Trump continues to defend his 'racist' criticism of judge presiding over university case and says his Mexican heritage is why he has given him 'horrible rulings' 

Donald Trump has continued to defend his criticism of the judge overseeing his university case, re-iterating that he is unable to do his job 'because he is of Mexican heritage'.

The Republican presumptive nominee fought back Friday at comments made by Hillary Clinton and others, that his remarks about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel were inherently racist.

Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper Friday, he said he has had 'horrible rulings and been treated very unfairly by this judge'.

Donald Trump has continued to defend his criticism of the judge overseeing his university case, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel (right, re-iterating that he is unable to do his job 'because he is of Mexican heritage'

Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper Friday, he said he has had 'horrible rulings and been treated very unfairly by this judge'

And he believes the route cause of this is because he is of Mexican heritage - and Trump plans to build a wall between Mexico and America, thereby causing a 'conflict of interests'.

Tapper pressed him: 'So a Mexican judge is never allowed to be involved in a case that involved you?'

Trump dodged the question however, instead replying: 'He's a member of a pro-Mexico group and that's fine. it's all fine. But I think he should recuse himself.'

He later commented: 'I'm building a wall. I'm trying to keep business out of Mexico. Mexico's fine.

'He's of Mexican heritage, and he's very proud of it, as I am of where I come from.'

But Tapper again raised concerns of racism saying: 'You're invoking his race over whether or not he can do his job...

'If you are saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?'

Trump replied no. 

Curiel was born in Indiana to Mexican-immigrant parents.

Last Saturda, Donald Trump spent a full 12 minutes of a campaign rally in San Diego, criticizing Curiel. 

Trump said: 'The trial is going to take place sometime in November. There should be no trial. This should have been dismissed on summary judgment easily.

'Everybody says it, but I have a judge who is a hater of Donald Trump, a hater. He's a hater. His name is Gonzalo Curiel.'

'Curiel 'is not doing the right thing. And I figure, what the hell? Why not talk about it for two minutes?'  

The Wall Street Journal claims what followed was 'one of his most personal attacks against an apolitical figure since becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.'

Last Saturda, Donald Trump spent a full 12 minutes of a campaign rally in San Diego, criticizing Curiel 

'We're in front of a very hostile judge,' Mr. Trump said. 'The judge was appointed by Barack Obama, federal judge. Frankly, he should recuse himself because he's given us ruling after ruling after ruling, negative, negative, negative.'

Mr. Trump also told the audience, that Judge Curiel is 'Mexican.'

'What happens is the judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great. I think that's fine,' Mr. Trump said.

Judge Curiel was born in Indiana. 

The tirade came after the the judge ordered the release of Trump University internal documents in a class-action lawsuit against the now-defunct real estate school.

The order came Friday in response to a request by The Washington Post, calls for the documents to be released by Thursday. 

Trump University has been cited in anti-Trump political ads during the primary campaign as evidence that Trump doesn't fulfill his promises.

Trump's lawyers deny any wrongdoing in the case before Curiel as well as another class-action suit in San Diego and a $40 million lawsuit filed in 2013 by the state of New York alleging that more than 5,000 people had been defrauded.

According to the California class-action complaint in front of Curiel, a one-year apprenticeship that Trump University students were promised ended after students paid for a three-day seminar. Attendees who were promised a personal photo with Trump received only the chance to take a photo with a cardboard cutout. And many instructors were bankrupt real estate investors. 

Curiel expressed concern for jurors who may have gotten caught in a 'media frenzy' if the trial were held during the campaign, even though it was filed in 2010 and originally planned for this summer. 

The San Diego suit says Trump University, which was not accredited as a school, held seminars across the country that failed to deliver on the school's promises.

Trump, who appears on a list of defense witnesses for the trial, has repeatedly pointed to a 98 percent satisfaction rate on internal surveys.

But the lawsuit says students were asked to rate the product when they believed they still had more instruction to come and were reluctant to openly criticize their teachers on surveys that were not anonymous.

Demonstrators protested outside of the arena where the Trump was speaking in San Diego last Saturday 

A protester holds up a sign outside a rally where republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was speaking

Mr. Trump told the audience that Judge Curiel is 'Mexican', however it is understood he was born in Indiana

Curiel, a judicial appointee of President Barack Obama, has been eager to get to trial and had planned the trial for this summer before Trump's surge in the primaries.

The case was filed in 2010, making it the second-oldest on his docket. 

The New York real estate mogul, for his part, has claimed that Curiel is a 'hater of Donald Trump' and should be ashamed of how he has handled the case. 

Trump also has questioned whether Curiel, who is Hispanic, is biased against him because of his call for deporting immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Trump claimed the case should have been thrown out years ago, 'but because it was me and because there's a hostility toward me by the judge - tremendous hostility - beyond belief.' He then noted, as an aside: 'I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He's Hispanic — which is fine.'

The lawsuit overseen by Curiel states that Trump University's nationwide seminars and classes were like infomercials and pressured students to buy more but didn't deliver as promised in spite of students paying as much as $35,000 for seminars. 

Curiel already has set a November 28 trial date.

The Post reported that Curiel's order to release an estimated 1,000 pages of documents cites heightened public interest in Trump and that he had 'placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue.' 

The judge appeared to reject the argument by Trump attorneys that the information had commercial value, saying that there was no support for the assertion that Trump University may resume operations.

Since the early 1980s, Trump has personally been sued at least 150 times in federal court, records show.

Only a handful of those cases are pending, with the ones involving Trump University — two in California and one in New York — being the most significant