The Apprentice True Story: Fact-Checking 10 Moments

The early years of Donald Trump’s adult life are explored in The Apprentice, leaving some divisive material to be fact-checked. The new movie, directed by Ali Abbasi, explores the real-life relationship between Trump and prosecutor Roy Cohn, reminding audiences of controversies surrounding the former president’s life from roughly 50 years ago. Sebastian Stan (MCU, Pam & Tommy) and Jeremy Strong (Succession, The Big Short) lead The Apprentice cast as Trump and Cohn, bringing authentic, true-to-life performances based on the real figures.

Like anything related to Donald Trump, The Apprentice has been surrounded by controversy, almost causing the movie not to be released. But Abbasi’s biopic finally found its release date just under a month before the 2024 presidential election, meaning the film’s contents will be under speculation. Abbasi described his movie as “fact-based and fact-checked” (via The Wrap), but with such a timely subject, it’s crucial to know what’s fact and fiction on a case-by-case basis.

10 Is Roy Cohn’s History In The Apprentice True?

The Apprentice Nails Its Depiction Of Roy Cohn

It’s essential to understand the basis of The Apprentice: Trump and Roy Cohn’s relationship. In the 1950s, Cohn’s life was publicized as he took part in trials convicting Soviet moles and suspected high-profile communists. By the 1970s, Cohn’s brutal tactics were widely known, and he became a fixer for famous mafia members like Tony Salerno (via Casetext), who was depicted in the film. He spent decades narrowly evading the law, even being charged with perjury, witness tampering, and more.

The film’s portrayal of Roy Cohn as a cutthroat lawyer willing to do whatever it takes to win is well-documented and accurate. The tactics utilized to represent Donald Trump in The Apprentice were derived from multiple real-life cases, with Cohn defending Trump, Rupert Murdoch, Paul Castellano, and many more. Cohn was an infamous 20th-century figure whose exploits are well-documented, from using illegal tactics in criminal cases to engineer death penalties (via NBC) to boasting on national television that “terrible consequences are going to flow” for any of his political opponents (via NPR).

9 Was Donald Trump’s Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Real?

This Was A Real Case In The Early 1970s

Donald Trump’s first conflict in The Apprentice is a racial discrimination lawsuit, for which he seeks out the help of Roy Cohn to defend him. The charges suggested that Trump purposefully turned away African American tenants from his apartment complexes, telling them spaces weren’t available, only to later offer leases to Caucasian renters. The film makes the point to suggest that evidence is stacked against Trump, but by swaying public opinions and using illegal tactics, they’re able to win the case.

This was a real case and investigation between 1972 and 1974, and original documents can be found on the FBI’s website. Important details from the film, such as applicants for potential Black tenants being marked with “C” for “colored,” are shown in the court documents to be true. In 1973, the New York Times reported on Trump and Cohn’s $100 million counter-suit, denying all claims made against Trump Management Corporation, accusing them of being factually baseless, just as it was explained in The Apprentice.

8 Did Donald Trump Really Receive Tax Breaks From New York City?

Trump Made A 40-Year Tax Abatement Deal With New York City

A significant part of The Apprentice sees Donald Trump trying to rebuild the Commodore Hotel, a project he’s consistently told is too ambitious for him. The film makes many references to President Gerald Ford telling New York City to “drop dead” in 1975 due to the city’s suffering from overwhelming crime and corruption. Trump’s plan to reconstruct a historic building as a high-end establishment just outside Grand Central Station received significant pushback due to the city’s lower-class suffering.

The Trump website explains Trump’s “unprecedented contract” from 1976, during which he made one of the “most real estate deals in history” on his 40-year tax abatement deal with New York City. In 2016, The New York Times reported that the deal had cost NYC $360 million in missing taxes, with Trump totaling at least $885 million in tax breaks for his construction of real estate properties over 40 years. Roy Cohn’s involvement, as shown in the movie, is not directly cited anywhere, with sources stating it was Trump’s political connections that allowed for the deal.

7 Were Donald Trump’s Financial Struggles In The 1980s Real?

Trump Nearly Went Broke From His Business Decisions In The 1980s

The Apprentice depicts Donald Trump beginning to ignore Roy Cohn’s financial advice as the movie progresses in the 1980s. Trump continues to buy new properties, expanding his empire at a rapid rate, for which he lacks financial capital. He ventures into the casino business in Atlantic City, ignoring Cohn’s advice that the city had peaked, later finding himself in a difficult spot as pressure tightened around him for payments. This prompts Trump to go to his barely-cogent father to sign papers tricking him into sharing money from his sibling’s trusts, which doesn’t go through.

While there’s no record of that particular instance, Trump was known for utilizing capital from his father’s business empire (via New York Times), and Trump’s niece, Mary L. Trump, filed a lawsuit against him for cheating her out of her inheritance, dating back decades (via PBS). As for Donald Trump’s financial decisions in the 1980s, it’s well-documented that his choices nearly led to his own financial ruin (via New York Times), with him declaring bankruptcy half a dozen times in his lifetime.

6 Did Donald Trump Ignore Fred Trump Jr.’s Substance Abuse Issues?

Trump Has Expressed Regret For How He Treated His Brother

The Apprentice depicts Fred Trump Jr. suffering from addiction and substance abuse issues after losing his position as an airline pilot. The film depicts a scene at Donald Trump and Ivana’s wedding where Fred has an emotional, angered incident while intoxicated, leading to Donald harshly telling him off. Their final scene together sees Fred arrive at Donald Trump’s luxury apartment in terrible shape, asking for support, to which Donald reacts by handing him money and brushing him off. Shortly after, the movie reveals that Fred Trump Jr. died from alcohol abuse.

While these two scenes seem to be dramatized for the purpose of the film, it’s true that Fred Trump Jr. passed away prematurely due to an alcohol-induced heart attack. In an interview with The Washington Post in 2019, Donald Trump revealed that he regretted putting pressure on his older brother for his career choices. He explains that he and his father, Fred Trump Sr., piled pressure on Fred Jr. for his decision to pursue aviation rather than business. Trump stated, “He did what he could to run away from it,” referring to Fred choosing alcohol as a response to that pressure.

5 What Was Really In Donald & Ivana Trump’s Prenup Deal?

Trump Had An “Ironclad Prenuptial Agreement”

Roy Cohn seems to take matters personally when Donald Trump reveals his decision to marry Ivana in The Apprentice. While seeming to hide some personal jealousy, Cohn states that marriage will result in Trump getting ripped off for half of his wealth in the event of a divorce, demanding that Ivana sign an extensive prenup, which she ultimately has an adverse reaction to. On the matter of prenup deals, Donald Trump once said the following:

“It’s a hard, painful, ugly tool,” says Trump. “Believe me, there’s nothing fun about it. But there comes a time when you have to say, ‘Darling, I think you’re magnificent, and I care for you deeply, but if things don’t work out, this is what you’re going to get.”

In 1991, The New York Times reported on Donald and Ivana Trump’s divorce, examining the final deal, which resulted in her receiving $14 million, a 45-room mansion, and a Trump Plaza apartment, along with $650,000 in annual child support. In a 2015 press release (via ABC News), Donald Trump’s team stated that he had an “ironclad prenuptial agreement,” which caused Ivana to make false claims in the divorce case. It’s unclear if Roy Cohn was involved in writing Donald and Ivana Trump’s marriage prenup contract.

4 Did Roy Cohn Really Have AIDS?

Roy Cohn Denied Having AIDS His Whole Life, But Eventually Died From It

A major plotline for Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of Roy Cohn is the man’s struggle with AIDS. The film shows the duality of Cohn’s life with scenes where he spouts vapid homophobia to crowds and another where Trump walks in on him having an all-male orgy. This leads to Donald Trump growing suspicious of Cohn and becoming wary of catching disease from being in his presence. In The Apprentice’s ending, Cohn finally passes away from his struggles with AIDS.

The movie’s depiction of Roy Cohn is accurate through and through. Though the scenes of Trump’s paranoia about AIDS might be dramatized, Cohn himself outwardly denied being a homosexual and having AIDS until his death. The scene depicting his 60 Minutes interview is straight from the source, and it’s widely recognized that he did, in fact, have AIDS, despite his claims.

3 Did Donald Trump Actually Take Amphetamines?

Long-standing Rumors Support This Claim, But There’s No Clear Evidence

As Donald Trump shifts away from Roy Cohn in The Apprentice, the movie depicts him popping amphetamine pills, which he claims prevent the need to sleep. When Cohn suggests this is ill-advised, Trump states that he can’t make deals in his sleep, so continuing to take drugs is worthwhile for him. A scene later in the film sees Trump’s doctor advise him to stop taking them due to the long-term effects they’re having on his body.

This is one of the claims in The Apprentice that’s hard to support with any evidence. Donald Trump has long maintained that he doesn’t use any drugs or drink alcohol due to influence of his father and his brother’s struggles with substance issues. However, there have long been rumors and insider reports that he does abuse substances. The decision to include this in the film was likely reflective of the era’s business culture and the New York City social scene in which Donald Trump was known for partaking in.

2 Did Donald Trump Really Receive Liposuction And Scalp Reduction Surgery?

Ivana Trump Claimed That He Did In 1989

The final sequence of The Apprentice sees Donald Trump receiving liposuction to remove fat from his stomach and a scalp reduction surgery to hide a bald spot. This physical transformation of Trump was placed into the film to demonstrate his metaphorical decline of the former president’s humanity, with the graphic scenes meant to resemble a Frankenstein’s monster-like transition. Whether Donald Trump ever received these surgeries is refuted by Trump’s campaign as one of their main issues with the film.

Related

What Donald Trump Has Said About New Biopic Movie The Apprentice

The Apprentice features Sebastian Stan as former president Donald Trump in a biographical drama. Here’s what the real Trump has said in response.

The information used for The Apprentice comes directly from Ivana Trump, who claimed under oath in 1990 that Trump received alopecia reduction surgery in 1989 (via The Economic Times). The surgery was conducted by Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who also operated on Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, and more. Steven Cheung, the communications director for the 2024 Trump campaign, threatened legal action over the movie’s contents (via Variety), saying, “This garbage is pure fiction which sensationalizes lies that have been long debunked.”

1 Did Donald Trump Really Sexually Assault His First Wife Ivana?

Ivana Trump Claimed This In Her 1989 Divorce Deposition

The most damning and controversial scene in The Apprentice sees Donald Trump violently sexually assaulting his wife. This ensues after Trump informs her that he’s no longer attracted to her following her breast enlargement surgery, causing her to retort by calling him fat, which enrages him. This is another aspect of the movie that falls under the umbrella that the Trump campaign claimed to be entirely fictional but comes directly from Ivana Trump in her 1989 divorce deposition. In 2015, Ivana Trump amended this claim to ABC News, saying the following:

“[O]n one occasion during 1989, Mr. Trump and I had marital relations in which he behaved very differently toward me than he had during our marriage. As a woman, I felt violated, as the love and tenderness, which he normally exhibited towards me, was absent. I referred to this as a ‘rape,’ but I do not want my words to be interpreted in a literal or criminal sense.”

As for what actually occurred, only Donald Trump knows, as Ivana passed away in 2022. The Trump campaign refuted the claim at the time, saying, “This is an event that has been widely reported on in the past; it is old news, and it never happened. It is a standard lawyer technique, which was used to exploit more money from Mr. Trump.” However, with Ivana Trump’s amended statement in mind, it seems like the scene depicted in The Apprentice wasn’t as unfounded as the campaign press releases claim.

Sources: The Wrap, Casetext, NBC, NPR, FBI, New York Times, The Trump Organization, PBS, Variety, The Economic Times, ABC News

The Apprentice depicts a young Donald Trump in 1970s New York, highlighting his formative relationship with Roy Cohn, a ruthless attorney. As Trump seeks to establish his own legacy, Cohn identifies him as an ideal protégé, drawn to his ambition and determination to succeed at any cost.

Director

Ali Abbasi

Release Date

October 11, 2024

Runtime

123 Minutes