On Friday the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, dismissing criticism from legal experts on the right and left, pressed his case against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, saying the Indiana-born judge is biased against him because “he’s a Mexican”.
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In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said Curiel’s heritage and membership in a Latino lawyer’s association presented an “absolute conflict”.
Curiel is an American citizen, born in IN, to parents who had emigrated from Mexico.
This isn’t the first time Trump has attacked Curiel.
The biggest news in the political world over the last week has been the escalation of information involving the Trump University fraud case.
Trump’s bomb-throwing rhetoric helped him defeat 16 Republican rivals for the party’s nomination for the November 8 election. There should be no trial. “I’m building a wall”, Trump said.
“The man (Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel) is not Mexican”. So if anything, you’d think he’d be liking this judge, but how unsafe is this for those Republicans who are on the fence right now when they hear that he’s just calling this judge a Mexican and saying he’s conflicted?
In an interview aired today on CNN, Trump defended the defunct university, which he’s vowed to resurrect if elected president, as “fantastic”.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that some legal experts are anxious Trump’s comments show a disregard for judicial independence.
“I think I’m going to do very well with Hispanics”, Trump added.
“If this continues, I would hope that some prominent federal judges would set Mr. Trump straight on what’s appropriate and what’s not in our democracy”, Burbank said. “It’s an inherent conflict of interest”, Trump continued.
Reminded on CNN that Curiel is American, Trump doubled down: “he’s of Mexican heritage, and he’s very proud of it”.
“I’ve had bad rulings (by Curiel), I’ve been treated very unfairly”. On Friday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said of the statements about the judge: “It’s reasoning I don’t relate to, I completely disagree with the thinking behind that”.
The judge’s friend, former U.S. Attorney Gregory Vega, scoffs at the notion that Curiel will be in any way influenced by Trump’s remarks.
In March, Hillary Clinton, while trying to explain her $30 billion plan to aid coalfield communities said “we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business”.
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Navarro, who backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush during his unsuccessful presidential campaign, said she doesn’t now have a candidate to support. And we all know how Trump feels about our neighbors south of the border (hint: he’s called them “rapists” and “criminals”).
