Trump University lawsuit may be "mini IRS" scandal, says Trump
The $40 million lawsuit New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is pursuing against "Trump University" was motivated by politics and "could very well be a mini IRS" scandal, the program's namesake charged Monday.
Schneiderman in a statement described Donald Trump's "university" that promised lessons on how to get rich as an "elaborate bait-and-switch" designed to get people "to spend thousands of dollars they couldn't afford for lessons they never got." The real estate mogul-turned-reality TV star during an appearance on "Fox and Friends" suggested President Obama came up with the idea to sue his company's for-profit, unlicensed school.
"They meet on Thursday evening - I get sued by this AG Schneiderman... Saturday at one o'clock," Trump said. "Think of it. What government in the history of this country has ever brought a suit on Saturday? I never heard of such a thing.
"...They obviously did it very quickly, but probably Obama - maybe this is a mini IRS," he continued, tossing reference to findings that the agency ahead of the 2012 presidential election targeted conservative groups for excessive review. "Maybe we have to get the tea party after these people, because this could very well be a mini IRS."
Appearing Monday morning on CNN, Schneiderman said that while he did meet with the president Thursday, Trump's name never came up: "The president and I have much more important stuff to talk about that Donald Trump," he said, clarifying that the subject of conversation was Mr. Obama's speech on education affordability in Syracuse. "I've never discussed Donald Trump with the president."
Trump on Monday seemed to reiterate his attorney Michael Cohen's accusation over the weekend that Schneiderman is attempting to extort campaign contributions through the lawsuit.
"He sits up in my office asking me for campaign contributions; he's been there numerous times," Trump said of Schneiderman. "He's a political hack. He figures by going after Trump, he can get some publicity, which he will get, but we'll try and make it as uncomfortable as possible."
State Board of Elections records show Trump contributed $12,500 to Schneiderman's attorney general campaign in October 2010, among $136,000 he spent total on New York races since that year.
