JAKE TAPPER (HOST): I want to ask you about comments you made about the judge in the Trump University case. You said that you thought it was a conflict of interest that he was the judge because he's of Mexican heritage, even though he's from Indiana. Hillary Clinton said that is a racist attack on a federal judge. 

 

DONALD TRUMP: Oh yeah, she's so wonderful. Here's a woman that should be put in jail for what she did with her emails and she's commenting on this -- let me just tell you this, very simple. I have a case where I have thousands of people have taken this course and thousands and thousands of people have said great reviews, great reviews. Fortunately, just about everybody that took the courses have signed a review, an evaluation they call it, and it's gotten tremendous marks. I don't mean like two people. I mean thousands of people, OK. I have a situation where the woman that brought the case -- that brought the case, she's the plantiff, she was deposed. She was found to be a disaster for them as a witness because she gave an evaluation that was like the best evaluation you've ever heard – wait just one second -- and she did a tape in front of a camera, saying that this school was fantastic, it was fantastic. They went to the judge and they said, your honor, we don't want her anymore to be our plaintiff. So we said, let's dismiss the case, that's ok. Let's dismiss the case, that's ok. And he said, no, I won't dismiss the case, and she doesn't have to be there. 

 

TAPPER: But what does that have to do with his heritage?

 

TRUMP: I'll tell you what it has to do with. I have had ruling after ruling after ruling that's been bad rulings, ok? I've been treated very unfairly. Before him we had another judge. If that judge was still there, this case would have been over two years ago. Let me just tell you, I have had horrible rulings I've been treated very unfairly by this judge. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage. I'm building a wall, ok? I'm building a wall. I am going to do very well with the Hispanics, the Mexicans --

 

TAPPER: So no Mexican judge could ever be involved in a case that involves you?

 

TRUMP: Well, he’s a member of a society where very pro-Mexico and that's fine. It's all fine.

TAPPER: Except that you're calling into question his heritage. 

 

TRUMP: I think he should recuse himself. 

 

TAPPER: Because he's Latino?

 

(Crosstalk)

 

TRUMP: But then you also say, does he know the lawyer on the other side? Does he know the lawyer, and a lot of people say --

 

TAPPER: But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about --

 

TRUMP: That's another problem. 

 

TAPPER: But you're invoking his race when talking about whether or not he can do his job?

 

TRUMP: Jake, I'm building a wall, OK? I'm building a wall. I'm trying to keep business out of Mexico. Mexico’s fine. There's nothing --

 

TAPPER: But he's American. He’s an American.

 

TRUMP: He's of Mexican heritage, and he's proud of it, as I am of where I come from. 

 

TAPPER: But he's an American. You keep talking about a conflict of interest, because of Mexico. 

 

TRUMP: Are you ready? I have a case that should have been dismissed already. I have thousands of people saying Trump University's fantastic, ok? I have a case that should have been dismissed. I have a judge that never ever gives a break. Now we lose the plaintiff. He lets the plaintiff of the case out. So why isn't he cancelling the case? So we thought we won the case. 

 

TAPPER: So you disagree with his rulings, I totally understand that. You're --

 

TRUMP: I've had lawyers come up to me and say, you are being treated so unfairly it's unbelievable. Did you know that plaintiffs in the case have all said wonderful things about the school and they're suing? You know why they're suing? They want to get their money back. 

 

TAPPER: I don't really want to litigate the case of Trump University. 

TRUMP: You have to. Because if he was giving me fair rulings, I wouldn't say that. Jake, if you were giving me fair rulings, I wouldn't be talking to you this way. He's given me horrible --

 

TAPPER: I don't care if you criticize him. That's fine. You can criticize every decision. What I'm saying is, if you invoke his race as a reason why he can't do his job --

 

TRUMP: I think that’s why he's doing it. I think that's why he's doing it. 

 

TAPPER: But when Hillary Clinton says it's a racist attack --

 

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a stiff. If Hillary Clinton --

 

TAPPER: Paul Ryan today said he didn't care for the way that you were attacking this judge. 

 

TRUMP: Look, I'm just telling you -- Paul Ryan doesn't know the case. I should have won this case on summary judgement. This is not -- this is a case I should have won on summary judgement. You know, the law firm paid Hillary Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars to make speeches? You know the law firm --

 

TAPPER: I do. And we've reported it on my show. 

 

TRUMP: OK good, well I’m glad, you're the only one. The law firm paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Hillary Clinton for speeches –

 

TAPER: Before either of you were running for president. Here's the fundamental question --



TRUMP: You know that they contributed tremendous amounts of money to her campaign? Do you knwo that they contributed a lot of money to Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general? No, do you know that?

 

TAPPER: Here's my question --

 

TRUMP: No, no. Do you know that?

 

TAPPER: I did not know that. 

 

TRUMP: Do you know that these people went to every attorney general, practically, in the country that they could, and you know this case was turned down by almost every attorney general from Texas to Florida to many of these states?

 

TAPPER: Is it not -- When Hillary Clinton says this is a racist attack, you reject that, if you are saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?

 

TRUMP: No. I don't think so at all. He's proud of his heritage. I respect him for that. 

 

TAPPER: But you’re say he can't do his job because of that. 

 

TRUMP: Look, he's proud of his heritage. I'm building a wall. Now, I think I'm going to do very well --

 

TAPPER: He's a legal citizen. 

 

(Crosstalk)

 

TRUMP: I'm going to do very well with Hispanics because I'm going to bring back jobs and they're going to get jobs right now. They’re going to get jobs. I think I'm going to do very well with Hispanics, but we're building a wall. He's a Mexican. We're building a wall between here and Mexico. The answer is, he is giving us very unfair rulings -- rulings that people can't even believe. This case should have ended years ago on summary judgement. The best lawyers -- I have spoken to so many lawyers, they said this is not a case. This is a case that should have ended. This judge is giving us unfair rulings. Now, I say why? Well, I'm building a wall, ok? And it's a wall between Mexico, not another country and --

TAPPER: But he's not from Mexico, he's from Indiana. 

 

TRUMP: Mexican heritage. And he's very proud of it. 

Previously:

CNN's Jake Tapper To Trump: “I Would Just Ask As A Fellow American” To Consider Toning Down The Rhetoric

Media Condemn Trump's “Racist” And “Bigoted” Attacks On Federal Judge

CNN Chyron Calls Out Trump For Lying

CNN's Jake Tapper Presses Donald Trump To Condemn The Ku Klux Klan