Posted on 02/23/2016 11:48:43 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Here's a part of the political calendar that nobody in the Republican Party seems to have noticed: This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced to take time out for some unwanted personal business: He's due to take the witness stand in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where he is being accused of running a financial fraud.
In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists. That makes it all but certain that the reality-show star and international businessman will be forced to be grilled under oath over allegations in the lawsuit that he engaged in deceptive trade practices and scammed thousands of students who enrolled in his "university" courses in response to promises he would make them rich in the real estate market.
Although the case has been winding its way through the courts for the past five years - and Trump has denied all wrongdoing - the final pretrial conference is now slated for May 6, according to the latest pleadings in the case. No trial date has been set, but the judge has indicated his interest in moving the case forward, the pleadings show.
"This is pretty amazing," said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican Party consultant, about Trump's upcoming due date in federal court. "Usually, you clean this stuff up before you run for president."
Trump's new lead lawyer in the case, Daniel Petrocelli, best known for representing one of the slain murder victims in a civil suit against O.J. Simpson, did not respond to emailed questions about Trump's upcoming testimony, including how long he expects his client to be on the witness stand.
As noted by Yahoo News last week, the Trump University case has already intruded on Trump's political schedule. On Dec. 10, 2015, during a day he was making international headlines over his pledge to ban Muslim immigrants from the United States, Trump managed to escape any press attention and give a closed-door pretrial deposition in the case, according to court filings reviewed by Yahoo News. Exactly what he said in the deposition remains under seal, but lawyers for Tarla Makaeff, a California yoga instructor who is the lead plaintiff in the case, cited portions of his testimony (blacked out in her pleadings) to support their contention that Trump has threatened to ruin her financially for bringing the lawsuit and that she needs protection from his "retaliation."
But the upcoming civil trial could be a much bigger burden on Trump's time. If it takes place in May, that would put it in the middle of the final phase of the GOP primary schedule: Nebraska and West Virginia vote on May 10, Oregon on May 17, and Washington state on May 24. Then on June 7, the biggest prize of all: the California primary (with 172 delegates at stake). New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota vote the same day.
While it is unclear how long the trial over Trump University will take, both sides have submitted lengthy witness lists: 72 individuals have been identified as prospective witnesses by the two sides. The case shows little sign of being settled. Trump just last December hired Petrocelli, a master litigator, and he recently identified 965 trial exhibits he expects to use at trial, including PowerPoint presentations, course curriculums, emails, letters, videos and other material. Picking jurors who have neutral views on Trump could present another time-consuming hurdle.
The core case revolves around the operations of a school Trump launched in 2005 with a promotional You Tube video, as well as ads that proclaimed, "I can turn anyone into a successful real estate investor, including you," "Are YOU My Next Apprentice?" and "Learn from my handpicked experts how you can profit from the largest real estate liquidation in history." The plaintiffs, former students at Trump University, allege they were misled into maxing out their credit cards and paying up to $60,000 in fees for seminars in hotel ballrooms and "mentoring" by Trump's "hand-picked" real estate experts. The lawsuit against the school, which is no longer in business, alleges the seminars turned into little more than an "infomercial" and the Trump mentors offered "no practical advice" and "mostly disappeared." New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed a separate suit in 2013 alleging fraud on the part of the "university," which was never an accredited institution and awarded no degrees.
“It’s journalistic malpractice that no one has yet asked Trump the same in the debates.”
Chris Wallace asked Trump about his tax returns Sunday. The answer Trump gave then he would give in a debate. “I pay as little taxes as I can. I don’t like the way the government spends my money.”
I would bet anything that is your attitude also.
“Hillary will look like a saint in comparison.”
And you know this how? Why haven’t you released the information?
ANSWER: To speed up the implosion so we can rebuild. Trump will be able to spin our nation's bankruptcy to the sheeple in a way that Hillary can't.
If the purported phone call means all that you are trying to imply, why is it public knowledge?
EXcept when the government is giving out free health care to prevent people from dying in the streets.
Sounds like Amway to me. It’s legal for Amway to preach get rich quick, but very few ever do.
Trump said they could use the techniques taught to get rich and if they didn’t, then they just weren’t cut out for it.
I think he really needs to show only one real estate student who did make it.
His counsel has advised silence on all of this — which isn’t unusual pre-trial — so his counter to the lawsuit can’t be voiced. That certainly gives his political opponents an opportunity to attack him. I imagine he can respond only by attacking them in a different area.
But the basic facts are true. People were attracted to a chance to get rich in real estate. Lots of them didn’t get rich quick. Surprise.
Heard on a radio show tonight a guy familiar with Trump’s NJ casino bankruptcies that said he ripped those companies to shreds and destroyed tons of jobs just to line his own pockets at the expense of the little guy.
The truth is a rare commodity these days.........
But there are couple of unspoken predicates which could cause real trouble. First, if Trump really believes that the problem with our trade deals is stupidity, he is more stupid than even I believe. I think he is saying that for two reasons, first, he wants a simple bumper sticker slogan to run a campaign with and, second, he wants to deflect investigation into his own fickle ideology.
The problem with our trade deals is that our politicians have quite deliberately favored one class of Americans over another class of Americans in the negotiations. Our negotiators are not stupid they are highly intelligent and they consciously sold out the rust belt for Silicon Valley, for example. The idea that a smart negotiator will recover jobs in the rust belt by out foxing Japanese negotiators is delusional. This is a political question and delegating it to Carl Ichan, for example, will only get negotiations which advance, Carl Ichan's worldview-or Donald Trump's.
Do you recall some years ago when we restricted the inflow of foreign automobiles? The dealerships of Japanese cars mobilized and got the restrictions removed. There is Newtonian law at play here, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Do we have the foggiest notion of what Donald Trump is going to do in reaction?
In other words, to expand the conversation to matters other than trade, policy decisions are being made by Donald Trump who has an ideology that is undefined, historically chaotic, certainly egocentric so we don't know what we will get. Putting "terrific people" in charge does not tell us a damn thing about what policies will be pursued. When Ronald Reagan was president we knew his ideological bias and we loved it and we trusted him to pursue it.
I'm forcing myself to refrain from saying, "I knew Ronald Reagan – And Donald Trump" But you get my drift.
You are correct. Jeff Roe was a big mistake. Maybe good on the state level, but not national. Jeff’s little deceitful plays and attacks didn’t help Cruz. Beck, nothing more to be said.
Nah bro. He's not stupid, that's for dam sure. And second, he understands that campaigning requires a bumper sticker slogan; after all, that is the best way to campaign in this Attention Deficit Disorder society. That actually speaks to his intelligence. And third, I have not seen any reticence to speak to his changing ideology. In fact, he steps right up to the plate -- repeatedly -- and states his belief system with comprehensive white papers.
Our negotiators are not stupid they are highly intelligent and they consciously sold out the rust belt for Silicon Valley, for example. The idea that a smart negotiator will recover jobs in the rust belt by out foxing Japanese negotiators is delusional.
You make a decent point here, one I agree with. It was, to my mind, an intelligent choice to offshore high-pollution rust belt jobs for clean silicon-based e-jobs. Seen China these days? Of course you haven't. They are covered in smog.
Donald Trump is a very smart man, albiet bombastic and smug. I will take a smart man as we enter an era of robotics and lessened need for human muscle. Now, it is more about the trading skills and continued expansion of our tech base, which is something I do trust Trump will prove masterful at.
Are you sick? Thats a stupid question
“:^)
Eloquence hasn’t served us well. To the contrary, the polished charlatans have repeatedly soiled the trust of liberty-minded voters — voters that are tired of being abused, and tired of the political devices crushing every chance for economic and moral recovery.
Save Cruz, not one candidate besides Trump has demonstrated the desire to overcome the institutionalized repression the GOP establishment regularly facilitates. I’m not condemning the entirety of Congress, but the resident aristocrats have rendered the necessary sea change an impossibility.
I have no problem with Trump’s brash personality. But if for you it’s a sign of trouble, I understand your reservations.
I have no problem with Trump's brash personality either except as it might relate to his electability in the general election. My concern goes to his very dubious history, to his, frankly, cruelty, and to his incoherent political philosophy.
Because Trump is not a doctrinaire conservative but a blatant narcissist, I question his desire to overcome "the institutionalized repression the GOP establishment regularly facilitates" except and unless the GOPe obstructs his designs.
Nevertheless, I'm now on record as believing that he will be the nominee and I will support him in the general. My phrase is, I will surrender all to this process except my self-respect.
>> I will surrender all to this process except my self-respect
You’re certainly not alone, FRiend.
Here’s an original Trump University ad on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvaaeHP9xtQ
Here are some excerpts about the lawsuit from another article which a moderator deleted right after I posted it for no reason and with no explanation sent to me. Trump also lied in the debate that he had “won” any of the lawsuits according to this excerpt. I have no idea why anyone thinks Trump has any standing to claim anyone else is a liar.
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/trump-university-lawsuits-emerges-in-campaign-212931048.html
The developer is being sued in federal court by former students who claim they were defrauded of thousands of dollars in fees.
Trump is slated to be a witness in an upcoming civil trial in San Diego. A class-action suit accuses the developer of defrauding thousands of students in his unaccredited, for-profit “Trump University,”
...the ongoing fraud cases against him — there are actually three he is currently facing...
...Trump, who claimed he had won “most” of the lawsuits he has faced over the issue. In fact he has failed in repeated attempts to get the suits dismissed. The San Diego case will be the first to go to trial.
...lawyers for Tarla Makaeff...the lead plaintiff...cited portions of his testimony...to support their contention that Trump has threatened to ruin her financially and that she needs protection from his “retaliation.”
...the school Trump launched in 2005 with a promotional YouTube video, as well as ads that proclaimed, “I can turn anyone into a successful real estate investor, including you,” “Are YOU My Next Apprentice?” and “Learn from my handpicked experts how you can profit from the largest real estate liquidation in history.” The plaintiffs, former students at Trump University, allege they were misled into maxing out their credit cards and paying up to $36,000 in fees...for seminars in hotel ballrooms and “mentoring” by Trump’s “hand-picked” real estate experts. The lawsuit alleges the seminars turned into little more than an “infomercial” and the Trump mentors offered “no practical advice” and “mostly disappeared.”
...another outstanding class-action lawsuit...accusing Trump of a “pattern of racketeering activities.”
Trump’s lawyers have adamantly denied the charges. “None of it is true. No one was defrauded,” said Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s general counsel...like everything else, if people don’t put the effort into it, they don’t succeed.”
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