Trump Pays $25,000,000 to Stay Out of Court

The Trump University fraud case settlement submitted to a federal court in San Diego indicates that Trump is personally guaranteeing that the $25 million will be handed over to plaintiffs' lawyers by Jan. 18, 2017, two days before he is scheduled to be sworn in as president. 

The deal scuttled the bizarre possibility of Trump facing a civil class-action fraud trial as he waited to assume the nation's highest office.

The three lawsuits alleged that the real estate training program was deceptively marketed, including by asserting that instructors were hand-picked by Trump when he did not actually know them.

A total of 13 people claiming to be class members were excluded from the cases at their request and could still seek to bring separate suits on their own, if their cases can meet hurdles needed to pursue them in court. 

Trump University Class Action Settlement 

Trump Donated Cash to Florida AG Who Decided Not to Join Trump Univ. Lawsuit

Florida's attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates

The new disclosure from Attorney General Pam Bondi's spokesman to The Associated Press provides additional details around the unusual circumstances of Trump's $25,000 donation to Bondi.

The money came from a Trump family foundation in apparent violation of rules surrounding political activities by charities. A political group backing Bondi's re-election, called And Justice for All, reported receiving the check Sept. 17, 2013 — four days after Bondi's office publicly announced she was considering joining a New York state probe of Trump University's activities, according to a 2013 report in the Orlando Sentinel.

After the check came in, Bondi's office nixed suing Trump, citing insufficient grounds to proceed.

Associate Press: FL Atty Gen Solicits $$ from Trump

Trump University Documents Expose Fraud
and High-Pressure Sales Tactics

Sales manager Ronald Schnackenberg testified that Trump University "was a fraudulent scheme" that pressured financially-strapped people to sign up for $35,000 real estate seminars. Students were told they would learn how to buy real estate cheaply in a declining market and resell properties quickly for big profits.

He said the company "preyed upon the elderly and the uneducated to separate them from their money."

Former employees of the company, founded by Trump in 2005 and closed in 2010, said they were told to pressure potential customers into opening charge accounts to pay for the classes. One major selling point was that Trump hand-picked the instructors and would be actively involved in their education. Neither was true. Employees said his involvement was limited to approving ads and marketing materials to promote Trump University.

The internal documents were ordered released by the judge overseeing the class action lawsuit filed by Trump University students in California. Trump is scheduled to testify in that suit, slated to start shortly after the election.



New York Times 

How Donald Trump Treats Workers

Trump Tower Built with the Sweat of Undocumented Foreign Workers

Donald Trump repeatedly says he will bring jobs back to America. He failed to make an effort to do that when he was building Trump Tower in 1980.

200 demolition workers—nicknamed the Polish Brigade—worked 12-hour shifts, seven days a week with no overtime to knock down the old Bonwit Teller building and make room for Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

According to testimony in a protracted civil suit in federal court, the Polish laborers were paid $5 an hour or less, when they were paid at all. Some went unpaid after the contractor had financial troubles. A few never received even the paltry sum that was owed them for their dirty and hazardous efforts preceding the construction of Trump’s monument to his own wealth.

“They were undocumented and worked ‘off the books,’” Manhattan federal Judge Charles Stewart said of the workers after they became the subject of a 1983 lawsuit. “No records were kept, no Social Security or other taxes were withheld.”


Daily Beast article on Trump Tower

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2016 McConnell in '05: 'The President Alone Nominates Judges' "The Constitution of the United States is at stake. Article II, Section 2 clearly provides that the president, and the president alone, nominates judges. The Senate is empowered to give advice and consent. But my Democratic colleagues want to change the rules. They want to reinterpret the Constitution to require a super-majority for confirmation. In effect, they would take away the power to nominate from the president and grant it to a minority of 41 senators." -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in 2005, defending the absolute right of a sitting president to nominate judges. This followed Democratic and Republican opposition to President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, who served as his White House counsel. CNN

Trump has trouble telling the truth about three-quarters of the time.

Here are his statements through mid-February as ranked by Politifact:

Mostly False 18%
False 40%
Pants on Fire 19%

Politifact

A Few of Donald Trump's Greatest Hits


Trump Air, like a presidential term, lasted four years. Then it went bankrupt.

Trump Casinos filed for bankruptcy for the fourth time in 2014.

Trump launched mortgage company in 2006.Housing market collapsed. Company folded in 18 months.

In 2013, the NY Attorney General sued Trump and Trump University for $40 million for allegedly defrauding students. Some students of the "University" are suing Trump, as well.

Trump University lawsuit