Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may be political rivals now, but in 2005, they were photographed smiling together at Trump’s wedding to Melania at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
The photo shows Trump with his arm around Clinton as they pose with their spouses, Bill Clinton and Melania, The Daily Mail reported. The same estate later served as the backdrop for Trump’s victory speech during the 2016 Republican primary season.
During that speech, Trump said of the general election, “I’m going to go after one person: Hillary Clinton.”
Trump previously referenced Clinton’s attendance at his wedding when questioned about his past political donations during the first Republican presidential debate.
“Hillary Clinton, I said be at my wedding, and she came to my wedding,” Trump said. “She had no choice because I gave to a foundation.”
Reports at the time indicated Trump may have donated as much as $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation after the wedding.
Clinton campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri responded by saying the two were acquaintances.
“He invited her. They’re acquaintances. This is long, long established,” Palmieri said. “It hurt her feelings, I’m sure, to hear him suggest that he didn’t actually want her there for her company.”
The two families moved in similar social circles in New York and Palm Beach in the early 2000s. Their daughters, Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton, have also spoken publicly about their friendship.
Clinton later reflected on her past impression of Trump during an appearance on “Morning Joe.”
“I didn’t know him that well, but I did know him,” she said. “It’s been most surprising to me to see somebody who was affable and was good company and had a reputation of being kind of bigger than life really traffic in a lot of the prejudice and paranoia. And some of the comments that he’s made, which have been so divisive and mean spirited, doesn’t quite fit with what I thought I knew about him.”
