He’ll be the defendant-in-chief.
Just weeks after pulling off his implausible presidential victory, President-elect Donald Trump is set to begin a civil trial in San Diego involving fraud allegations against his scandal-plagued Trump University.
The underlying lawsuit is one of several now ensnaring Trump that will put him in the unprecedented position of defending himself in numerous civil courts while navigating his transition to the White House.
Jury selection in the San Diego class action filed by unhappy Trump University customers is set to begin Nov. 28 in front of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel.
Trump famously questioned Judge Curiel’s ability to be impartial based on his Mexican heritage. The billionaire businessman argued rulings in the case proved Curiel was “biased” and a “hater” of Trump’s vow to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.
“So far the trial is still on,” plaintiff’s lawyer Patrick J. Coughlin told the Daily News Wednesday.
He said Trump’s upset election victory hadn’t swayed the resolve of his clients.
“It doesn’t change their feelings at all,” he told The News.
Coughlin said his side originally wanted the trial to take place in August, but Trump’s camp successfully pushed it until after Nov. 8.
“We don’t want them to have the argument that now that he’s elected president, this can’t go forward. We made that argument last spring when the trial date was picked,” he said. “We hope it doesn’t move.”
Asked to comment on his own personal feelings about the election outcome, Coughlin said “I’d rather not.”
The San Diego class action is one of three suits against the beleaguered school, including one filed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in 2013 calling it a “fraud from beginning to end” and accusing the mogul of cheating students out of up to $35,000 for real estate seminars.
New York regulators said the scheme often scammed senior citizens or those already in dire financial straits.
There’s also a New York state investigation into the Trump Foundation that ordered the charitable organization to stop raising money in the state after it failed to properly register.
Another federal investigation involves one of Trump’s closest aides, Paul Manafort, and his foreign business ties to Russia.
Trump and his numerous businesses have been entangled in more than 4,000 lawsuits in his three-decade career in real estate, a USA Today investigation found.
The litigious mogul could also be involved in suits in which he is the plaintiff. He has threatened to sue the dozen-plus women who have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct, and he’s taunted multiple media organizations with promises of legal action.
A request for comment from the Trump campaign was not immediately returned.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that presidents aren’t immune from litigation over actions that occurred before taking office — the ruling was in related to Paula Jones sexual harrasment suit against former President Bill Clinton.
