Doug Ross @ Journal

"Congratulations. You've got... a mess on your hands."

Picture credit: http://www.shopnbc.com
Last I heard, Donald Trump is no fan of George W. Bush. But on the topic of the financial shenanigans surrounding the UN's new building, Trump was in stellar form. Testifying before a Senate subcommittee on federal financial management, Trump claimed the UN renovation project would likely cost $3 billion - more than double the original estimate and quadruple the cost of a competently managed project.

Sounds like a dry subject, right? His testimony was one of the greatest examples of ad hoc oratory ever heard. Here are a couple of highlights, as the Donald pounds the UN's egregious management team flatter than a sheet of aluminum foil under Michael Moore's mattress:

...when I went to see Kofi Annan, I was actually quite excited. Because I thought that I could save this country, this world, everybody, including myself, a lot of money, just by sitting down and having a meeting. Unfortunately, as our great Senator to my right said, There was just no response. They didn't really care... ...I wrote letters, and you have copies of the letters... I was expecting a call the following day from... whether it's Kofi Annan or his people. At that time, it was a man named Conners... Mr. Conners didn't know the first thing about what he was doing. He didn't know whether or not the curtain wall was going to be new, old, and didn't even know what a curtain wall was. I said, "What are you going to be doing with the curtain wall?" He said, "What is a curtain wall?" Now, he was in charge of the project. The curtain wall is the skin of the building. I said, "Will it be new or old?" He said, "I don't know." I said, "Are you using New York Steam? Or are you using a new boiler system?" He said, "I don't know what New York Steam is." It's a very common form of heating in the building. He had no clue... The one thing I found him very, very good at, is that he didn't want to lose control of this project. He was a man that absolutely wanted to keep control of the project, but he didn't have even the slightest inkling of what it was all about. Knew nothing about it. He then told me that he may move people out. He may not move people out. He didn't know. He thought he might. He wasn't sure. He had no... he just didn't know. So, I went through a whole list of questions for him, and then I realized that the United Nations is in serious trouble, because the $1.5 billion that they were talking about, there was no way it was going to happen... ...In New York City, we have a lot of asbestos buildings. And there's a whole debate about asbestos. I mean, a lot of people could say that if the World Trade Center had asbestos, it wouldn't have burned down. It wouldn't have melted, okay? A lot of people think asbestos...a lot of people in my industry think asbestos is the greatest fire-proofing material ever made. And I can tell you that I've seen tests of asbestos, verus the new material that's being used, and it's not even a contest. It's like a heavyweight champion against a lightweight from high school... ...I would love to help [the UN]. I don't want any money. I want nothing. I've made a lot of money. I don't care. I want nothing. There are lots of different... you know, if somebody said, what would be your dream on this site, while my dream is a dream that won't happen, but it's a dream that I might tell you. It's a dream to take the United Nations, and the Senator over here is probably going to go crazy, move it to the World Trade Center as a brand new United Nations. Sell the United Nations site, which is one of the greatest sites in the world, for much more money than the whole thing would cost, and you end up building a free United Nations at the World Trade Center, where I don't think anybody's going to want to stay anyway. I think it's going to be a very, very hard rent up at the World Trade Center. But let's assume that's not going to happen. Not a bad idea, though. Unidentified voice: ...got no problem with that. The Donald: Not too bad. He's got no problem, and most people don't have... Unidentified voice: Put Kofi Annan on the top floor.

Savor the sweet nectar of wisdom and read the whole thing. As well as the Sun's coverage entitled, "Trump Tells Congress U.N. Should Abandon Turtle Bay."