Settled: End of Trump University lawsuit one less distraction

The settlement reached in the lawsuit against the former Trump University means there is one less distraction for the new president-elect and his administration.

After more than six years of legal wrangling, Donald Trump agreed to pay former customers of his now defunct business school $25 million. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit had accused him of fraud. He had vowed to never settle out of court and said during his campaign that he was looking forward to clearing his name in court.

But less than two weeks after winning the presidency and only a few weeks before a trial would have begun, Trump's lawyers made overtures to the plaintiffs' lawyers, indicating they were interested in a settlement.

We believe it was a good move and came at a time when the new president-elect needed to clear his table of as many distractions as possible. After all, he will soon be a pretty busy man and would not need to drag any more controversy into his new administration than it already faces.

Whether Trump was guilty of defrauding former students is now a moot point. And he will be able to concentrate on making the transition to the White House.

But it does make you wonder how the case would have played out in court.

Published in Editorials on November 21, 2016 9:59 AM