'Obama is out to get me!': Donald Trump claims the President is behind $40 million lawsuit against his 'phony' university that 'falsely' promised to make students rich

Donald Trump received a lawsuit on Saturday from New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman

He thinks Obama is involved after the President and Schneiderman met just days ago



The lawsuit accuses 'Trump University' of encouraging students to pay for expensive, useless seminars

Trump hit back on Monday morning claiming the school had received a 98 percent approval rating from students

He thinks the legal dispute could become another scandal for Obama and called Schneiderman 'a political hack'



Legal action: Donald Trump was on the receiving end of a $40 million lawsuit from New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman on Saturday

Donald Trump has come out with all guns blazing today after New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman launched a $40 million lawsuit against him, claiming that the real estate mogul’s ‘Trump University’ had ‘falsely’ promised to make students rich.



Speaking on Fox & Friends on Monday morning, Trump proceeded to trash talk Scheiderman before going as far as to suggest that the president was behind involved the legal action.



The lawsuit was filed on Saturday, just days after Schneiderman had met with the President on Thursday evening, said Trump.



‘They meet on Thursday evening. I get sued by this A.G. Schneiderman, I get sued on Saturday at one o’clock. Think of it. What government agency in the history of this country has ever brought a suit on a Saturday? I never heard of such a thing,’ Trump said.



Trump, who described the lawsuit as ‘incompetent’ and ‘terribly drawn,’ predicted that the lawsuit had the potential to be another scandal for the Obama administration.



‘They obviously did it very quickly, but probably Obama - maybe this is a mini IRS. Maybe we have to get the Tea Party after these people because this could very well be a mini IRS,’ Trump said.



After receiving the lawsuit on Saturday, Trump quickly took to twitter where he accused Schneiderman of ‘trying to extort me’ and described him as a 'total sleazebag,' a 'lightweight' and 'dopey.'

New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman, right, met with President Obama on Thursday but says they didn't discuss Donald Trump



On Monday morning, Trump took to the airwaves to defend his reputation, claiming that the school had a 98 percent approval rating from students.



On Good Morning America he called Sneiderman ‘a political hack.’

‘I know him very well. He comes up to my office looking for campaign contributions. He tells me lots of unflattering things about Obama, he tells me lots of unflattering things about Governor Cuomo,’ said Trump.



‘He was very upset with the fact that we didn't help him. He thought we should have helped him much more. He is a political hack from beginning to end.’

Wow, l just found out that A.G. Schneiderman met with President Obama in Syracuse on Thursday --- and sued me on Saturday! Same as IRS etc. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2013

Beleaguered: Donald Trump, pictured with his university emblem in May 2005, has been sued for $40 million after a lawsuit claims the classes were mostly useless and failed to live up to their promises

Schneiderman hit back during an appearance on CNN on Monday morning, reports Politico .



He confirmed that had met with Obama on Thursday, but that they never discussed Trump.



‘The president and I had much more important stuff to talk about than Donald Trump. [The president] was giving a speech about education in Syracuse about affordability. I’ve never discussed Donald Trump with the president,’ Schneiderman said.



Schneiderman also accused Trump of using the scandal to generate publicity for himself.



‘He is a showman. He doesn’t seem to think there is any such thing as a bad headline,’ Schneiderman said.

He said many of the 5,000 students who paid up to $35,000 thought they would at least meet Trump but instead all they got was their picture taken in front of a life-size picture of him.

'Trump University engaged in deception at every stage of consumers' advancement through costly programs and caused real financial harm,' Schneiderman said.

I really enjoyed doing the show circuit this AM discussing lightweight AG Eric Schneiderman & the terrible job he has done for NY. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2013

Schneiderman has accused Trump of using the scandal to generate publicity for himself. 'He doesn't seem to think there is any such thing as a bad headline,' he said

'Trump University, with Donald Trump's knowledge and participation, relied on Trump's name recognition and celebrity status to take advantage of consumers who believed in the Trump brand.'

State Education Department officials told Trump to change the name of his enterprise years ago, saying it lacked a license and didn't meet the legal definitions of a university.

In 2011 it was renamed the 'Trump Entrepreneur Institute', but it has since been dogged by complaints from consumers and a few civil lawsuits claiming it didn't fulfill its advertised claims.

Schneiderman's lawsuit covers complaints dating to 2005 through 2011 and it claims that students paid between $1,495 and $35,000 to learn from the mogul.

He said the three-day seminars failed to teach consumers everything they needed to know about real estate, as the 'university' had promised. The Trump University manual tells instructors not to let consumers 'think three days will be enough to make them successful', Schneiderman said.

At the seminars, consumers were told about 'Trump Elite' mentorships that cost $10,000 to $35,000 in which students were promised individual instruction until they made their first deal.

Schneiderman said participants were urged to extend the limit on their credit cards for real estate deals, but then used the credit to pay for the Trump Elite programs.

Angered: Trump accused the attorney general of being politically motivated with his lawsuit and said it was a way for Schneiderman to try to extort campaign contributions from him

The attorney general said the program also failed to promptly cancel memberships as promised.

The lawsuit added that many of students were unable to land even one real estate deal and were left far worse off than before the lessons, facing thousands of dollars in debt.

But Trump's attorney accused Schneiderman of trying to extort campaign contributions from the real estate mogul through his investigation.

Attorney Michael D. Cohen told The Associated Press on Saturday that Schneiderman's lawsuit was filled with falsehoods. Cohen insisted that Trump and his university never defrauded anyone.

'The attorney general has been angry because he felt that Mr. Trump and his various companies should have done much more for him in terms of fundraising,' Cohen said.



'This entire investigation is politically motivated and it is a tremendous waste of taxpayers' money.'

State Board of Elections records show Trump has spent more than $136,000 on New York campaigns since 2010.

He contributed $12,500 to Schneiderman in October 2010, when Schneiderman was running for attorney general, records show.

An outspoken conservative, Trump himself flirted with a presidential run last year.

'Donald Trump will not sit back and be extorted by anyone, including the attorney general,' Cohen said.

Schneiderman is suing the program, Trump as the university chairman, and the former president of the university in a case to be handled in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.

He accuses them of engaging in persistent fraud, illegal and deceptive conduct and violating federal consumer protection law. The $40 million he seeks is mostly to pay restitution to consumers.

He dismissed Trump's claim of a political motive.