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Donald Trump Sued for "Fake" University

by Nuzha Nuseibeh

Looks like The Donald may be distracted from that possible presidential campaign by a pesky lawsuit. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued the real estate mogul for $40 million Saturday, claiming that Donald Trump's "Trump University" made false, expensive promises and left students unable to make one single real-estate deal.

The attorney general said that "Trump University" (renamed Trump Entrepreneur Initiative, because it's not actually a university) charged students thousands of dollars for "hand-picked" instructors and “a systematic method for investing in real estate” — but Trump hadn't actually chosen a single professor or looked at the curriculum.

"Trump University engaged in deception at every stage of consumers' advancement through costly programs and caused real financial harm," Schneiderman said. "Trump University, with Donald Trump's knowledge and participation, relied on Trump's name recognition and celebrity status to take advantage of consumers who believed in the Trump brand."

The lawsuit also claims that a big portion of the 5,000 students — who paid up to $35,000 for the seminars — thought they'd get to meet Trump at some point, which they didn't. They did, however, get their picture taken in front of a life-size cardboard cut-out of him. Which is basically the same thing.

But Trump's lawyers are arguing that the lawsuit is a political move on the part of Sneiderman, who they claim is trying to extort campaign money from Trump.

"The attorney general has been angry because he felt that Mr. Trump and his various companies should have done much more for him in terms of fundraising," the lawyer said. "This entire investigation is politically motivated and it is a tremendous waste of taxpayers' money."

He also said that Trump University had given Schneiderman roughly 11,000 student testimonials which praised the program, saying also that 98 percent of students surveyed called the program "excellent." Trump even went so far as to create a website, 98percentapproval.com, to essentially bash the attorney general and his accusation.

"Only *4% of New York State registered voters rated Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s performance as “excellent” and Schneiderman thinks he could be the next governor? He must be joking," says the website's front page.

This tweet pretty much sums it up: