Donald Trump is scheduled to go on trial this month in a class-action lawsuit against him and his now-defunct Trump University, potentially taking the witness stand weeks before his inauguration as president of the United States.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the Indiana-born jurist who was accused of bias by Trump during the campaign for his Mexican heritage, will hold a hearing Thursday on jury instructions and what evidence to allow at trial, which begins Nov. 28.
Among the flurry of requests from both sides to be considered Thursday is a highly unusual petition by Trump’s attorneys to exclude any statements made by or about their client during the presidential campaign. The request would apply to Trump’s tweets, a video of Trump making sexually predatory comments about women, his tax history, revelations about his private charitable foundation and public criticisms about the judge in the case.
Trump’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, told the judge last month that evidence tied to the campaign would be irrelevant to the civil fraud case and may prejudice or inflame a jury, jeopardizing rights to a fair trial. He warned that allowing the jury to consider Trump’s remarks “carries an immediate and irreparable danger of extreme and irremediable prejudice to defendants, confusion of issues and waste of time.”
The lawsuit filed in 2010 on behalf of former customers alleges that Trump University, which was not accredited as a school, gave seminars and classes across the country that were like infomercials, pressuring people to spend up to $35,000 for mentorships and, in the end, failing on its promise to teach success in real estate. The claims mirror another class-action complaint in San Diego and a lawsuit in New York.
Petrocelli told reporters in May that Trump planned to attend most, if not all, of the trial and would testify.
“He has very, very strong feelings about this case,” Petrocelli said at the time.
At the May hearing, Petrocelli asked for a trial after Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, but the judge raised concerns about distractions if Trump won the election. The attorney said the period between the election and swearing-in is extremely hectic for a president-elect but that it was preferable to holding a trial during the campaign.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I can bet that Trump is innocent and the jury will find so! Whoever takes a class of this nature only ups his chance of success, not guaranteeing success. Circumstances vary in any business and most businesses will be subject to failure if not properly set up and operated correctly, and even those that are supposed to succeed often do not. This success or failure cannot ever be attributed to a school or to an individual not directly operating the enterprise.
Robert is correct. These folks with buyer’s remorse should drop their lawsuit and let President Trump devote
his time to improving the lives of all Americans which includes them.
Trump told the truth about this judge…he is an active member of the Raza Unida Party …..
SOOOOO I guess if you are a bad realtor and suck at buying and selling property, one way of making money in the real estate business is to sue the school that tried to teach you the trade.
I think every low life college grad that cant make it in life should sue for their tuition back.
Soon they all may be able to get their weed legally and continue to be waste cases.
How they will select impartial jury ??? Everybody knows about him through the campaign. No matter it goes it won’t be fair. They should just drop it.
As I recall that was during the housing sales slump not many realtors were making any real money back then. So how is this case even relevant? So these people started the course when home prices were up the bubble burst by the time they got a chance to use the information by that time it was next to useless and now they want their money back but they still have the information. There is no real school that teaches moxy or the art of haggling or what he calls “The art of the deal”. You learn that by doing in the School of hard knocks no one gets accredited in any School or University on the subject the diploma is the teachers track record and his bottom line. So if push comes to shove that can be verified by the persons tax records or net worth that’s their diploma, case closed…
THE LEFT IS GOING TO FIND SOMETHING TO BADGER TRUMP ABOUT OVER THE NEXT 4 YEARS.
I HOPE HE KEEPS FOCUSED AND MAY GOD BE WITH HIM.
if they do badger himand disrupt him in getting the job done then he and those of us that voted for him will be Blaming those for his not getting what he promised to do, so give him a way out those whom do not like him go ahead,,
They can’t change the fact that he is the President-elect. They can’t get rid of him. I’ll bet their strategy will be to do everything they can to cause him to fail in as many ways as possible. Still, I think he will rise above anything like that and succeed brilliantly as POTUS.
You said it! It won’t matter what basis the left has for a case against Trump. They are hypocritical sore losers???? and should just sit down to a bowl of crow, at the table with Hillary and Bill!
You said it! It won’t matter what basis the left has for a case against Trump. They are hypocritical sore losers???? and should just sit down to a bowl of crow, at the table with Hillary and Bill!
Realestate is like playing the stock market. It’s a gamble. Also, if one goes to any school to become a mechanic, Medical Assistant, etc, it does not guarantee you that you will get that job or be successful. It’s called work hard at it and earn it. Something that todays education and social systems don’t teach our kids.
The only things that need to be considered in a trial related to Trump University are things related to the university. It is irrelevant to bring up every other piece of Trump business. In the long run such an evidence dump might be counterproductive for the plaintiffs. The more time jurors spend on irrelevant material the less attention and value they will place on relevant material.
Every marketer I have known has always stated that they will not guarantee success because they do not know you or what you will do–they even warn that most people are looking for shining objects and will buy their course but most will put them on a shelf and never use them-so they make no guarantees—-it is up to you—-just because I went to school to become a Doctor does not guarantee I will be a success–it requires you to use your education and apply it –and you have to indulge in a passion for lifelong learning—there are no guarantees and a lot of ups and downs!
Another waste of taxpayers money by the leftists. If there is a trial it will go on forever, hopefully it will last until after the
inauguration and will get Donald off the hook so he can tend to real issues. It appears that all of his corporations have
only his name on it similar to sports stars who endorse the products. We’ll see how this goes.
Life is about choices. If real estate did not work out for some but worked great for others it was more to do with due diligence and hard work the the RE course. Crying towels work well for most losers.
I would really like to read the complaint to see if this is a pure contracts suit or possible criminal fraud. If it’s a possible criminal charge that could follow if he loses the civil case, and is then convicted of a felony, he would not be able to be sworn in as President. Watch out for Hillary people trying to manipulate a jury, or have a DA file criminal charges against Trump. I put nothing past that raging bitch to get her ass in that Presidents chair.