The Hillary Clinton campaign condemned Donald Trump’s attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel on Friday, defending the U.S. District judge who has become the most recent object of the presumptive GOP nominee’s wrath because of his rulings in an ongoing lawsuit involving Trump University.
In a series of tweets and interviews over the last several days days, Trump has attacked the credibility of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, calling him “very biased and unfair,” and suggesting he is a “hater of Donald Trump” because he is “Mexican.” He told the Wall Street Journal Thursday that Judge Curiel had an “inherent conflict of interest” because he was “of Mexican heritage” and “I’m building a wall.”
The Clinton campaign came to Judge Curiel’s defense Friday, in a statement condemning Trump’s attacks. “Judge Curiel and his family epitomize the American Dream,” said Lorella Praeli, Director of Latino Outreach for Hillary for America. “His parents worked hard to give their U.S.-born children a better life.”
Judge Curiel was born in Indiana to parents who had emigrated from Mexico. He recently ruled to unseal documents in the case that offer a glimpse at the business dealings of Trump University, which allegedly duped plaintiffs into spending tens of thousands of dollars for get-rich-quick schemes.
“The fact that Donald Trump doesn’t see Judge Curiel and his family as Americans makes him unfit to be president of this great nation, a nation of immigrants,” Praeli continued. “In Trump’s version of America, this Latino family isn’t really American.
“And Hillary Clinton will fight for ALL Americans,” she concluded.
This article was originally published on Time.com.
