https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/news/trump-calls-ny-attorney-general-political-hack-135017320.html - 2013
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 all used to persons who commit fraud making wild accusations when they're caught."
"This is just an effort to distract from the substance of the case," the Democrat said. "The substance of the case, he has not rebutted in any way shape or form."
Schneiderman is suing Trump and Trump University for $40 million, accusing them of engaging in persistent fraud, illegal and deceptive conduct and violating federal consumer protection law. He says the developer of hotels, casinos and more also failed to deliver promised apprenticeships.
On Saturday, after he filed the lawsuit, Schneiderman told The Associated Press: "No one, no matter how rich or famous they are, has a right to scam hard working New Yorkers."
State Education Department officials had told Trump to change the name of his enterprise years ago, saying it lacked a license and didn't meet the legal definitions of a university. In 2011, it was renamed the Trump Entrepreneur Institute.
Schneiderman claims many of the 5,000 students who paid up to $35,000 thought they would at least meet Trump, but instead, all they got was their picture taken in front of a life-size picture of "The Apprentice" star.
That's at odds with Trump's contention that 98 percent of students surveys rated the program as "excellent."