New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is confident that his state’s case against Donald Trump and Trump University will prove that the real estate mogul pocketed millions of dollars from the now defunct program.
“He keeps saying he’s going to win the case, but he keeps losing motions” in court, Schneiderman said today on ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”
Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in California and one in New York, where Schneiderman is pursuing fraud-related charges.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, released a campaign ad Wednesday featuring a few former students praising Trump University.
Donald Trump Uses Former Students to Fire Back in Trump U Controversy Inside the Trump University Sales Playbook Clinton Calls Trump a ‘Fraud,’ Accuses Him of Trump U ‘Scam’“The fact that they can find a few people to put on TV — it’s just not a defense in a court of law,” Schneiderman said today in response to the ad.
“We have laws against running an illegal, unlicensed university. This never was a university. The fraud started with the name of the organization,” he said. “It was really a fraud from beginning to end.”
Trump has denied the allegations against Trump University, arguing that he could have settled the cases. “I don’t want to settle cases when we are right,” he said at a rally in San Diego.
Schneiderman said, “The initial estimates are that [Trump] personally pocketed $5 million” from Trump University. 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. We’re confident that he didn’t do this for free.”
One of Trump’s arguments is that Schneiderman, who sits on the Hillary for New York Leadership Council, is biased and the lawsuit is for political purposes brought up as Trump is running for office.
Schneiderman asserted that it is “not at all” a political case. “The case was brought in August 2013 over a year of investigation and extensive negotiations with Trump,” Schneiderman said.
He also said that if Trump wins the White House, he could still be called to testify as a sitting president. “Sure,” the attorney general said. “He doesn’t have immunity from civil fraud trials.”