Hillary Clinton pounced upon a testimony dubbing Trump University as “fraudulent scheme,” accusing the likely Republican candidate Wednesday of being a “fraud” who is “trying to scam America.”
Two former employees of Trump University, a now defunct real estate school, said in a court testimony, that the scheme focused on making money, exploiting the elderly and the uneducated.
“Based upon my personal experience and employment, I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme, and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money,” Ronald Schnackenberg, a Trump University sales manager from 2006-2007, said in his testimony.
A report in The New York Times says Schnackenberg also recalled how he was “reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35,000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. “
The documented unsealed Tuesday evening are part of a federal lawsuit filed by former students of the Trump University.
For Trump, who owned 93 percent of the company, the testimony disclosure coincided with his self-congratulatory celebration of raising $ 5.6 million for veteran groups. Criticizing the media for probing reporting on his contribution claims, Trump opened unbridled attacks on the Press and personally on questioning journalists.
On the question of testimony, Trump derided statements by his former employees in the university testimony, saying the same students had given high approval to the school’s performance at the time they were enrolled in the courses.
The latest Clinton salvo comes days ahead of June 7 primary battles against Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders. She is also seeking to put behind the damage done by a scathing State Department watchdog analysis on use of private email account during her term as America’s top diplomat.
“He is trying to scam America the way he scammed all those people at Trump University,” the frontrunner Democratic candidate said in New Jersey.
“His own employees testified that Trump U — you can’t make this up — that Trump U was a fraudulent scheme where Donald Trump enriched himself at the expense of hard working people,” Clinton added.
While New Jersey would likely give Clinton a victory, it is California, a 475 delegate-rich primary that would test her standing. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/ Marist poll on Wednesday said Clinton barely leads Sanders by 49 percent to 47 percent.
