The judge who saved Trump’s campaign

The first claim is indisputably false: Judge Curiel is a US citizen born in Indiana. But the second claim was also false. Indeed, one of Judge Curiel’s rulings was probably crucial in helping Trump become president.

Months before Trump became the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Judge Curiel signaled that he would schedule the trial in the case during the summer or early fall of this year — right in the midst of the presidential campaign. Among his reasons was the fact that the lawsuit had been filed in 2010, and after six years of pretrial litigation and discovery, the plaintiffs — many of whom are elderly — were entitled to have their claims tried in court.

This ruling may have played a crucial role in clearing the way for Trump’s election. If the trial had occurred as originally scheduled, Trump would have been forced to defend against charges that he defrauded thousands of people during the height of the presidential campaign.

The plaintiff’s trial evidence would almost certainly have been politically damaging. The plaintiff’s evidence includes marketing materials containing Trump’s promises to prospective students, together with other evidence including Trump’s own deposition testimony, that appears to belie those promises.

For example, in a variety of documents, Trump promised prospective students that he would hand pick their instructors and mentors. Likewise, in a promotional video, Trump declared that “We’re going to have professors and adjunct professors that are absolutely terrific. Terrific people. Terrific brains. Successful. The best. We are going to have the best of the best. And…these are all people that are handpicked by me.”

Despite promising that he would handpick the instructors, Trump admitted during his deposition that he did not select either the instructors or mentors. The deposition suggests that Trump knew nothing of the instructors’ names, faces or qualifications.

Moreover, because many class members were over the age of 65 when they purchased Trump University products and services, plaintiffs will try to prove that Trump violated a California statute prohibiting “Financial Elder Abuse.” This type of “elder abuse” occurs, for example, when a person obtained the “real or personal property of an elder or dependent adult…with intent to defraud.”

The election’s close outcome might have been different if the campaign’s final weeks focused not on Hillary Clinton’s emails, but on testimony by appealing elderly plaintiffs accusing Trump of defrauding them of their life savings. News reports would have focused not on Trump speaking before thousands of adoring supporters at his rallies, but instead on Trump sweating under humiliating cross-examination.

In the next couple of weeks, Trump may finally have to face in court the people who claim that Trump University defrauded them, although his lawyers are trying to convince Judge Curiel to postpone the trial yet again.

But, as much as anyone else, Judge Curiel, the “Mexican” judge whom Trump attacked, is arguably responsible for Trump being President Trump — not just Donald Trump, fraud defendant.