Out of line

Megyn Kelly: Trump 'out of line' with judge attack

By Nick Gass

Megyn Kelly lit into Donald Trump on her show Thursday night for escalating his attack on the federal judge presiding over a class-action lawsuit against Trump University.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Trump remarked that U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel has an "absolute" and "inherent conflict of interest" in handling the case because he is "of Mexican heritage" while Trump is "building a wall" between the two countries when he is president.

"So first of all, people are saying that this judge is a member of La Raza, the group that's been protesting Donald Trump. He isn't," the former attorney said on "The Kelly File." "He's a member of an Hispanic lawyers' association that has no partisan stripes whatsoever. They support Hispanic lawyers and judges. That's it. So let's be clear on that."

Curiel, she added, "is not Mexican," noting that while his parents are Mexican and he is "of Mexican heritage," the federal judge was born in Indiana.

"Third, he has no conflict of interest, Bill," she told guest Bill Bennett, a Trump supporter.

"Now Donald Trump is saying the judge should be investigated, someone should look into him just because he ruled against Donald Trump in this litigation repeatedly. He certified the class and he denied the motion for summary judgment. That doesn't make you biased. It doesn't," she said, gesturing forcefully to make her point.

"No, it doesn't. Big mistake. And I hope he stops with this," said Bennett, who served as secretary of education under Ronald Reagan and once said the party's mainstream had "closed its minds" to Trump. "In fact, I hope he stops with a lot of the personal stuff that he's been doing the last week or two. We thought he was at a point of new departure.

Kelly tore into Trump supporter David Wohl on her show Tuesday night, telling him that the presumptive Republican nominee's decision "to go after the judge as a, quote, ‘Mexican’ and ‘hater’ takes it to another level."

The Fox News anchor drew the ire of Trump last August with a question about his past comments about women, leading to a protracted back-and-forth between the two culminating in a prime-time special on Fox that aired last month.