Donald Trump is doing his best to turn away attention from an ongoing class-action civil lawsuit his former Trump University is facing. Instead, he has pointed out to the ethnic background of the judge overseeing his case.
On Fox News Sunday, the Republican Presidentiable was asked what U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's ethnicity had to do with the lawsuit. Trump replied that he thought it had "to do perhaps with the fact that I'm very, very strong on the border, very, very strong at the border, and he has been extremely hostile to me."
The lawsuit brought in front of the judge involved a one-year apprenticeship, which students of the Trump University were promised was ended after they paid for a three-day seminar. They were also promised to have a personal photo op with the presidentiable, but it turned out that they could only have a photo with a cardboard cutout. Most of the instructors were bankrupt real estate investors.
The campaign issue at Trump University was raised by Florida Senator Marco Rubio at the GOP debate held last Thursday. Rubio shared that the people who participated in the lawsuit had to borrow $36,000 just so they could attend a fake school and have a cardboard cutout photo with Trump. As shared on Yahoo News, Rubio says that this is what these people were suing for.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz added in to the Rubio's statement that it was "a fraud case." Cruz also wanted people to think about it "if this man is the nominee, having the Republican nominee on the stand in court, being cross-examined about whether he committed fraud."
Trump faced the lawsuit at a rally in Arkansas on Saturday. The presidentiable shares that this was a "small deal, very small."
Reports from The Blaze shared that, Trump specifically railed against the judge appointed to his case, pointing out that he was of Hispanic ethnicity. Trump shares that it was a case that should have already been junked years ago, "but because it was me and because there's a hostility toward me by the judge - tremendous hostility - beyond belief." As a side note, he added "I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He's Hispanic-which is fine."
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accused Trump of "racial demagoguery." Schneiderman's office has a separate $40 million civil complaint against Trump University for committing fraud and fleecing 5,000 people out of millions of dollars. The lawsuit was filed in 2013.
Trump offered students instruction on real estate investments on his business, Trump University.
Curiel could not be immediately reached for a comment.
