Did Bill Clinton Give Donald Trump His Blessing to Run for US President?

Sources from both the Donald Trump and Bill Clinton camps reveal the reality TV mogul had a private talk with the former Democratic president in late May, in which Clinton evidently blessed Trump’s bid to run for president in 2016.

The private telephone conversation between the two reportedly took place just a couple of weeks before Trump stepped into the country’s 2016 presidential race as a Republican Party nomination hopeful, anonymous sources told the Washington Post.

Bill Clinton was reportedly curious about Trump’s increasing activity on the side of the Republicans, though Trump’s allies denied that the former president urged the magnate to run. A Clinton aide reportedly denied the 2016 race was specifically discussed, and emphasized it was a “casual chat.”

“Mr. Trump reached out to President Clinton a few times. President Clinton returned his call in late May,” the aide said. “[W]e don’t make it a practice to discuss the president’s private conversations, we can tell you that the presidential race was not discussed.”

Trump sources said the call took place as the tycoon was making his final decision about running, that he was upfront about his ambitions, and that Clinton listened intently and analyzed Trump’s prospects for the race.

Though Donald and Hillary aren’t obviously buddies on the campaign trail, thee relationship between Trump and Clintons goes back years. The real-estate mogul donated to the Clinton Foundation and to Hillary’s Senate campaigns, and both Clintons attended Trump’s third wedding in 2003.

According to recent polls, Hillary leads Trump by roughly 10 percent, but she trails Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and Scott Walker in hypothetical matchups with those candidates.