Kathie Lee Gifford broke down in tears as she revealed that Donald Trump kept her and her newborn daughter safe from a dangerous stalker over three decades ago by lending her his private helicopter.
The presenter and singer, 71, grew emotional as she told the anecdote on The Sage Steele Show, saying the incident happened 31 years ago as she was set to host the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City.
She said she and her newborn daughter Cassidy were on their way to the city when her late husband, NFL legend Frank Gifford, was warned by the FBI that she had received a death threat.
‘The FBI called my husband, and they said, ‘Mr. Gifford, we have a problem. There’s this guy. This is a very, very bad human being. [He] was a psychopathic murderer — a rapist and murderer. And he’s coming to get your wife,” Gifford recalled.
Gifford claimed that the FBI told her husband that the suspect had ‘raped and tortured’ his own aunt, but asked him to keep his family’s schedule the same to not tip off the killer.
She said her husband refused to agree until he made one phone call, and after the FBI allowed him to do so, ‘he called Donald.’
Gifford said that the suspect would have known her location because she always stayed at the Trump Plaza and Casino when she was in Atlantic City, but the now-president ensured her young family would be safe by flying her to the hotel.
As she teared up, Gifford said: ‘And this is why I will love this man for my whole life.’
Kathie Lee Gifford broke down in tears as she revealed that Donald Trump kept her and her newborn daughter safe from a dangerous stalker over three decades ago
Gifford said Trump stepped in when her late husband, NFL legend Frank Gifford, was warned by the FBI that she had received a death threat (the three are pictured together in 1995)
Gifford explained that she was unaware that Trump stepped in to protect her, and had ‘never heard it until just the other day.’
Although the star did not reveal the identity of the stalker, she said that the FBI found out about the plot against her because when the suspect ‘raped and tortured’ his aunt, the victim managed to escape and call the police.
‘Somebody told me how she finally got away from him,’ she continued. ‘He left. He stole her keys and told her, ‘Now I’m going to go after Kathie Lee.’
At the same time, Gifford was planning to drive to Atlantic City in a van with her young daughter, who was only six weeks old, and her nanny.
After her husband Frank called Trump to alert him to the danger, Gifford claims that Trump responded: ‘Frank, don’t you worry about it. I’ve got your girls. I’ve got your girls. And don’t you worry.”
‘And so Frank called back the FBI and said, ‘I called Donald Trump. He says he’s going to take care of my wife and my daughter,” Kathie said.
She said that, while still not knowing of the threat against her, she was surprised to be contacted by Trump and told that he was sending his private helicopter to take her to his hotel.
The star’s late husband Frank Gifford, who died in 2015, insisted on making ‘one call’ to Donald Trump after being warned by the FBI, she claimed in a recent interview
Gifford, pictured with the now-President and First Lady in 2005, said she will ‘always love’ Trump for protecting her from the stalker three decades ago
Trump didn’t reveal the reason for the surprise act of generosity, and made up an excuse that it was ‘because you’ve had a baby’ when she questioned him, Gifford said.
‘I said, “Donald, women have babies every day. It’s no big deal. Thank you. But it’s no big deal,”‘ she recalled.
‘And he goes, “No, congratulations. So happy for you… I’m sending my helicopter for you and your baby and your nanny.”‘
After taking the helicopter ride to Atlantic City, Gifford said she arrived to find she was heavily protected by Trump’s security team.
‘I mean, these guys are major, major, and they’re like, “Mrs. Gifford, Mr. Trump wants you to know that we’re here for you,”‘ she recalled.
‘I didn’t know what they were talking about.’
Even as extra security joined her every day, Gifford said she didn’t question their presence too much as she had recently given birth and had ‘all kinds of stuff going on.’
‘I just never thought about it, you know?’ she said. ‘But he never said a word. Nobody said a word to me.’
Gifford grew emotional as she told the anecdote on The Sage Steele Show
She said she spent a week in preparation for the pageant without knowing about the threat against her life, and only realized on the day of the pageant when she saw a newspaper headline about the suspect coming for her.
When the organizers asked if she was reconsidering getting on stage, she said she responded: ‘Hell no… nobody’s going to make me afraid.’
Once she arrived home to Connecticut, Gifford said she went to a movie theater with her son, and an FBI agent told her the suspect had been caught.
‘In the middle of the movie, one of the FBI guys comes over and goes, ‘Mrs. Gifford, we got this son of a b****,’ she said.
‘I said, ‘Thank you so much.”
