--- title: Donald Trump: ‘It’s Possible’ Muslim Judge Would Be Biased description: Donald Trump said it’s “possible” a Muslim judge would be biased while presiding over the Trump University case in a new interview canonical: https://time.com/4357705/donald-trump-muslim-judge-gonzalo-curiel/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-05T14:37:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:50.190Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says ‘It’s Possible’ Muslim Judge Would Be Biased og:description: "We have to stop being so politically correct in this country" og:url: https://time.com/4357705/donald-trump-muslim-judge-gonzalo-curiel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950d1dc6a348ee8d/69889672a988ca73486b81c8/donald-trump-muslim-judge.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-VOTE-TRUMP og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says ‘It’s Possible’ Muslim Judge Would Be Biased twitter:description: "We have to stop being so politically correct in this country" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950d1dc6a348ee8d/69889672a988ca73486b81c8/donald-trump-muslim-judge.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says 'It’s Possible' Muslim Judge Would Be Biased > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jun 5, 2016 2:37 PM UTC  Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif., on June 2, 2016. Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif., on June 2, 2016. Josh Edelson—AFP/Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jun 5, 2016 2:37 PM UTC Donald Trump said [it’s “possible”](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-its-possible-muslim-judge-would-treat-me-unfairly/) a Muslim judge would be biased while presiding over the Trump University case in a new interview after saying [U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage](http://time.com/4356045/donald-trump-judge-gonzalo-curiel/) prevents him from acting fairly in his role in the civil fraud proceedings. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee stood by his belief that it’s “common sense” that a judge’s heritage would affect how he rules amid Trump’s ongoing rhetoric about building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico during an appearance on CBS’ _Face the Nation_ that aired Sunday. He previously said Curiel had “an absolute conflict” in presiding over civil fraud proceedings against Trump University. Curiel was born in Indiana to parents who came from Mexico, according to the Associated Press. “He is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine,” Trump told CBS’ John Dickerson. “But I say he’s got bias. I want to build a wall. I’m going to build a wall.” > [](https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/739436549842964481) When Dickerson asked Trump if he thinks a Muslim judge would also treat him unfairly because of his proposal to temporarily bar Muslims from entering the country, Trump said: “It’s possible, yes. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely.” “You know, we have to stop being so politically correct in this country,” the mogul later added. “And we need a little more common sense, John. And I’m not blaming. I’m proud of my heritage, we’re all proud of our heritage. But I want to build a wall.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker—who both have endorsed Trump—said they do not condone the billionaire’s comments Sunday in separate interviews on political shows. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4357705/donald-trump-muslim-judge-gonzalo-curiel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4357705/donald-trump-muslim-judge-gonzalo-curiel/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says 'It’s Possible' Muslim Judge Would Be Biased","datePublished":"2016-06-05T14:37:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:50.190Z","description":"\"We have to stop being so politically correct in this country\"","url":"https://time.com/4357705/donald-trump-muslim-judge-gonzalo-curiel/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950d1dc6a348ee8d/69889672a988ca73486b81c8/donald-trump-muslim-judge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt950d1dc6a348ee8d/69889672a988ca73486b81c8/donald-trump-muslim-judge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-VOTE-TRUMP","caption":"US-POLITICS-VOTE-TRUMP","creditText":"Josh Edelson—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4357705/donald-trump-muslim-judge-gonzalo-curiel/","name":"Donald Trump Says 'It’s Possible' Muslim Judge Would Be Biased"}}]}] ```