NEWARK, N.J. – Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump a "fraud" for the first time here Wednesday afternoon, accusing him of taking "advantage of vulnerable Americans" through Trump University.
Clinton seized on newly unsealed court documents in a lawsuit against the venture to slam the billionaire businessman, pointing out that his "his own employees" testified that the for-profit education company was "a fraudulent scheme where Donald Trump enriched himself at the expense of hardworking people."
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"This is just more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud. He is trying to scam America the way he scammed all those people at Trump U," Clinton said during a campaign stop ahead of next week’s New Jersey primary.
Specifically, Clinton said, Trump is at fault for "encouraging" Americans "to max out their credit cards, empty their retirement savings, destroy their financial futures, all while making promises they knew were false from the beginning."
The Clinton campaign has used this latest controversy, along with Trump's recent military donations, to go on offense against the Republican nominee. Aides say Clinton will continue to use this line of attack against Trump in an attempt to paint him as a greedy businessman who only cares about himself.
"It’s important that we recognize what he has done because that’s usually a pretty good indication of what he will do," Clinton said. "On issue after issue, we see someone who is unqualified and unfit to be president of the United States."
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Her entire speech was Trump-focused, calling him out on veterans, women, foreign policy and more. She perhaps summarized her campaign’s general election strategy most succinctly by saying: "I think that Donald Trump has disqualified himself completely."
Clinton campaigned in the Garden State Wednesday ahead of a 5-day swing through California. Both states hold primaries on June 7 and will likely earn the former secretary of state enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination. Since polls close earlier in the east, Clinton ended her rally by telling the crowd that they "have the chance to decide the nominee of the Democratic Party next Tuesday."
