Hillary Clinton said Monday night she fears Donald Trump will go after female judges in the wake of comments he's made about a Mexican-American judge presiding over a lawsuit against him.
During an interview with Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, Clinton — who has secured enough delegate votes to
clinch the Democratic nomination in the race for president —called Trump's verbal attacks "racist" and "impervious to the values of America."
"To accuse an American judge, someone born in Indiana, who is as American as I am, and certainly as American as Donald Trump, that based on his heritage he cannot oversee a trial that is brought by plaintiffs who feel that they've been defrauded by Mr. Trump and his so-called, 'Trump University,' is a terrible precedent," Clinton said.
"He's trying to demean and defame a federal judge, who was a very accomplished federal prosecutor, who was first appointed by a Republican governor in California, and then appointed to the federal bench by President Obama. [Trump] recently said he didn't know if a Muslim judge could be fair to him.
"I imagine he'll move on to women judges because he's been insulting women so regularly, or maybe a judge with a disability, or perhaps one who was a former POW, or African American. This is dangerous nonsense that undermines the rule of law, that makes him appear to be someone who has no respect for fellow Americans, and I think it is yet more evidence why this man is dangerous and divisive and disqualified from being president."
Trump has been critical of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who he claims has been biased in the Trump University case. The trial is slated for November, after the presidential election.
People from all political walks of life
have slammed Trump for criticizing the judge because of his Mexican heritage. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee thinks his comments about Mexico and building a wall should preclude Curiel from hearing the case.
"With the attacks on so many other people, he is calling them out for their ethnic background, their race, their religion, their gender. I don't know what else you could call these attacks other than racist, other than prejudice, other than bigoted," Clinton told Maddow.
"It's just plain wrong, and certainly wrong coming from someone who is vying to become President of the United States."