June 1, 2016
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton on Wednesday assailed presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump as a "fraud" intent on scamming the American people following new revelations about the businessman's now-defunct education company.
June 1, 2016
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton on Wednesday assailed presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump as a "fraud" intent on scamming the American people following new revelations about the businessman's now-defunct education company.
FILE – In this Tuesday, May 31, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump answers questions during a news conference in New York. New York City inspectors are examining whether people were barred from the space Tuesday for the Trump news conference, violating an agreement that Trump struck with the city back in the late 1970s in return for the right to make the tower bigger. Under that agreement, the landmark tower's grand marble lobby is supposed to be open to visitors from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Clinton, Trump's likely general election opponent, cast Trump University as a get-rich scheme for the real estate mogul that preyed on vulnerable Americans, urging them to sign up for pricey seminars even when they were financially strapped.
"He is trying to scam America the way he scammed all those people at Trump U," Clinton said during a campaign stop in Newark, New Jersey. "It's important that we recognize what he has done because that's usually a pretty good indicator of what he will do."
Trump University is the target of two lawsuits in San Diego and one in New York that accuse the business of fleecing students with unfulfilled promises to teach secrets of success in real estate. Plaintiffs contend that Trump University gave seminars and classes across the country that were like infomercials, constantly pressuring customers to buy more and, in the end, failing to deliver.
Trump has maintained that customers were overwhelmingly satisfied with the offerings — a point that his attorneys repeated after the new documents were unsealed Tuesday.
Clinton's campaign leapt on the new details contained in the unsealed documents, including the organization's strategies for encouraging prospective students to dip into their savings or find other means of making payments they couldn't afford.
"Money is never a reason for not enrolling in Trump University; if they really believe in you and your product, they will find the money," a playbook reads.
Clinton's campaign cast the revelations as part of a pattern in which Trump makes promises to help improve others' lives but is only concerned with promoting himself. The former secretary of state also asserted that while Trump pledged to donate $6 million to veterans groups during the campaign, he only followed through under pressure from the media.
As Trump steamrolled through the GOP primary, some of his rivals raised Trump University as a liability for the businessman and at least five different outside groups mentioned the business in attack ads. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio used the school in campaign speeches as part of his failed attempt to blunt the real estate mogul's political rise.
"It was targeted at people that were struggling," Rubio said during a March 1 campaign appearance. He said they were retirees, single mothers and young people trying to start businesses. "They were people that were hurting, and they specifically targeted them."
Rubio said last week that he's eager to help the party defeat Clinton.
While details about the business did little to stop Trump in the primary, Clinton allies say GOP candidates were too slow in raising concerns and inconsistent in their attacks. Democrats have vowed to avoid repeating those same mistakes in the fall campaign.
The documents released Tuesday give Clinton some fresh ammunition for raising concerns about Trump's business dealings. The "playbooks" for Trump University outline how employees should guide customers through "the roller coaster of emotions" once they have expressed interest in the courses.
"The motivation that they experienced can die quickly as the realities of their daily lives take over. It is our job to rekindle that motivation … to make them once again see the potential of achieving their dream," according to a "sales playbook."
Trump University offered a three-day seminar for $1,495, using it as a springboard to sell more expensive "Trump Elite" packages for up to $34,995 a year.
"You don't sell products, benefits or solutions — you sell feelings," according to the sales playbook.
Trump University's core customers are identified in the documents as male heads of households between 40 and 54 years old with annual household incomes of at least $90,000, a college education and a net worth of more than $200,000.
During one-on-one conversations, "you may begin with some small talk to establish rapport but do not let them take control of the conversation," a playbook reads. "You must be very aggressive during these conversations in order to push them out of their comfort zones."
"If they complain about the price, remind them that Trump is the BEST!! This is the last real estate investment they will ever need to make."
The documents unsealed Tuesday do include testimony from several satisfied customers.
"Much of the unsealed evidence, including declarations and surveys from former Trump University students, demonstrates the high level of satisfaction from students and that Trump University taught valuable real estate information," said Jill Martin, vice president and assistant general counsel for The Trump Organization. "Trump University looks forward to using this evidence, along with much more, to win when the case is brought before a jury."
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in New York, Tuesday, May 31, 2016.
The 6-year-old case in San Diego is scheduled to go to trial shortly after the November presidential election.
Trump has railed against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who ordered the documents unsealed. At a rally in San Diego on Friday, he accused the judge of being "hostile" and a "hater of Donald Trump," and raised questions about his ethnicity.
"The judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great, I think that's fine," Trump said of Curiel, who was born in the U.S.
It was the second time Trump has brought up the judge's ethnicity as he complained about his treatment.
Courtesy: AP
