Trump University Says Fraud Case Can’t Be Tried Without Witness

Students paid up to $35,000 for Trump-picked instructors
Trump faces suits by ex-students, New York Attorney General

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives for a debate in Detroit on March 3, 2016.
Photographer: GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images

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By Edvard Pettersson and Bill Callahan

March 11, 2016 at 9:38 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Donald Trump’s lawyers, true to the Republican’s bare-knuckles style, are arguing in a San Diego courtroom that a lawsuit claiming his defunct university was a fraud can’t go forward if one of four lead plaintiffs is allowed to back out.

Tarla Makaeff is the “poster child” for the case, Trump’s lawyers have said, and letting her drop out would be unfair since they’ve built their defense based on her statements.