Just a few weeks before Donald Trump announced he was joining the GOP presidential race, former president Bill Clinton called him on the telephone and encouraged him to play a more substantial role in the Republican Party, according to associates of both men.
The call took place in late May, not long after Hillary Clinton officially announced she was running for president, The Washington Post reports. One Clinton aide says that while the phone call did take place, it was personal and the pair did not talk about the 2016 race, and another said Clinton called Trump after Trump "reached out to President Clinton a few times." The Trump sources, who asked to remain anonymous, said the call came when Trump was deciding whether to run, and that he was honest about his ambitions. They say Clinton did not urge Trump to run, but was interested in what he had to say and told him he was striking a chord with the conservative base.
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