New York Daily News - 
Let me fix UN! 
By ELIZABETH WIDDICOMBE
DAILY NEWS WRITER 
Friday, July 22nd, 2005 

WASHINGTON - New York's flamboyant real estate king had a typically blunt message yesterday for a Senate subcommittee reviewing the renovation of UN headquarters: Hire me. 
With knockout wife Melania at his side and a bevy of paparazzi snapping furiously, Donald Trump dazzled a starry-eyed Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, charging the UN is being eaten alive in the shark-infested waters of Manhattan real estate. 
The bumbling bureaucratic giant just needs one thing, he argued: The Donald. 
Congratulations, Trump barked, You've got yourself a mess on your hands, and it's only going to get worse. 
UN planners have no idea what they're doing, he warned. We have major slime in New York ... in the form of contractors ... and every one of them will find their way to the UN. 
Trump said the $1.2 billion price tag was grossly inflated. There's only two reasons - gross incompetence or ... corruption. 
An Italian architectural firm has already perpetrated a world-class scam, he charged, billing a reported $44 million for its services. 
A Trump-run project would cost roughly half as much, and you could have the entire thing rebuilt in less than two years, he said. Under current plans, it will take that long for construction to begin. 
My building would be better, Trump said, It would be much newer, much richer. I would put in all marble floors on the ground - I like marble. 
When chairman Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) asked Trump if he would bid for the job, the mogul balked: First of all, they don't know what they want. They don't know what they have. They have no idea what they're doing. 
A UN spokeswoman said the UN would encourage Mr. Trump to bid on the project. 
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) called Trump's testimony a tutorial and breath of fresh air. He later gushed to the Daily News that Trump's performance was the best I've ever seen. It was fabulous.