While Donald Trump runs for president, his Trump University lawsuit is also underway. In this lawsuit, former students claim that Trump University scammed them out of money on the false promise that they would become real estate moguls like The Donald himself.
Since then, a number of articles have revealed more about Trump University’s sketchy practices. The Daily Beast recalls Trump promising to “hand-pick” the best faculty. He made good in some cases, hiring professors from Ivy League business schools, but also employed people like James Harris, a self-made man who was also convicted of felony aggravated assault. In 2011, Harris threatened to kill his ex-wife when she filed a restraining order against him.
Time also investigated Trump University, finding out some inconvenient things like Trump never hand-picking the faculty, as Trump University’s president said in a deposition. In addition, teachers were told to pretend that they had met Trump, that they even had dinner with him, when that wasn’t true. What’s worse, former students like Kevin Scott were convinced to shell out $25,000 for special Trump University programs. Now Scott has to rent out his house to make ends meet, getting nothing from the program but financial trouble.
As for Trump University’s Better Business Bureau rating, the Wall Street Journal has looked into it, and the Better Business Bureau confirmed that Trump University’s rating had sunk to a D-minus, after many customer complaints. New York’s Better Business Bureau president and CEO clarified in a press conference that the university received an A rating only after it stopped operations.
Now Trump has recorded a video address to “set the record straight” on Trump University, which you can see above. In this video, Trump shows the A rating from the Better Business Bureau (without the context that the BBB press conference later provided), and shows Scott’s glowing review of Trump University as well. “They just want to get their money back,” Trump says of Scott and other disgruntled former students. He then says that he would settle this lawsuit, but that when he’s right, he fights in court.
(Via Daily Beast, Time and The Wall Street Journal)