President Trump avoided serving in the Vietnam War largely due to a 1968 diagnosis of bone spurs, two years after he had been declared fit for military service and after four education deferments. Now, the daughters of a podiatrist in Queens tell The New York Times that their late father often spoke of helping Trump avoid Vietnam as a favor to Trump's father, Fred Trump, the podiatrist's landlord. The podiatrist, Dr. Larry Braunstein, died in 2007 and no paper records have been found to support the claim, but his role in helping Donald Trump get a military exemption "was family lore," said daughter Dr. Elysa Braunstein, 56. "It was something we would always discuss."
"I know it was a favor," Elysa Braunstein told the Times after the newspaper contacted her and sister Sharon Kessel, who corroborated Braunstein's account. They said the implication was always that Donald Trump did not really have a disqualifying foot ailment and a second podiatrist, Dr. Manny Weinstein — who moved into the first of two Fred Trump–owned apartments in 1968 — may have taken part in the apparent scheme.
"The small favor" their father got "was access to Fred Trump," said Elysa Braunstein. "If there was anything wrong in the building, my dad would call and Trump would take care of it immediately." Dr. Alec Hochstein told the Times that in the 1990s, Lenny Braunstein said Fred Trump was "very open to negotiating with him and letting him stay in the space at a rent he was comfortable with."
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Trump has never provided a clear explanation for his deferment. He told the Times in 2016 that a doctor whose name he did not recall provided "a very strong letter" about his bone spurs, and he has often said that a high draft lottery number "ultimately" kept him out of the war, though the lottery did not begin until December 1969. You can read more about Trump's draft history and the possible role of Dr. Braunstein at The New York Times.
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