Corey Lewandowski on Donald Trump’s remarks about Judge Curiel, ‘there’s nothing to apologize for’
While speaking on Face the Nation with John Dickerson, Corey Lewandowski was asked about Donald Trump’s remarks regarding Judge Curiel and the Trump University investigation. Trump’s remarks about his Hispanic background created a major backlash from political opponents and even spurred outrage from others in the GOP.
“Well, there’s nothing to apologize for,” Lewandowski began. “What you have is if you go to the website 98PercentApproval.com, you’ll see that 98% of the people who took his courses gave it the highest marks possible. And the courses were designed by Ivy League professors who put these in place. And people are exceptionally happy with this. Particularly, the lead plaintiff in the case who filed this case gave it the highest glowing remarks possible. She did a video testimonial in this case. And when the plaintiff’s attorneys found out that she had done that, she removed herself from the case. This case should have dismissed on summary judgment a long time ago. And we question the impartiality of the judge based on all those factors. That’s all we’re talking about in this case. This is ultimately going to be settled in a court of law. It shouldn’t be tried in the court of public opinion.”
Dickerson then pointed to remarks by Dr. Ben Carson, who said that Mr. Trump has admitted privately that his comments about the judge’s Hispanic heritage being a barrier to him judging fairly were a mistake.
“Look, I wasn’t privy to the conversation he had with Dr. Carson, but I can tell you this. Our concern with this judge is his impartial nature. The fact that he should have ruled on summary judgment to dismiss this case when the lead plaintiff comes out and says that this was a great institution that she was very proud of both in a video testimonial and on written evaluations. It should have been dismissed already. And, again, this is something that the media wants to talk about. What we’re not talking about is Hillary Clinton’s emails, what the disaster is that now the White House is saying that there’s a criminal investigation going on with Hillary Clinton. That’s a much bigger story than a potential civil case which is going to be litigated in a court of law.”
Dickerson doubled back after a break asking “…is it the fact that he’s of Hispanic heritage that gets in the way of his impartiality? That’s what people are I think still curious about.”
“No. What we’ve said is that this is a liberal judge appointed by a liberal president who’s a member of a number of organizations that represent liberal values. And we want to make sure that, you know, Mr. Trump is given the opportunity to have an impartial hearing and an impartial decision based on, you know, that judge and the opportunity that every person in this country should have the right to a fair trial. And we want to make sure that that right is granted. And if you look at the facts of this case, the fact that the lead plaintiff was dismissed, that 98% of the people who participate in Trump University filled out evaluations or testimonials saying it was a fantastic course, this case should have been dismissed a long time ago on summary judgment and hasn’t been. And that’s what we’re questioning.”
Check out the full transcript HERE