Donald Trump has admitted he used aliases to promote his
business affairs but still denies he impersonated his publicist to brag about
himself during interviews in the 1980s.
The presumptive Republican nominee owned up to the trickery
during an interview with the late-night chat show host Jimmy Kimmel on
Wednesday.
"You know, over the years I have used aliases...I used
the name Barron and made a very good deal using that name," he said,
adding that it became the inspiration for the name of his own son, Barron
Trump.
Despite this, two weeks ago Mr Trump denied ever using
aliases during a TV interview where he was confronted with an audio recording
of an apparent Trump publicist named "John Miller" whose voice
sounded remarkably similar to his own.
"To me that didn't sound like my voice," he said
and denied that he was infamous for impersonating his own press officers and
publicists when speaking to reporters in New York in the 1980s.
In the bizarre audio recording, uncovered by the Washington
Post, "John Miller" praises Trump as "a good guy [who] is not
going to hurt anybody" and speaks at length about his great business
acumen.
"Miller" even goes on to suggest that the singer
Madonna "wanted to go out with" Mr Trump, as well as claiming that
"important, beautiful women call him all the time."
The cadence, tone and choices of phrase used by
"Miller" are all strikingly similar to Mr Trump's own manners of
speech.
The admission comes a day after violent protesters outside a
Trump rally threw burning items at police and toppled barricades, Trump's
afternoon rally in Anaheim was boisterous but less heated.
Clashes erupt outside Donald Trump rally in New MexicoPlay!
00:40
He railed against "Crooked Hillary" Clinton and
leaders in his own party who haven't yet endorsed him.
Outside, demonstrators quietly held up signs reading
"Love and Peace" and "Migration is beautiful" during the
rally, but the modest crowd grew rowdier when Trump supporters came outside.
The two sides shouted at each other as dozens of police, some on horseback,
moved in to prevent a renewal of the violence Tuesday night in New Mexico.
Five people were arrested as a line of police slowly moved
scattered protesters along a nearby street.
Inside, Trump's rally was interrupted several times by
protesters who were escorted out of the Anaheim Convention Center.
