Trump fires back over suit

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y.

Donald Trump on Monday defended his Trump University as a booming success for student entrepreneurs and blasted New York’s attorney general, who called it a scam.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman shot back that Trump is making wild accusations, just like others who commit fraud and get caught.

“We have a terrific school. It’s done a fantastic job,” Trump told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We have a 98 percent approval rating among students.”

Trump held several TV interviews to further contest the lawsuit filed Saturday by Schneiderman, which alleges the real-estate mogul helped run a phony university that promised to make students rich but instead steered them into expensive and mostly useless seminars.

“This is a political hack looking to get publicity,” Trump said.

His attorney, Michael Cohen, said Saturday that Schneiderman was upset the reality TV star didn’t give him more campaign contributions, which he claims Schneiderman sought even while investigating Trump University. Cohen called it extortion.

Trump, in interviews with “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today,” denied Schneiderman’s claims that he never met with students and didn’t pick instructors.

“I was totally involved to a very high degree,” he said. “I told people what to do, and if they had listened to me, it would have made a lot of money.”

Schneiderman wouldn’t specifically say if he solicited any donations from Trump during the two-year investigation. The attorney general’s office released this statement from Schneiderman in response to Trump’s accusations: “Prosecutors are used to persons who commit fraud making wild accusations when they’re caught.”