(Author’s note: I originally published this article on The-NewsHub.com. It is reprinted below in its entirety.)
Back in 2007, the LA Times’ negative coverage of Trump University provoked an angry reaction from Donald Trump, himself. Trump told the reporter that his article was "inaccurate and libelous." However, the 2007 article painted a somewhat more flattering picture of Trump University than Trump’s own comments to a reporter in 2006.
In an article entitled “Trump University goes MP3”, an entertainment reporter presumably asked Trump about his motivation for starting Trump University. It is telling that there is no contemporary record of Trump complaining about the comments attributed to him in UPI’s January 2006 article (also published on RealityTVWorld.com):
The online Trump University was launched in May in response to “hucksters” offering get-rich-quick schemes on TV, Trump said.
“A lot of them have never been in real estate,” he said.
By way of background, Donald Trump is currently facing three civil lawsuits alleging fraud related to Trump University. The Attorney General of New York, who filed suit in 2013, called Trump University “a fraud from beginning to end”. Meanwhile, two class action lawsuits in California are being heard by Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Cohen v. Trump and Low v. Trump.
Recently released documents appear to corroborate plaintiff’s assertions that Trump University resorted to aggressive sales tactics and may have made dubious promises to “students”. However, Trump’s own words from 2006 suggest a level of intent that even plaintiffs have been reluctant to assert.
On June 7, 2016, Trump released an official statement on Trump University and launched a website to attempt to make the case that:
students who participated in Trump University were provided a substantive, valuable education based upon a curriculum developed by professors from Northwestern University, Columbia Business School, Stanford University and other respected institutions….Over a five year period, more than 10,000 paying students filled out surveys giving the courses high marks and expressing their overwhelming satisfaction with Trump University’s programs.
As other media outlets have pointed out, Trump University “students recall pressure to give positive reviews.” Meanwhile, complaints about the quality of “education” at Trump University, dating as far back as 2007, litter online complaint boards like RipOffReport. Gizmodo filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Federal Trade Commission, and published a litany of complaints that had been filed with the agency. Though not specifically targeted at Trump University, the Better Business Bureau actually published a blog entry (since removed from their website) in 2012 that warned consumers: “Real Estate Investment Seminars Promise Millions. In Reality, They Mostly Just Empty Your Wallet.”
Taking Trump’s 2006 comments at face value implies that the billionaire’s education venture was launched not because he “love[s] teaching” or “love[s] helping people,” as he told the LA Times reporter in 2007, but because he was inspired by “get-rich-quick schemes on TV.” That would certainly explain the consumer complaints and civil fraud lawsuits.