Trump Claimed Judge Could Not Rule Fairly Because ‘He’s a Mexican. We’re Building a Wall Between Here and Mexico.’
Donald Trump will settle lawsuits in New York and California against his now-defunct Trump University that allege the school defraud students who paid large sums to learn about real estate and meet the Manhattan billionaire. The New York Post reports the cases could be settled as early as Friday for $20 million to $25 million. Terms of the settlement include that Trump will admit no wrongdoing.
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who filed the class action lawsuit in 2013, had originally asked for $40 million. He called the for-profit scheme a “fraud from beginning to end,” and said “the initial estimates are that he personally pocketed $5 million from” the school.
“We have laws against running an illegal, unlicensed university. This never was a university. The fraud started with the name of the organization,†Schneiderman said in June.
The Post adds that Schneiderman charged Trump falsely promised “wannabe real estate developers they would learn the tricks of the trade from Trump and his hand-picked teachers.”
Instead, those who enrolled were pressured to take more expensive programs from people not selected by Trump. The closest they got to Trump himself was when they were able to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of him, Schneiderman alleged.
Trump had infamously claimed the judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, could not decide it fairly because he is “Mexican.” Curiel was born in East Chicago, Indiana, and is of Mexican descent.Â
Now President-elect, back in June Trump said, “we’re building a wall. He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico.” He added, “he is giving us very unfair rulings, rulings that people can’t even believe. This case should have ended years ago.”
Trump went on to claim that judges who are Muslim also might not rule fairly for him. “It’s possible, yes, absolutely,” they might not, he said when asked.