Mark Cuban: Trump is a billionaire, I guess

Perhaps Donald Trump is a billionaire after all, entrepreneur and billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Monday. But not worth $10 billion, as he claims.

"You know, I think if it all came down to it, yes, because the price of New York real estate has just sky-rocketed over the last five years," Cuban told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day," days after questioning whether Trump is actually a billionaire on a New York radio show. "You know, assuming he hasn't had to keep on borrowing because he has had liquidity issues then, yeah, I would give him credit for being a billionaire. But is he worth 10 billion? Nah."


Cuban, a political independent who has made no secret of his designs as running mate of Hillary Clinton, said that his skill set complements well that of the presumptive Republican nominee. Cuban told BuzzFeed News last week after making the comments on the radio show that Trump would be a "puppet president."

Asked to expand upon those comments, Cuban said that Trump has done little to explain his vision.

"In order to be an effective leader, in order to define a vision and explain how you're going to accomplish that vision, you have to understand the issues. You have to dig deep and really have a solid understanding of everything that you can touch, really, everything that's important. And Donald really hasn't made that effort. If you look back over the last 10 months, you don't say, look, he has really started to show an in-depth grasp, nuanced grasp of all the issues that he's talking about. It's the exact opposite," Cuban said. "You know, he speaks in headlines. He tries to make headlines without any type of deep policy guides. And if you don't understand the issues, if you don't have in-depth knowledge of the policies and the reasons they may or may not work, you'll have to listen to other people, you'll have to be guided by others in everything. And so because of that, he will be a puppet president. Whoever is closest to him is going to have a whole lot more impact on this country than probably Donald will and what Donald's expectations or desires are."

Cuomo followed up, "Is that why you want to be his VP, as some sort of, like, sneaky play to have the full seat of power?"

"No, it's not a sneaky play on my part. I mean if it were a sneaky play, I’m not being very sneaky, am I? I'm a big believer that the greatest partnerships, the best partnerships aren't with people who, you know, think exactly the same. You want to have some variance in skill sets. You know, in my business career, all my best partners, all my biggest wins have come with partners who are the exact opposite, that complement my skill set," Cuban said.

"And you know, I know tech," Cuban continued. "Donald doesn't even send emails. Donald doesn’t have a clue about tech. So there's a lot of benefits there. I'm an independent. I can discuss things with both sides of the aisle. So no, there’s no sneakiness about it. I think I complement his skill set very well."

Cuban also offered criticism of Trump's refusal to release his tax returns because they are under audit, calling that explanation "nonsense," while adding that he did not care about seeing them.

As far as Trump's persistent criticism of Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Cuban called it "pretty sad."

"I mean, it's trying to intimidate a judge for any reason is ridiculous, particularly the position he's in right now," Cuban said, alluding to the lawsuits against Trump University over which Curiel is presiding. "It's more a reflection on Donald. And the reality is, the lawsuits with Trump University go back long before Donald decided to run for president. You know, it's a Hail Mary on Donald's part because he knows he's wrong. It's a sad reflection on him."