Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in San Jose, California ahead of the state’s primary. (Getty)
The brother of Judge Gonzalo Curiel is weighing in on Donald Trump’s recent attacks.
In an interview with CNN, Raul Curiel said that he thinks Trump is speaking from a place of ignorance when he says his brother Gonzalo can not judge the Trump University lawsuit fairly because of his Mexican heritage.
“I think it’s more not knowing. Yeah, I would say ignorance,” Curiel said. “I don’t think he is strictly an outright racist like some of your Ku Klux Klan. Those kind of people really are racist. They have no redeeming qualities. Trump, I don’t believe, is that caliber of person. But he is very, very uninformed.”
Curiel went on to say that his brother will not be commenting on the case, noting that Gonzalo is not taking the whole situation very seriously. Though Raul offered a slight defense of Trump by saying he doesn’t believe his remarks were necessary motivated by racism, he certainly did question Trump’s thinking in making them.
“I think this is unheard of in any political campaign,” Curiel said. “I think Trump feels that this division is working in his favor but he’s actually creating the bigger division as we speak.”
Trump recently went after Judge Gonzalo Curiel in several interviews and campaign speeches, saying that the judge is biased against him because of his Mexican heritage.
“I’m building a wall,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s an inherent conflict of interest.”
Trump has been rebuked by many of his Republican supporters for this remark, including Paul Ryan and Newt Gingrich. Already, Hillary has used Republicans’ criticism of this comment in a campaign ad.