Newt Gingrich: Trump "made a really stupid mistake" with judge attacks
Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich expanded on his critiques of Donald Trump Wednesday, after he had earlier talked about the "mistake" the presumptive GOP nominee made in attacking a Hispanic federal judge for his heritage.
Gingrich chastised Trump while speaking to a biotechnology conference in San Francisco, according to Stat News reporter Rebecca Robbins, who was live-tweeting the event.
"I've said all along, Trump has the greatest upside and the greatest downside of any candidate I've ever seen," Gingrich, an ally of Trump's, said Wednesday. "What we don't know yet is, as he pivots to the general election, and as he learns -- I mean, he made a really stupid mistake last week, and it took him about three days, in public, to learn."
Previously, Gingrich called Trump's comments about U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel "inexcusable" in a Fox News Sunday interview. Trump has said of Curiel, who is presiding over class action lawsuits against Trump University, that the judge's Mexican heritage makes him "totally biased against me."
But while Gingrich wasn't shy about criticizing Trump's comments about Curiel, the former House speaker also admires Trump's uncanny ability to win.
"You have a Trump -- this absurd amateur. I mean, it's not technically possible -- all of us, men and women in politics -- it's not technically possible to announce in June for the presidency -- having never run for anything -- and beat 16 people," Gingrich noted. "And he just beat them all."
You can take a look at the transcript of the exchange here:
In a live Facebook video conversation later Wednesday, Gingrich also praised Hillary Clinton, calling her a "formidable" general election opponent.
"Let me first say that I thought Hillary Clinton's speech last night was very effective," the Republican said of Clinton's "spectacular" victory address in Brooklyn Tuesday. "No conservative, no Republican should assume that she's going to be a pushover."
Gingrich added that she "deserves a lot of credit" for the historical milestone of becoming the first woman to become the nominee of a major party.
"I think that the Republicans in general and the Trump folks in particular are going to really have to think through how they're going to deal with it," he said.
Trump, for his part, has expressed his dismay at the top GOP leader responses to his Curiel comments.
"I was disappointed and surprised," the billionaire said Wednesday morning in an interview with Time magazine. "I had just won more votes than anyone in the history of the party, so I was a little bit surprised when they said that."
"I didn't think it was necessary," he said. "But you know, they have to say what they have to say. I'm a big boy. They have to say what they have to say."
The San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, a professional Latino law organization, also came out with a statement slamming Trump's attacks against Curiel, calling his remarks "not only racist" but an "ominous portent of how Trump would use the power of the presidency to intimidate federal judges."
"The notion that Judge Curiel's Mexican heritage is precluding him from being impartial in presiding over the suits involving Trump is completely at odds with the views of legal experts across the country and untethered from reality," the association said.