Presidential races

Trump tries to block groping allegations from Trump University trial

Donald Trump’s legal team is asking a judge overseeing lawsuits against Trump University to block any references to a number of damaging incidents involving the GOP nominee, according to Politico.

{mosads}Trump’s attorneys, Dan Petrocelli and David Kirman, filed a motion requesting U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel to prevent any discussion in the upcoming trial about Trump’s recorded comments about groping women, revelations that he used IRS provisions to avoid federal income taxes or the multiple sexual assault allegations leveled against him in recent weeks.

“Before trial begins in this case, prospective members of the jury will have the opportunity to cast their vote for President,” the lawyers wrote in the motion. 

“It is in the ballot box where they are free to judge Mr. Trump based on all this and more. But it is in the jury box where they must judge him and this case only on evidence and argument relevant to the issues at hand.”

Petrocelli and Kirman added that the developments in the campaign and even statements Trump himself has made “have no relevance to the issues before the jury and are otherwise inadmissible.”

One of the comments that the lawyers hope to preclude from trial is Trump’s attacks on Curiel’s heritage. In June, the business mogul said is incapable of being fair because he’s “a Mexican.” Curiel was born in Indiana and his parents were naturalized U.S. citizens from Mexico.

Trump is facing two lawsuits alleging that the now defunct Trump University fraudulently marketed its services.