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CNN anchor Anderson Cooper repeatedly pressed Donald Trump on Wednesday about the authenticity of the steaks the Republican presidential frontrunner touted at his news conference the night before.
"Just a couple factual things. Those steaks you showed, those aren't actually Trump Steaks, right?" Cooper asked during an interview.
Trump insisted they were authentic.
"I buy them," Trump said. "I'm not going to kill the cow."
"Trump Steaks: We sell the steaks through my clubs," Trump continued, as he and Cooper talked over each other. "I have many clubs and hotels. We sell the steaks."
In 2007, Trump hawked Trump Steaks through the Sharper Image consumer catalog. In a promotional video, Trump proclaimed that the "world's greatest steaks" were "by far the most best-tasting, most flavorful beef you've ever had."
Mitt Romney, the GOP's 2012 nominee, last week cited Trump Steaks as one of numerous discontinued Trump brands that were proof Trump wasn't a "business genius." Romney said this in a possibly unprecedented speech in which he said Trump wasn't qualified for the Oval Office.
But Trump had a pile of supposed Trump Steaks — as well as Trump-branded water, wine, and magazines — at a Tuesday-night news conference celebrating his latest string of primary wins.
"We have Trump Steaks," Trump said, telling the reporters there that the steaks would cost $50 each.
Because Trump Steaks are no longer sold at Sharper Image, people immediately questioned the authenticity of the brand. One observer noted that the packaging indicated the steaks came from Bush Brothers Provision Co., and the company confirmed to Bloomberg that it sold steaks to Trump-affiliated properties.
As Cooper repeatedly pressed him on the topic, Trump suggested that all steaks sold at his businesses were effectively "Trump Steaks":
It's the same thing. We do a tremendous steak business … We buy a lot of steaks from different places. I don't want to buy, if I'm in California, I don't want to buy my steaks from New York. We have different suppliers. We sell the steaks — and largely to our hotels and our clubs and things like that. It's a small business.
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Cooper wasn't convinced.
"The items you were showing last night in order to push back against Mitt Romney, the implication was that those are Trump Steaks available nationwide somewhere. They're not," Cooper told Trump.
"Well, they are available nationwide," Trump replied. "You can buy them at different places that I own. I own many, many places."
"You can buy them if you eat in a restaurant here or somewhere," Cooper said.
"Worldwide. Worldwide," Trump continued.
"You can't go to the internet and buy them," Cooper said.
