Donald Trump, Jr. Biography

Businessman Donald Trump, Jr. is the oldest son of former U.S. President Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana Trump.

Donald Trump, Jr. was born in New York City in 1977. His father and grandfather, Fred Trump, were both real estate developers in the city. Donald and Ivana Trump were divorced in 1992; Don Jr. lived with his mother after the split and then went to prep school at The Hill School in Pennsylvania, from 1991 until his graduation in 1996. Donald Trump, Jr. then went on to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a bachelor’s degree in finance and real estate in 2000. (His father graduated from the same school in 1968).

After a year of travel (including a short stint bartending in Colorado) he joined the Trump Organization, his father’s business, in 2001. Donald Trump, Jr. was eventually named Vice President of Development and Acquisitions. (His brother and sister, Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump, earned the same title.) Among other roles, he was “responsible for all of the commercial leasing for the Trump Organization,” according to the company’s official website. Like the rest of his family, he became familiar to TV audiences during the run of his father’s reality show, The Apprentice, from 2004-15. Donald Trump, Sr. was elected president in 2016 and served a single term from 2017-2021.

In June of 2017, Donald Trump, Jr. was much in the news after The New York Times reported that he had met with a Russian lawyer after being promised documents that would “incriminate Hillary [Clinton]” and were “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” The Times said that Trump, Jr. replied, “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.” Trump, Jr. admitted to the meeting but denied any wrongdoing.