Hillary Clinton suggested Donald Trump would undermine judges merely for being women in an interview taped Friday.
“He would try to disqualify any woman who is a judge because he has said terrible things about women,” Clinton told ABC News reporter Elex Michaelson as she continues a last-minute whirlwind tour of California.
Clinton made this assertion in response to a question about Trump’s public feuding with the judge in the civil case over Trump University, a former venture that promised to teach secrets to success in real estate. Trump has questioned the impartiality of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel, often bringing up his Mexican heritage. Curiel, in turn, released sealed court documents to the public — later pulling some of them because he had “mistakenly” revealed sensitive information about several parties in the case.
Clinton said that Trump’s attacks on Curiel’s heritage set a dangerous precedent for the country — including women who serve as judges, according to an ABC reporter’s transcript.
I found this so disturbing. If our president doesn’t believe in the rule of law, doesn’t believe in our Constitution, with the separation of powers and an independent judiciary, that is one of the most dangerous signals that we are dealing with somebody who is a demagogue, who would rip up our most valued beliefs.
It makes no sense to me. The judge was born in Indiana; yes, he’s of Mexican heritage! Donald Trump is apparently of German heritage. What does that mean? We’re all Americans.
And, when I think of everybody that he has attacked — he would try to disqualify any woman who is a judge because he has said terrible things about women? Any Muslim American who is a judge anywhere — you can go down the list of who he insulted.
She also made a crack about Trump’s “German heritage,” at a time when Democrats, journalists, entertainers, and protesters explicitly call Trump a Nazi.
Trump named three women as potential Supreme Court nominees several weeks ago: Diane Sykes, Allison Eid, and Joan Larsen. His sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.