Trump seeks to bar personal conduct
claims from Trump University trial
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[October 22, 2016]
By Dan Levine
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Donald Trump's
attorneys asked a U.S. judge to bar accusations about his personal
conduct that have arisen during the presidential election campaign,
which would include allegations of sexual misconduct, from the upcoming
civil trial over Trump University.
Students at Trump University claim they were defrauded by its real
estate seminars.
Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has faced allegations from
women that he inappropriately touched them. Trump denied those
accusations.
In a court filing late on Thursday, attorneys for Trump said evidence
and statements from the election campaign should be barred from trial
because they could unfairly prejudice the jury. The trial is set to
begin on Nov. 28.
Evidence including Trump's campaign speeches, tweets, his tax issues and
controversy over his personal charity should not be considered by
jurors, the filing said. All audio and video recordings publicized
during the campaign should also be barred, the filing said, along with
evidence about Trump's beauty pageants, casinos and corporate
bankruptcies.
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"Before trial begins in this case, prospective members of the jury will
have the opportunity to cast their vote for president," Trump's lawyers
wrote. "It is in the ballot box where they are free to judge Mr. Trump
based on all this and more."
A spokeswoman for the plaintiffs declined to comment.
Trump's lawyers had argued that the lawsuit, filed in 2013 in a San
Diego federal court, should be dismissed because the New York real
estate mogul, while personally involved in developing the concept and
curriculum, relied on others to manage Trump University by the time the
plaintiffs purchased seminars.
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![](../images/102216pics/news_t31.jpg)
Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump reacts during the
third and final debate with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (not
pictured) at UNLV in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., October 19, 2016.
REUTERS/Rick Wilking
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Trump set off an uproar earlier this year when he accused the judge
overseeing the case, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, of being
biased against him because of the Trump's pledge to build a border
wall between the United States and Mexico. Curiel was born in
Indiana and is of Mexican descent.
Trump is trailing in the polls to Democrat Hillary Clinton with less
than three weeks until Election Day.
Trump's lawyers also asked Curiel to exclude evidence about
students' finances from the trial, saying the affordability of Trump
University was not relevant to the trial.
Lawyers for the students asked in separate court filings to bar
other evidence, including testimonials attesting to the value of the
seminars, partly because they are irrelevant to whether Trump
University misrepresented the qualifications of its instructors.
(Reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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