Usually a good idea to pick your fights. A 150 lb guy should probably stay away from smacking 300 lb NFL Linemen – don’t car if your name is Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee – guys who use railroad boxcars as free weights are folks to avoid physical confrontation with. The proverbial 300 lb Lineman in the Courts system is the Judge. Arguing a legal point is one thing – going after the Judge because of his race or ethnicity, as Trump has…
Can lead to painful consequences.
Wee-weenie types like Trump try and hide their male inadequacies with aggression. In the Drumph’s case that means lots of lawyers and litigation, because heaven forbid that 150 lb guy shows up on his doorstep. Trump’s shady, fraudulent business deals are now coming to light. Taking a swing at the Judge was a really dumb move.
An no, Chicken Drumph – there is no precedent for recusing a Judge due to race.
Judge acknowledges Donald Trump’s attacks, unseals files in Trump U suit
A federal judge blasted by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Friday has taken note of the fact that Trump isn’t happy with the way the judge is handling lawsuits over alleged fraud by the Trump University real estate seminar program.
Just hours after Trump used a campaign speech at a San Diego convention center to unleash a remarkable verbal fusillade against U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the judge — who also happens to be based in the same Southern California city — acknowledged in a much more measured fashion the criticism Trump has aimed at the court.
“Defendant became the front-runner for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential race, and has placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue,” Curiel said in an order unsealing a series of internal Trump University documents that Trump’s lawyers asked be kept from the public.
The judge’s order didn’t make reference to Trump’s 12-minute tirade Friday afternoon in which the all-but-certain Republican nominee called Curiel a “hater” and again invoked his Latino heritage. However, the judge cited a series of news stories from earlier in the campaign, including an NBC story which noted Trump called Curiel “extremely unfair” and an Associated Press story titled, “Trump: Judge’s ethnicity matters in Trump University suit.”
“I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He’s a hater. His name is Gonzalo Curiel … I think Judge Curiel should be ashamed of himself,” Trump said at Friday’s rally, echoing many of the same points he made in speeches a few months ago. “I’m telling you, this court system, judges in this court system, federal court, they ought to look into Judge Curiel. Because what Judge Curiel is doing is a total disgrace, OK?”
Curiel said in his order Friday that Trump’s presidential campaign and his criticism of the court were reasons to overrule his objections to the release of so-called “Playbooks” describing Trump University’s operations. The judge also noted that one version was published by POLITICO in March. “The entire 2010 Playbook has been posted online by Politico,” Curiel wrote.
It’s unclear whether the judge knew of Trump’s latest volley of attacks when the judge issued the order Friday afternoon, but it seems possible. Curiously, the Republican candidate laid into the judge at about the same time the judge was holding a hearing less than a mile away on a motion by the Washington Post seeking unsealing of the Trump University-related files. The judge’s order was released a couple hours after the hearing.
Trump suggested Friday, as he has before, that he might move to recuse Curiel from the suits. However, the real estate mogul’s lawyers have never brought such a motion.