A federal judge ordered Friday the release of Trump University internal documents in a class-action lawsuit against the defunct real estate school owned by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
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The order by U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego, which came Friday in response to a request by The Washington Post, calls for the documents to be released by Thursday. However, The Washington Post disputed this in April because “Trump’s pursuit of the presidency made his business dealings a matter of public interest and that an inactive company had no compelling reason to maintain secrecy”, wrote the Post Saturday, when it reported Curiel ordered the document release.
The documents are part of two class-action lawsuits two former students brought against Trump, calling the school a scam, as well as a third, $40-million suit by the New York Attorney General, which accuses the company of operating an unlicensed university.
Curiel issued his order to unseal the documents on the same day that Trump called him a “hater” and said the Indiana-born judge was a “Mexican”.
Legal scholars said Trump could face consequences for slamming the judge, although many speculated that Curiel was unlikely to sanction him formally. “Because what Judge Curiel is doing is a total disgrace, OK?”
Trump has been named as a witness for the defense, but has questioned the integrity of the trial and said students gave the courses a 98 per cent satisfaction rate.
“Defendant’s (Trump’s) assertion that the information retains any commercial value is speculative given the lack of any support for the statement that TU “may” resume operations after six years, and the public disclosure of the 2010 Playbook on the Internet”.
Since the early 1980s, Trump personally has been sued at least 150 times in federal court, records show. He spent 12 minutes of a 58-minute address delivering one of the most personal attacks of his campaign, according to the Wall Street Journal, and argued Curiel should be removed from the case.
The judge had previously floated the idea of a June trial but then previously settled on an August date before Trump’s rise in the primaries.
Trump University has emerged as a thorn in the billionaire businessman’s side as he campaigns for president.
“If someone goes and takes our classes and decides to sit on their couch and not apply them, I can’t help that, OK?”
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“We’re in front of a very hostile judge”, Mr. Trump said. The presumptive GOP nominee has noted the Curiel’s ethnicity. “He’s a hater”, Trump said of Curiel, CNN reported. “He’s Hispanic – which is fine”.
