Former New York Senate GOP Majority Leader Joe Bruno portrayed Hillary Clinton as both a two-faced, back-stabber and gracious pol in his upcoming autobiography.
“Perhaps the most political being I ever met was Hillary Clinton,” Bruno said of the Democratic presidential nominee.
Bruno, who served as majority leader from 1994 to 2008, recalled his first private meeting in 2001 with Clinton, who had just been elected to the US Senate.
“I met with her, and she assured me that the campaigns were over. It was time to govern, she said, and we had work to do for the people who depend on us,” Bruno said in his book (“Keep Swinging: A Memoir of Politics and Justice.”)
“It was a pleasant and productive conversation, and she hugged me before leaving,” Bruno recalled.
But Clinton then addressed a horde of reporters who were waiting outside Bruno’s office in the state capital.
“My staff later told me that when she was asked how the meeting had gone, she said fine, but added that she hoped to swing the majority in the NY Senate to the Democrats.” Bruno said, according to excerpts of his book, to be published next month.
Bruno felt Clinton stabbed him in the back.
“An hour later, I phoned her on the cell. She answered and I said, `I’m very puzzled, I thought we had a great meeting, and you go out and talk to the press about replacing Republicans. You told me the campaign was over, and we’re going to govern. So which did you mean? . . .”
Bruno said Clinton responded, “Oh Joe. You know how it is. I’m a Democrat and I made a political speech.”
After this initial dust-up, Bruno said he and Clinton did work well together and praised her for being “gracious toward me.”
“I remember seeing her at an event after my wife died, and Hillary broke away from a group and took the time to offer her condolences, a kindness that I’ve never forgotten,” he said.
Bruno also sized up GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump,calling the businessman and donor the Senate Republicans “the most unforgettable character I ever met.”
Bruno played golf with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago compound in Florida.
“When I first met him at his apartment, I walked in, shook hands, and before I even sat down, he led me over to the window and said, `See that big building over there? That’s mine See that building? That’s mine,’” Bruno said.
“When he was done pointing out his collection of high-rises, he began showing me his collection of autographed baseball bats, and I reached an inescapable conclusion: Donald had an ego as big as any of his buildings but he was so affable and charming, it was easy to like him,” he said.