--- title: Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Judge Comments 'Inexcusable' description: "This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made," Gingrich said on Fox and Friends canonical: https://time.com/4358082/newt-gingrich-blasts-trumps-attack-on-judge-as-inexcusable/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-06T12:01:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T00:49:49.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Judge Comments 'Inexcusable' og:description: "This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made," Gingrich said on Fox and Friends og:url: https://time.com/4358082/newt-gingrich-blasts-trumps-attack-on-judge-as-inexcusable/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd36401f032a26a6b/69889684f887dceaa2e9625e/newt-gringrich-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Former Speaker of the House Gingrich is followed by the media as he walks from a meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Newt Gingrich Says Donald Trump Judge Comments 'Inexcusable' twitter:description: "This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made," Gingrich said on Fox and Friends twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd36401f032a26a6b/69889684f887dceaa2e9625e/newt-gringrich-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Newt Gingrich Blasts Trump's Attack on Judge as 'Inexcusable' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### 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 [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:49 AM UTCPublished: Jun 6, 2016 12:01 PM UTC  Newt Gingrich is followed by the media as he walks from a meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Washington, March 21, 2016. Newt Gingrich is followed by the media as he walks from a meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Washington, March 21, 2016. Joshua Roberts—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 15, 2023 12:49 AM UTCPublished: Jun 6, 2016 12:01 PM UTC Former Speaker of the House [Newt Gingrich ](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/06/05/gingrich-trump-remarks-about-judge-mistake-inexcusable.html)is a noted fan of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but Gingrich said Sunday the businessman’s comments about a [federal judge’s Mexican heritage ](http://time.com/4356690/donald-trump-judge-mexican-legal-arguments/)crossed the line. “This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made,” Gingrich said on [_Fox News Sunday_](http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/06/05/gingrich-trump-remarks-about-judge-mistake-inexcusable.html).”I think it’s inexcusable.” Trump has said he thinks Judge Gonzalo Curiel is biased against him because of Curiel’s ethnicity. Curiel, who is the presiding judge in a [lawsuit against Trump University](http://time.com/4101290/what-the-legal-battle-over-trump-university-reveals-about-its-founder/), was born in Indiana but his parents are from Mexico. Trump has long proposed that he would build a border wall along the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico and he seems to think that proposal would make Curiel an unfit match for the case. Gingrich did not call the Republican candidate’s comments racist, saying that he has every right to criticize a judge, but he told Fox News Sunday the statements were sloppy and said that Trump should know better. “He is an American. Period. When you come to America, you get to become an American, and Trump, who has grandparents who came to the U.S., should understand this as much as anybody,” Gingrich said. On Monday, Trump responded to Gingrich’s comments, calling them [“inappropriate” in an interview.](http://bigstory.ap.org/4013c72dc31547e2aabfc25993602bbe) The businessman said he has to defend himself against attacks on Trump University. “You have to respond,” Trump said Monday. “All I’m trying to do is figure out why I’m being treated so unfairly by a judge.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4358082/newt-gingrich-blasts-trumps-attack-on-judge-as-inexcusable/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4358082/newt-gingrich-blasts-trumps-attack-on-judge-as-inexcusable/"},"headline":"Newt Gingrich Blasts Trump's Attack on Judge as 'Inexcusable'","datePublished":"2016-06-06T12:01:34.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T00:49:49.000Z","description":"\"This is one of the worst mistakes Trump has made,\" Gingrich said on Fox and Friends","url":"https://time.com/4358082/newt-gingrich-blasts-trumps-attack-on-judge-as-inexcusable/","keywords":["2016 Republicans","republicans","Donald Trump","newt gingrich"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd36401f032a26a6b/69889684f887dceaa2e9625e/newt-gringrich-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd36401f032a26a6b/69889684f887dceaa2e9625e/newt-gringrich-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Speaker of the House Gingrich is followed by the media as he walks from a meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Washington","caption":"Newt Gingrich is followed by the media as he walks from a meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Washington, March 21, 2016.","creditText":"Joshua Roberts—Reuters","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-republicans/","name":"2016 Republicans"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4358082/newt-gingrich-blasts-trumps-attack-on-judge-as-inexcusable/","name":"Newt Gingrich Blasts Trump's Attack on Judge as 'Inexcusable'"}}]}] ```