Hillary Clinton’s campaign is on the warpath against Donald Trump’s namesake set of training programs, labeling the school a “fraud” and a “scam” in a lengthy attack on Twitter.
Clinton’s account took a series of shots at Trump University — including at one point retweeting 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s assertion that Trump is “is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University.”
The school is now defunct and what remains is called the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative.
Her campaign pledged to keep up the attack over the Trump-owned business the day after documents detailing strategies to encourage customers to sign up for seminars — even if they couldn’t afford them — were unsealed by a judge in the fraud case against Trump University and became public.
“Confident that voters don’t know enough about Trump U yet. So expect to hear quite a bit more from us on this topic,” Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri tweeted.
Clinton’s press secretary, Brian Fallon, tweeted, “Trump U is devastating because it’s metaphor for his whole campaign: promising hardworking Americans way to get ahead, but all based on lies.”
The Clinton tweets linked to a New York Times report on Trump University that featured former employees of the business characterizing it as a “fraudulent scheme” that “preyed upon” its customers.
In another tweet, Clinton included a warning, saying: “Caution — may cause nausea.”
She also linked to a Washington Post report citing Trump University employees describing the business as a scam in the records unveiled Tuesday.
That was the starting point of a Clinton tweetstorm.
“The gist: Trump’s for-profit university deceived & exploited students to take their money,” her account tweeted. “And he has the gall to call the media ‘sleazy.'”
Then, she tweeted: “Some of Trump University’s tactics: push people to take on debt, cash out retirement, max out credit cards—whatever it took to buy classes.”
She continued: “Some of Trump University’s tactics: push people to take on debt, cash out retirement, max out credit cards—whatever it took to buy classes.”
“Another Trump University practice, according to its own employees: target struggling families to fleece them,” Clinton tweeted. “Trump University employed instructors with no experience and lied to sell outrageously expensive packages. In a word: fraud.”
And, she said, “It’s one thing to sell steaks using a name as a marketing ploy. Trump’s company intentionally put people at risk.”
Then, Clinton’s Twitter feed transitioned into a broader attack on Trump — arguing that “Trump’s candidacy is built on his business ‘credibility.’ But his business record matches his character: His only concern is his own profit.”
“The Trump University con says a lot about Trump,” Clinton wrote. “If you can’t trust him with your personal finances—how can we trust him with our country?”
The Twitter attack from Clinton’s account didn’t include any comments signed “-H” — an indicator that the message came from Clinton herself.
For his part, Trump has defended his namesake business school, blaming the judge in the case in a news conference Tuesday.
“I have a judge who is very, very unfair. He knows he’s unfair. And I’ll win the Trump University case,” he said. “I could settle that case. I could have settled it. I just choose not to. In fact, when I ran, they said, ‘Why don’t you settle up that case?’ I don’t want to settle the case.”