Trump University judge to unseal documents

The federal judge that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump lambasted in a Friday speech has ordered that a batch of Trump University documents be unsealed, Politico reported.

The documents, which Trump’s lawyers have claimed constitute trade secrets, are from the program’s “playbooks.” The Washington Post filed a motion to make the documents public in light of Trump’s presidential campaign.

{mosads}In the order to unseal the documents, Judge Gonzalo Curiel acknowledged Trump’s recent claims of bias against him, writing: “Defendant became the front-runner for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential race, and has placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue.”

On Friday, Trump ranted against the judge, calling him “Mexican” and “a hater,” and claiming that the judge is biased against him. 

Both sides of the lawsuit, which claims the Trump University real estate business program was a scam, agreed to release most of the documents related to the case. But more than 150 pages remained under seal, from the university’s 2009, 2010, Field Team and Sales playbooks.

In ruling to unseal the remaining documents, Curiel points to the fact that Politico published the entire 2010 playbook, which is largely a duplicate of the 2009 version, online. Additionally, the court found that the material is largely “very routine and commonplace information.” It also says Trump’s lawyers’ argument that Trump University may at some point enroll students is “speculative.”

The ruling says the documents will be unsealed by June 2.