On Thursday, as Donald Trump meets with President Obama at the White House to plan his presidential transition, Trump's lawyers will be at a federal courthouse in San Diego, California, to ask Judge Gonzalo Curiel to bar mention of any of Trump's statements during the campaign in the fraud trial against Trump University. The request, by Trump lawyer Daniel Petrocelli, would cover all of Trump's public statements, his tweets, "audio or video recordings made or publicized during the campaign" (see: Access Hollywood bus), the Trump Foundation, and especially his comments about the Trump University lawsuit and argument that Curiel was irreparably biased because of his "Mexican heritage."
Telling the jury what Trump and his advocates said on the campaign carries "an immediate and irreparable danger of extreme and irremediable prejudice to defendants, confusion of issues and waste of time," Petrocelli wrote. The request is part of a legal fight before the case is scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 28; both the plaintiffs and Trump's lawyers have called on Trump to testify. "Many legal experts have speculated Trump will likely settle before the Nov. 28 trial date, although there was no immediate indication he would do so following the election," says Bianca Bruno at Courthouse News Service. One law professor has suggested that if Trump is found guilty of fraud, that's an impeachable offense.
This Trump University suit, Low v. Trump University, is one of at least 75 lawsuits Trump is currently involved in, according to a USA Today analysis. Because they were filed before Trump was elected, Trump will not be immune from the lawsuit once inaugurated. And "the decision that will keep the wheels of justice moving for dozens of plaintiffs suing Trump," says Brandy Zadrozny at The Daily Beast, "ironically, came from the Supreme Court's 9-to-0 ruling in 1997 which allowed Paula Jones' lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by Bill Clinton to move forward."
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