Likely Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said Saturday the San Diego federal judge criticized for being of Mexican ancestry is “as much of an American as Donald Trump.”
The presumptive Republican nominee has accused U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is presiding over a lawsuit brought by students of the defunct Trump University, of being biased in the case because his parents were Mexican immigrants.
“Judge Curiel is as much of an American as I am, and he’s as much of an American as Donald Trump is. But he has Mexican roots. So to Donald Trump, that means he can’t do his job,” said Clinton at an rally in Oxnard.
“Well, Donald Trump’s not just wrong about Judge Curiel, he’s wrong about America. He’s wrong about what makes this country great.”
Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants who were already naturalized citizens. He received his law degree from Indiana University. As a federal prosecutor in Southern California, he investigated Mexican drug cartels and was under the protection of U.S. Marshals for a year because of death threats against him.
Trump told CNN Friday that Curiel should recuse himself from the Trump University case because of his ancestry will bias him. “He’s a Mexican. We’re building a wall between here and Mexico,” Trump argued.
Ironically Trump also has an immigrant background. His mother was an immigrant from Scotland, and two of his three wives were immigrants from Eastern Europe.
Clinton also took a swing at Trump University, calling it a scam and noting that it was also under investigation by the Attorney General of New York State. “It took advantage of vulnerable people, encouraging them to max out their credit cards, empty their retirement savings, destroy their financial futures,” she said.