--- title: Donald Trump: Comments About Judge Were 'Misconstrued' description: Donald Trump said that his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel have been "misconstrued" as an attack on Mexican and Hispanic people. canonical: https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-07T20:53:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:28.782Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Says Comments About Judge Were 'Misconstrued' og:description: "I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial" og:url: https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb809c067530bb4a2/698896d6524fc0e6b6df84bc/trump-backs-down.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican Presidential Candidates Address 2015 Family Leadership Summit og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Says Comments About Judge Were 'Misconstrued' twitter:description: "I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb809c067530bb4a2/698896d6524fc0e6b6df84bc/trump-backs-down.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Says Comments About Judge Were 'Misconstrued' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Politicians React To Trump's Attack On Trump University Judge [Watch (HLS stream): Politicians React To Trump's Attack On Trump University Judge](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PGN2n8ZY.m3u8) (1:20)  _Published 2016-06-06_  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 7, 2016 8:53 PM UTC  Donald Trump fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa on July 18, 2015. Donald Trump fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa on July 18, 2015.Scott Olson—Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jun 7, 2016 8:53 PM UTC Donald Trump said Tuesday that his controversial comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel have been “misconstrued” as an attack on Mexican and Hispanic people. The statement, released Tuesday afternoon, marked the first time Trump has backed down from criticizing Curiel, who is presiding over the class-action [lawsuit against Trump University](http://time.com/4353116/trump-university-documents-released/). The presumptive Republican nominee has repeatedly argued that Curiel has [an “absolute conflict”](http://time.com/4356690/donald-trump-judge-mexican-legal-arguments/) of interest because of his Mexican heritage, given Trump’s promise to build a wall on the Mexican border. Curiel is an American, born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents. “It is unfortunate that my comments have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage,” Trump said. “I am friends with and employ thousands of people of Mexican and Hispanic descent.” Trump’s statement also contradicts previous interviews in which the presumptive GOP nominee implied Curiel’s Mexican heritage was the reason behind “unfair” rulings in the Trump University case. “I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial, but, based on the rulings that I have received in the Trump University civil case, I feel justified in questioning whether I am receiving a fair trial,” the statement says, adding that Trump does “not intend to comment on this matter any further.” Before Tuesday’s statement, Trump had doubled down on his criticism of Curiel in recent interviews. “This judge is giving us unfair rulings,” Trump said in an interview with CNN last week. “Now I say why. Well, I’m building a wall, OK? And it’s a wall between Mexico, not another country.” He also said it was “possible” that a Muslim judge would be biased against him because of his proposal to place a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. The statement also follows a [press conference earlier in the day](http://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/?xid=homepage) in which Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said Trump’s remarks were “the textbook definition of a racist comment.” Other Republican leaders in recent days have also condemned Trump’s remarks about Curiel, including Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican, who on Tuesday [retracted](http://time.com/4360450/illinois-senator-mark-kirk-donald-trump/) his previous commitment to support the party’s nominee. Jeb Bush, Trump’s former adversary in the GOP primary, panned the real estate mogul’s statement shortly after it was released. “Donald Trump should retract his comments, not defend them,” Bush Tweeted. “There is no place for racism in the GOP, or this country.” > [](https://twitter.com/weeklystandard/status/740286716829782018) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Says Comments About Judge Were 'Misconstrued'","datePublished":"2016-06-07T20:53:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:28.782Z","description":"\"I do not feel that one’s heritage makes them incapable of being impartial\"","url":"https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb809c067530bb4a2/698896d6524fc0e6b6df84bc/trump-backs-down.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb809c067530bb4a2/698896d6524fc0e6b6df84bc/trump-backs-down.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Republican Presidential Candidates Address 2015 Family Leadership Summit","caption":"Donald Trump fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa on July 18, 2015.","creditText":"Scott Olson—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/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/","name":"Donald Trump Says Comments About Judge Were 'Misconstrued'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Politicians React To Trump's Attack On Trump University Judge","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PGN2n8ZY/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-06-06T22:19:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PGN2n8ZY.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/","duration":"PT1M20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4360424/donald-trump-gonzalo-curiel-misconstrued/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```