ATLANTA — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Monday forcefully pushed back against TV ads accusing him of ripping off students at Trump University real estate school, releasing student surveys giving the program rave reviews.
Mr. Trump demanded the American Future Fund, a pro-Marco Rubio super PAC that produced the TV ads, pull them off the air.
“Trump University has a 98 percent approval rating and an ’A’ rating from the Better Business Bureau,” said the billionaire real estate mogul. “Lightweight Marco Rubio is grasping at straws and produced terrible ads featuring three people who all provided written statements praising the program. I demand an immediate retraction of this false and libelous ads. It just shows how low a failing campaign will go to help their failing candidate.” He also accused New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of pursuing lawsuits against Trump University as a political vendetta.
The three students featured in the TV ads were part of a class action lawsuit by students who paid as much as $35,000 to learn Mr. Trump’s real estate secrets but got nothing out of the course.
The lawsuits over Trump University have become fodder for attacks by Mr. Rubio on the campaign trial, as he accuses Mr. Trump of being a “con artist.”
“What he did to those students is what he’s trying to do to you. It is what he’s doing to our neighbors. It’s what he’s trying to do to our country,” Mr. Rubio, his voice hoarse from campaign, said at a rally in Atlanta.
“He portrays himself as this fighter for the little guy,” said Mr. Rubio “This is a scam of the highest order.”
The Trump campaign released post-program surveys from two of the students and promised that it would soon obtain a similar survey from the third.
The Washington Times could not verify the authenticity of the signatures on the review forms.
A survey purportedly written by student Kevin Scott after finishing the Trump University program in 2008 gave it a “excellent” rating in every category, from finding deals to writing contracts to financing techniques.
Asked in the survey whether he would like to share his success story with Trump University, Mr. Scoot replied: “Yes !!”
Another student from the TV ad, Bob Guillo, also gave the most positive response of “excellent” to every survey question in 2009 about the Trump University program.
He checked “yes” when asked whether he would attend another Trump University seminar and when asked if he would recommend it to a friend.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.