, also made inappropriate and patronizing comments to women at the club and a number of them quit or were fired because of their looks, according to the court documents.



On one visit, he saw a "young, attractive hostess" and asked that she be brought to an area where he was meeting with a group of men, former Trump restaurant manager Charles West is quoted as saying.

Another staffer said he had inquired about her marital status during one visit and then would regularly ask her if she was still "happily married."

An attorney for Trump denied that the club engaged in any discrimination against employees.

The revelations in the Times come as the flamboyant Trump, who has called women "pigs" "slobs" and "dogs," has been forced to respond to claims he fat-shamed a Miss Universe -- Alicia Machado -- calling her "Miss Piggy."