Last month, Megyn Kelly and Donald Trump seemed to have made peace after months of intense feuding when Kelly gave an interview at Trump Tower.
That peace broke, however, with the news that Trump had attacked the judge presiding over the lawsuits alleged against Trump University for being “Mexican.”
Kelly, a former attorney, seemed angered as she picked apart Trump’s attacks on U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel:
“So first of all, people are saying that this judge is a member of La Raza, the group that’s been protesting Donald Trump. He isn’t,” the Fox News host said on “The Kelly File.”
“He’s a member of an Hispanic lawyers’ association that has no partisan stripes whatsoever. They support Hispanic lawyers and judges. That’s it. So let’s be clear on that.”
Kelly continued, pointing out that Curiel “is not Mexican” and rather “of Mexican heritage,” having been born into a family of Mexican immigrants in East Chicago, Indiana.
“Third, he has no conflict of interest, Bill,” she told guest Bill Bennett.
“Now Donald Trump is saying the judge should be investigated, someone should look into him just because he ruled against Donald Trump in this litigation repeatedly. He certified the class and he denied the motion for summary judgment. That doesn’t make you biased. It doesn’t,” she said.
Bennett, a Trump supporter, agreed with her.
“No, it doesn’t. Big mistake. And I hope he stops with this,” said Bennett.
However, there’s nothing indicating so far that Trump will stop, with the presumptive Republican nominee continuing to sound off against Curiel at his rallies and in interviews.
At a rally in San Diego last Friday, Trump called the judge a “hater” and “biased” during a 12 minute rant about the court’s ruling and the judge, who he mentioned was “Mexican” which was “great” and “fine.”
Trump, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, said that Curiel had an “an absolute conflict” in presiding over the litigation given that he was “of Mexican heritage.”
“I’m building a wall. It’s an inherent conflict of interest,” Trump continued.
Trump University is under fire with three lawsuits filed against it, with the most notable one filed by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman in 2013.
Curiel announced last week that documents from the Trump University case were to be released to the public, including a Trump U “Playbook” which gave an inside look into the sales pitch of the school.
