In case you missed it, Donald Trump is facing two lawsuits that could not only end his bid to buy the presidency, but his business career. Several former students of his now-shuttered real estate education program, Trump University, claim the whole operation was a massive fraud that stuck them with $40 million in bills for expensive “mentorship” programs. He is currently facing a class-action lawsuit in San Diego, as well as a separate suit from the New York attorney general. On Super Tuesday, a New York appeals court cleared the way for the attorney general’s suit to go forward–thus potentially handing Trump the biggest loss of his career on the same day he may have effectively locked up the GOP nomination.
Well, Saturday’s edition of The New York Times takes dead aim at one of Trump’s main defenses–the mostly glowing reviews that the program received over the years. Whenever Trump has been attacked for the shady doings at Trump University, he has claimed that 98 percent of past students gave it a satisfactory rating. However, dozens of legal filings in the suit against Trump, as well as several interviews, indicate that these reviews are not credible. Apparently The Times thinks these suits could be the final nails in Trump’s coffin, because this story ran above the fold.
One former student, Long Island resident Robert Guillo, spent $36,000 on classes and later asked for a refund. Earlier this year, he spoke out against the program in a video produced by a pro-Marco Rubio super PAC. In response, Trump himself highlighted Guillo’s evaluation–which showed perfect 5’s in all categories.
But Guillo tells The Times that he only gave such high ratings after his teacher begged him to do so. Otherwise, the teacher warned, “Mr. Trump might not invite me back to teach again.” That runs counter to standard practices in the academic world. According to Howard Haller, a former Trump consultant, no one–not even the professor–is supposed to even know that a student has filled out an evaluation. Guillo thinks the real purpose for these evaluations is to “provide a defense against legal actions.” That didn’t stop him from filing an affidavit in the New York case.
Guillo isn’t the only Trump University student who says he had his arm twisted while filling out his evaluation. Jeffrey Tufkenian enrolled in the most expensive track, the $35,000 “Trump Gold Elite” program, along with his wife. He says their instructor made them fill out the evaluation forms in front of him–and refused to leave the room unless they gave him all 5’s. John Brown testified he gave his instructors poor marks–only to be browbeaten into changing them by phone calls from Trump University employees.
One former instructor, Tad Lingell, admitted that he had some of his students fill out evaluations in front of him. He was well aware that his income was on the line; instructors were paid per student, and instructors with low scores would be passed over in favor of instructors with high scores. He also says that Trump owes him $50,000 in back pay for teaching–and he intends to collect on it, even if Trump wins the election.
Additionally, a substantial number of these evaluations come from the free guests that paying participants were encouraged to bring along. In potentially the most egregious irregularity of all, internal Trump University documents indicate that a number of students were told to submit the surveys in exchange for their graduation certificates.
We already know that Trump admitted under oath that he didn’t personally select the instructors at Trump University. In light of these irregularities, the best-case scenario is that Trump didn’t have enough control over his own program. When that’s the best-case scenario, that’s not a good sign for a guy who is running primarily on his record as a businessman.
