Days after presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) called Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s university a fraud, Trump struck back, calling for the “lightweight senator” to retract the “misleading ads” which were released by Rubio’s Conservative Solutions PAC.
Surveys completed by two of the three individuals featured in Rubio’s attack ads show “overwhelming support for the school” and “written praise of their experience,” according to a press release, including surveys written by Kevin Scott and Bob Guillo. A third survey is reportedly being obtained by Trump’s campaign and is of “similar nature.”
Donald J. Trump is requesting the immediate retraction of the ads created by Conservative Solutions PAC, which clearly was unlawfully coordinated with lightweight Senator Marco Rubio on these misleading commercials. The ads feature three individuals who are part of a lawsuit against Trump University, an educational program that has a 98% approval rating from all attendees. These individuals provided written praise of their experience in school surveys (View Kevin Scott & Bob Guillo).
Trump referred to the pending class-action civil lawsuit as “minor,” noting that he decided not to settle it “out of principle.” He reiterated that in addition to a having a “98% approval rating,” the school received an “A” rating from the Better Business Bureau:
Lightweight Marco Rubio is grasping at straws and produced terrible ads featuring three people who all provided written statements praising the program. I demand an immediate retraction of these false and libelous ads. It just shows how low a failing campaign will go to help their failing candidate.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office reportedly filed a separate civil complaint against Trump University for $40 million, accusing him of “racial demagoguery” after Trump said that he believed the judge heading the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, was pushing an otherwise “throwaway” case due to personal hostility stemming from comments Trump made about Mexican immigrants coming to America illegally. Trump pointed to the judge’s Hispanic ethnicity in comments.
Schneiderman reportedly sued Trump University in 2013, alleging it committed fraud and resulted in at least 5,000 people losing millions of dollars. The mainstream media has not yet reported on whether or not graduates of the seminar have profited from the real estate advice.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also criticized Trump for the ad put out by Rubio’s team.
The press release put out by the Trump campaign points out that Schneiderman had sought financial support from Trump’s daughter, among others close to his campaign:
When he did not receive contributions he went after Mr. Trump with this frivolous lawsuit based on less than 2% of Trump University attendees. The law firm suing Mr. Trump made a major contribution to Eric Schneiderman before Schneiderman entered the lawsuit. Mr. Trump has won most of the case, which Schneiderman is now appealing.
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz.