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Claim

In the year 1991, Donald Trump witnessed a mugging from his limousine. He told his driver to pull over, got out, confronted the attacker, and caused him to stop.

a newspaper clipping of the article containing the claim

Sources

I googled this a bit, and found an article in The Epoch Times describing this event. The source of the article is another news article on Philly.com. Unfortunately, the Philly.com article is behind a pay wall.
There also appears to be a picture of a New York Daily News article being circulated.

Evidence In Support

There is that news article and the image. The Epoch Times is a real paper, and the articles writer still works there. According to Wikipedia, the author of the article (James Rosen) did write such an article, though the source it cites doesn't confirm that, just that such an article was being circulated during the 2016 election.

Some details make sense, for example Paula Abdul did indeed perform in the Meadowlands Arena at that time; then called the Brendan Byrne Arena.

Evidence Against

No major outlets seem to have discussed this story, even those friendly to the president. A Google image search shows both a white and yellow version of the article, with the exact same cropping. The article says there is no police report. The New York Daily News doesn't have a stellar reputation.

SQB
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FifthArrow
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    If there's no police report, what kind of information are we looking for here? At best we could get to the point that Trump or someone close to him claimed that this happened, which isn't much better than saying a newspaper claimed it happened. – Cubic Feb 27 '18 at 13:51
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    Thanks, and great point. My main concern is that I can’t verify the existence of the original news article. So proof of the original article, or a claim from someone with direct knowledge (the president or his close associates) would be sufficient. – FifthArrow Feb 27 '18 at 13:58
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    (1/2) Major problems with trying to prove or disprove this article. The original article (https://www.scribd.com/doc/306393853/Mugger-s-Trumped-Donald-Trump-Stops-Attack) only has un-named people capable of confirming the story. An anonymous source is the one that confirms Trump got out and stopped the attack. The victim and the doctor that the victim was left with are un-identified. The only person who is named in the article outside of Trump denies the claim, but is also a 16 year old student and not a public figure. – DenisS Feb 27 '18 at 14:45
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    (2/2) No police report was filed, which is EXTREMELY suspicious because it would at least classify as Felony Assault with a Deadly Weapon (https://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/criminal-law/violent_crimes/assault-with-deadly-weapon.htm) but not enough evidence to deny the claim. The path from Trump Tower in Manhattan to (what is now) the Izod Center would have put him in the area of 45th and 9th, as is claimed in the article, but is not enough to prove the claim. – DenisS Feb 27 '18 at 14:57
  • @DenisStallings An image of that article would be a useful addition to the question. – SQB Mar 02 '18 at 07:38
  • It very much looks like an article was written in 1991, so details like that Paula Abdul performance would have been right (but if someone forged it in 2016, you'd expect them to put in that kind of detail as well if they were clever). Whether that articul is truthful, made up, or exaggerated, nobody knows. – gnasher729 Mar 02 '18 at 13:46
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    @gnasher729 I highly doubt it was forged, for multiple reasons. 1. If it was forged to be pro trump, they would not have included the bit about contrasting testimony. If it was forged to be anti trump, it wouldn't have been anything like this. 2. We know the writer, and he has verified that he wrote the story. 3. If it was forged, it would be very easy to prove that it wasn't in the paper since there are enough identifying features to figure out what paper and approximately what date it was in – DenisS Mar 05 '18 at 19:12
  • In theory the mugger could also confirm the story. If its beyond the statute of limitations period and he is a Trump supporter, anything's possible. – StayOnTarget May 10 '20 at 13:34
  • Newspapers.com has this article in their archives from the [Nov 20, 1991, NY Daily News](https://nydailynews.newspapers.com/search/?query=%22donald%20stops%20attack%22&dr_year=1991-1991). But that just proves that the article existed, not that anything in it was factual. – shoover Aug 25 '23 at 19:56

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