Trump Draws Fire from GOP Leaders over Attacks on Latino Judge
Republican leaders are taking presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump to task for his attacks on a Latino judge presiding over a lawsuit against Trump University.
Trump is refusing to back down from his contention that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not preside over a fair trial in a fraud case against Trump University because Curiel's parents were born in Mexico.
"He's member of a club or society very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine. But I say he's got bias," Trump said of Curiel on CBS' "Face The Nation." "I want to build a wall. I'm going to build a wall."
And Trump went further when pressed on whether he thinks a Muslim judge would also be biased against him.
"It's possible, yes. Yes. That would be possible, absolutely," the billionaire said.
CBS' John Dickerson then asked Trump, "Isn't there sort of a tradition though in America that we don't judge people by who their parents were and where they came from?"
"I'm not talking about tradition," Trump replied. "I'm talking about common sense, okay?"
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump supporter and widely considered a possible running mate, severely criticized his remarks.
"This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made," said Gingrich. "I think it's inexcusable. This judge was born in Indiana. He is an American, period."
But Gingrich added that that he considers Trump a remarkable leader who learns very quickly.
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton grabbed the chance to aim her fire at Trump.
"What Trump is doing is trying to divert attention from the very serious fraud charges against Trump University," she said on ABC's "This Week."
And on NBC's "Meet the Press," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also criticized Trump, but would not say if he thought what Trump said was racist.
"I couldn't disagree more with a statement like that," McConnell told NBC's Chuck Todd.
"But is it a racist statement?" Todd pressed.
"I couldn't disagree more with what he said," McConnell reiterated.
In the meantime, Republican leaders are urging Trump to start unifying the party and start acting like "a potential leader of the United States."
