The Texas Attorney General's Office ran Trump University out of the state in 2010, according to emails that surfaced as part of a USA Today story on the controversial get-rich-quick seminars.

The emails were dug up by Democratic super PAC American Bridge 21st Century, and show that then-AG Greg Abbott's office opened a deceptive trade practices investigation of the seminars, which cost thousands and purported to teach real estate newbies "everything they need to know to be a successful residential restate broker — in 3 days." (Which seems reasonable to us. Our general rule of thumb is: If you can't learn it in three days, it ain't worth knowing, and that includes cardiovascular surgery.)

But Assistant Attorney General Rick Berlin told Donald Trump's lawyers that "the promises made to students were 'virtually impossible to achieve'" and that the information covered "is essentially unusable," according to the story.

Furthermore:

"The investigation apparently never went further than the exchange of emails and documents between the AG’s office and Trump’s lawyers. In a May 2010 email, Trump lawyer Michelle Lokey said 'it was never our client’s intent to deceive Texas consumers' and 'nothing about the either the workshops or the materials presented at the workshops is, in fact, deceptive or misleading.'



Lokey also promised that Trump University "will of course continue to honor its commitment to you and will continue to suspend its workshops in Texas while we address the remaining issues with your office." Apparently, the program was never un-suspended.

A Trump spokeswoman told USA Today that the seminars were totally not a scam:

“'Trump University was a professionally run company which provided students with a valuable and substantive education and the tools to succeed in business and real estate....'Those students that applied these strategies, were overwhelmingly satisfied and many were able to make substantial profits. Trump University did not promise, nor was its curriculum designed to teach students to become a real estate broker.'”

So, a seminar that purported to teach people "everything they need to know to be a successful residential real estate broker" was not designed to teach students to become real estate brokers. We can see why someone might get confused.

Interestingly, six years after Abbott's office ran out Trump U., Abbott gave a not-so-veiled endorsement of The Donald. We're glad those two made up.

For more details, check out the Houston Chronicle's in-depth look.

