Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said that Donald Trump’s comments about the federal judge handling the Trump University case were by definition racist in a post on Twitter Monday.
Although Judge Gonzalo Curiel was born in Indiana, Trump has said multiple times that his Mexican heritage has made him too biased to rule on the Trump University case. Sasse pushed back Monday.
“Public Service Announcement: Saying someone can’t do a specific job based on his or her race is the literal definition of ‘racism,'” Sasse tweeted on Monday.
Trump has said Curiel’s heritage is a “conflict of interest” in the case and is the cause for multiple “unfair rulings.”
“We’re building a wall. He’s a Mexican. The answer is he’s giving us unfair rulings. This judge is giving us unfair rulings,” Trump said in an interview last week with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
Sasse joined several other Republicans who have denounced Trump’s comments concerning Curiel, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and former House Speaker Newt Gringrich. Both are Trump endorsers, while Sasse has been a leader of the “Never Trump” movement.
“Look, the comment about the judge, just was out of left field for my mind,” Ryan said Friday on WISN in Milwaukee. “It’s reasoning I don’t relate to, I completely disagree with the thinking behind that.”
Trump has not indicated he plans to apologize for his comments.
