Donald Trump continuing his attack against the judge presiding over two of the civil fraud lawsuits against Trump University.
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In an interview with the newspaper, Trump said U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel had “an absolute conflict” in presiding over the litigation given that he was “of Mexican heritage” and a member of a Latino lawyers’ association.
“I’m building a wall”, Trump said, of his proposed 2,000-mile barrier along the US-Mexico border with the stated goal of preventing undocumented immigrants from entering the country.
Rather than express regret over evidence that Trump University workers were under orders to exploit potential clients by encouraging them to take on debt in order to afford the Trump Gold Elite package costing $35,000, Mr Trump reacted by projecting shame on Mr Curiel: “I think Judge Curiel should be ashamed of himself”, he said. There are three lawsuits against Trump University: two federal class action suits in California brought by former Trump U students and a state-based suit filed in NY by State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
Trump’s “university,” which was never an accredited institution of higher learning, has come under scrutiny since a federal judge hearing a case centered on a lawsuit against the enterprise allowed the release of formerly sealed internal documents. “It’s an inherent conflict of interest”, Trump said. Then again, most folks aren’t Donald Trump.
But that discrepancy isn’t the only one; Trump’s comments in the public arena, on several occasions, differ from what he said under oath.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s statements follow a speech in San Diego last week in which he lambasted Curiel as “a hater of Donald Trump” and “a total disgrace”.
The judge also released the names and addresses of former students, by mistake he says – he apologized for that – but it means we will be hearing a lot more about what Trump University was really like.
And she had one specific target: Trump University!
Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and one in NY that accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach secrets of success in real estate.
‘But we’ll come back in November. “Trump explained that to me by saying that he had planned to make the charitable donations from his personal accounts, but that because the university had had to shut down and was still paying legal expenses, those donations ‘never happened.’ According to Trump lawyer Alan Garten, Trump returned the money to the university from his personal funds once the legal troubles started”.
As for whether the state can prove it, Schneiderman said, “We’re going to get more information when we get to the damages phase of the trial”.
Trump also told the audience, that Judge Curiel is “Mexican”, despite the fact that he is an American.
Curiel was born in the U.S. state of Indiana. Trump’s lawyers argued that many students gave the real estate program positive ratings and those who failed to succeed are themselves to blame.
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Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton had similar words about the venture on Wednesday, during a rally at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.
