Speaking Tuesday night at a Republican fundraiser he said "if you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations, your house just went down 75% in value". 

 

He has previously suggested the figure is 65%. 

 

"And they say the noise causes cancer. You told me that one, OK." He reportedly made circles with his hand, addressing an unknown person in the audience. 

 

Trump's dislike of wind turbines is well known with the president first taking aim a decade before he was elected when they threatened the view from his Scottish golf course. 

 

In court documents he called them both "ugly" and "horrible". 

 

"I told the story about, at CPAC, the woman, she wants to watch television and she says to her husband, 'Is the wind blowing? I'd love to watch a show tonight, darling.

The wind hasn't blown for three days. I can't watch television, darling. Darling, please, tell the wind to blow," he said last month at a rally in Michigan. 

 

He has also previously called wind farms "like a graveyard for birds". 

 

Even Trump's allies like Republican senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has called the suggestion "idiotic". 

 

Iowa's electricity grid has over 30% wind power penetration. 

 

Grassley referred to himself as "the grandfather of the wind energy tax credits" in an interview with the Des Moines Register. 

 

"Pretty simple. I wish his staff would tell him I'm the father and now the grandfather of wind energy tax credits. I don't think he knows it, or I don't think he'd make those comments that aren't quite appropriate," he said. 

 

"I'm not a progressive but I'm in favour of alternative energy."

 

Grassley gave the president the benefit of the doubt and suggested his comments were tongue in cheek. 

 

More than 105,000 Americans are employed in the wind industry in 50 US, states according to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group CNN quoted.