Donald Trump has been railing against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel for months, calling him everything from “negative” to a “hater” to “very hostile."
Most recently, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last week, Trump said Judge Curiel’s “Mexican heritage” created “an absolute conflict” in the Trump University case.
"I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest," Trump told the Wall Street Journal.
Judge Curiel is presiding over two of the three lawsuits against Trump University in San Diego.
Trump has brought up the judge’s heritage before, but this is the first time he has said it creates a conflict of interest in the case.
“You’ll be very hard-pressed to find anybody to say anything negative about [Judge Curiel],” Federal attorney Guadalupe Valencia told NBC 7. “He’s one of those people who are just really considerate, thoughtful and compassionate. He’s a judge who…is extremely fair to both sides.”
Valencia said he has known Judge Curiel the entirety of his 17-year-career, and when Curiel was a federal prosecutor he had an “extremely good reputation for being a really good trial lawyer.”
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Valencia and Curiel met at the Federal Defenders Office when Valencia was starting as a federal defense lawyer. He explained when Curiel was part of Narcotics Enforcement in the 1990s “There was an assassination plot against him,” by the Tijuana drug cartel. “There were some phone calls intercepted that there had been approval to assassinate him as a result of his work.” He even had U.S. Marshall protection for a time because of the threat.
“I don’t think that or anything Donald Trump is saying about him ever deterred him or …is going to deter him,” Valencia said. “He’s a determined lawyer, prosecutor and judge who really believes in what he does.”
Valencia called Trump’s comments about Curiel’s heritage “offensive” and “illogical”.
“I think to attack a judge’s race and say that’s the reason he’s ruling against you…is pretty ignorant,” Valencia said. “Race has no place in…any court.”
Curiel was appointed to the state supreme court by Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was later appointed to the federal district court by President Obama.
“He treats every single lawyer with respect,” Valencia explained. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a lawyer complain about him being rude or not thoughtful or not being fair. He is among the fairest judges in this town. He’s a really smart person. He’s got a long history of being involved with very serious cases and I don’t think there’s any litigant that you’re going to find in this town…who’s going to say he was unfair somehow.”
Valencia explained if Trump feels the judge is biased he needs to articulate specifically what ruling is unfair.
“In this particular case Donald Trump is bringing into the arena the fact that he’s of Hispanic heritage,” he said. “That’s irrelevant.”
He said he’d be shocked if Trump’s lawyers put in a motion wanting to recuse Judge Gonzalo because of his ethnicity. “Obviously this is a lot of nonsense. This is an issue Donald Trump has tried to create…but I’m certain the judge is unmoved by this.”
Judge Curiel will continue to focus on the case and not be bothered by Trump’s comments, he said. Valencia also pointed out that targeting the judge’s race is offensive because Curiel is an American who was born in the United States. He has a brother who is a federal prosecutor and another brother who served in Vietnam. Curiel was born the son of immigrants in East Chicago, Indiana.
“For someone to point out that his parents come from another country is pretty offensive,” he said. “In fact [Trump’s] family comes from another country and everybody in the United States, their family at some point came from another country also, so I just don’t see the relevance.”
He explained under Trump’s argument no one would ever be able to preside over a case involving a person from another race or ethnicity.
“Trump’s statement should be offensive to all Americans,” Valencia told NBC 7. “[Judge Curiel] has served this country honorably.”
