Transcripts of Donald Trump’s depositions in the Trump University fraud case show that opposing lawyers used the opportunity to ask him political questions in an effort to undermine his credibility.
For example, as the San Diego Union-Tribune notes, Trump was asked about statements from 2008 in which he touted Hillary Clinton as a potential president, including ““I know Hillary, and I think she would make a great president or vice president” and “Bill Clinton was a great president.”
Trump explained: “When you’re in business, you would like to have the politicians on your side,” adding: “Now that I see what she’s done and how she’s handled herself and and how she’s handled her emails and all of the problems that she’s got, I would say she wouldn’t make a very good vice president or president.”
The transcripts offer a new twist in the controversy over Trump’s comments on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge who is hearing the case. Trump recently said that Curiel could be biased against him because of his Mexican heritage, given Trump’s own positions on border security, illegal immigration and trade with Mexico.
The statements triggered accusations of racism, and counter-accusations that Curiel ought to have recused himself, given his membership in Hispanic lawyers’ associations opposed to Trump’s candidacy and linked to boycotts against Trump’s business interests.
Curiel ordered the transcripts and other materials in the case released last month.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case asked other questions with a political twist in order to boost their contention that Trump had defrauded students in Trump University by promising him more than the course could deliver.
One question, for example, was: ““When promoting things, you think it’s important to play to people’s fantasies, correct?” Trump’s lawyer objected to the question.
Trump has argued that the number of students who were satisfied with their real estate education vastly outnumbered those who were unhappy.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new e-book, Leadership Secrets of the Kings and Prophets: What the Bible’s Struggles Teach Us About Today, is on sale through Amazon Kindle Direct. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.