Trump: 'I have very little debt'

Donald Trump on Monday shrugged off a New York Times report that detailed at least $650 million in debt among the various companies that Trump owns, suggesting that it is comparably low when the total value of his business empire is taken into consideration.

"Well, the value — if the value is $11 billion, it's a very small amount of debt," the Republican nominee told "Fox & Friends" in a telephone interview. "I have very little debt relative to the assets. I have massive assets."


A Times report published Saturday documented "at least $650 million in debt — twice the amount than can be gleaned from public filings he has made as part of his bid for the White House" in Trump's holdings. Trump previously claimed his assets to exceed $10 billion.

"I guess they said the two assets they were talking about — they went out and did an appraisal. I think they said $3.7 billion. That's put down in a little line," Trump said, referring buildings in Manhattan and San Francisco.

Trump continued, "Compared to my assets, I think I have less than 5 percent or so in debt, which is a very low debt."

"Now, the smart people that read that story thought it was a good story," Trump said. "Some people didn't understand the story, but when you get to $300 million or $600 million, but you have massive buildings and big assets that's a very small amount of money. I have very little debt."

Trump has previously dubbed himself "the king of debt."

"I’m great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me,” Trump told CBS in June. “I’ve made a fortune by using debt, and if things don’t work out I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that’s a smart thing, not a stupid thing.”