A federal judge’s refusal to release video of Donald Trump testifying in a lawsuit about the now-defunct Trump University denies critics of the Republican presidential nominee a chance to use potentially powerful images against him.
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Judge Curiel, however, wrote that “while there is a degree of legitimate public interest in the demeanor of the defendant in the deposition videos”, that did not outweigh the potential effects media scrutiny of the footage would have on a jury, the AP reports.
Trump’s attorneys had argued that the release of the videos would be used to smear his presidential campaign.
Separately, Curiel rejected an effort to make public video of Trump testifying under oath, which will protect the the White House candidate from having it included in attack ads. Trump’s lawyers, obviously, objected to this.
Full deposition transcripts provide the public with an ample amount of information about what Trump said under oath, Curiel ruled. Curiel said there was extensive evidence Trump had not personally met, interviewed or selected Trump University instructors, though he represented they had been handpicked. His lawyers contend the claims were only “puffery” to sell it to customers. In his order, the judge found that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Trump was involved in the “scheme to defraud” and whether he made representations that were “false and misleading” to students regarding the so-called university.
Whether or not Donald Trump becomes president of the United States, he’s set to stand trial after the November election on racketeering claims.
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Trump argued that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – a law that’s most famously been used to prosecute mobsters – shouldn’t be extended to consumer class action cases in the civil context. Trump in May had blasted the judge for how he has handled the case, saying in an appearance in San Diego he was a “Mexican” and Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall on the southwest border and deport millions of illegal immigrants biased the judge against him. Curiel was born in Indiana. Americans will be closely observing the statements coming from Judge Curiel and the candidate himself about the Trump fraud cases over the coming weeks, with the election drawing so near and a presidential candidate facing trials for such serious matters. Trump supporters have also pointed to his membership in La Raza Lawyers of San Diego, a San Diego Hispanic legal organization, that they say is connected to the National Council of La Raza, a more liberal political group.
