Trump pushed to oust disabled veterans from running street carts on Fifth Ave. that were “clogging and downgrading” the luxe shopping area

Despite claiming to be a champion of military veterans, President Trump repeatedly pushed to get disabled vets barred from working as street vendors on Fifth Ave., accusing the American heroes of “clogging and seriously downgrading” the luxe shopping destination in midtown Manhattan.

“Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market?" Trump asked in a 1991 letter to a then-powerful Albany lawmaker.

The effort succeeded in limiting permits to trade on the streets in “core areas” of midtown Manhattan. But Trump re-upped his objection to the Civil War-era law that helps disabled vets operate street carts in a 2004 letter to then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“Whether they are veterans or not, they [the vendors] should not be allowed to sell on this most important and prestigious shopping street,” Trump wrote in the “Dear Michael” missive.

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