Just hours before Donald Trump steamrolled through Super Tuesday, he may have suffered the biggest loss of his campaign to date. A New York state appeals panel gave the green light to a lawsuit against his real estate education program, Trump University, that could potentially sink his bid to buy the presidency. And Trump himself may have revealed something under oath that could ultimately cook his goose.
You may recall that back in 2013, New York state attorney general Eric Schneiderman sued Trump, alleging that Trump University–later known as the Trump Entrepreneurial Initiative–was a massive fraud. Schneiderman dropped the hammer after getting more than 70 complaints from former students who “enrolled” at Trump University from 2004 to 2010. The lawsuit claims that prospective students were lured by the promise of learning how Trump became a real estate mogul from instructors handpicked by Trump. Schneiderman contends that in truth, Trump University was an elaborate ruse to get people to sign up for expensive mentorship programs, in which students were stuck with $40 million in bills.
Schneiderman may have gotten significant ammunition from Trump himself. In depositions for a related suit in San Diego in 2015, Trump was shown pictures of several “instructors” and “mentors” that he supposedly handpicked–and didn’t recognize a single one. He actually admitted–under oath, mind you–that his business was so big that “I wouldn’t have had the time to interview anybody.” He made a similar admission in a 2012 deposition. He not only didn’t pick any professors, but had no role whatsoever in selecting the curriculum; indeed, he couldn’t name a single course. Instead, he directed the questions to Trump University’s former president, Patrick Sexton.
Trump’s lawyers tried to convince a three-judge panel of the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division that the lawsuit shouldn’t go forward because the three-year statute of limitations had run out. However, the court disagreed, pointing out that fraud claims have a six-year statute of limitations in New York. Lawyers for the Trump Organization called the decision “intellectually dishonest,” and plan to appeal. It’s a safe bet that any appeal will be hamstrung by Trump’s own words.
There’s a big difference between this lawsuit and all the hooey over Hillary Clinton’s email server and her role in the Benghazi attack–in the case of Trump University, there’s actually a there there. When Trump admits under oath that he didn’t really pick the professors or curriculum for a so-called university that bears his name, it makes you wonder what else is lurking behind the curtain.
From what I know of Schneiderman’s work, he’s probably already trying to pry that curtain open. It’s a safe bet those depositions will come up at some point during Schneiderman’s lawsuit. If Trump, Sexton, or anyone else involved with this operation testifies, suffice to say that the cross-examination will be VERY interesting. And even if there’s nothing criminal involved, it does raise questions about Trump’s competence as a businessman. Remember, Trump is running for president primarily on his success as a CEO.
So at the very least, Trump is grossly incompetent. At worst, he’s a fraud. Either way, you can add this to the growing list of reasons why he has no business running for president.
