Donald Trump visited Fox & Friends this morning where he “defended” the $40 million lawsuit alleging his Trump University is a fraud by accusing the New York State attorney general of colluding with President Obama and using the lawsuit as a political vendetta. Trump's latest conspiracy theory is just about as credible as his birther conspiracy theory or his phony presidential campaign(s). But the Fox & Friends hosts did their part to lend an imprimatur of respectability to the outlandish claim.

There’s just no end to the credulity with which the Fox & Friends receive Donald Trump’s BS. Despite his blatantly false and discredited birtherism (which made even his own children cringe), and his obviously phony presidential runs, he continues to be regularly received as a credible pundit on Fox News.

So it was no surprise that not only did nobody challenge his latest concoction but they helped goose it along.

First, Trump accused New York State’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, of being a “political hack.” Even though Trump also admitted having donated to his campaign (which none of the hosts questioned). Trump said about Schneiderman:

He’d come up to my office unbeknownst, he’d just come up. And I’d see him and I’d sit with him. He’d tell me about Obama, his feelings about Obama which, by the way, were not good. I’ll tell you about that another day. He’d talk about Governor Cuomo in a very harsh tone. This is not a good guy. This is a real political hack.

…He’s going after me for publicity. He’ll get publicity. But let’s see how it all works out. …I could have settled this case very, very easily and I chose not to.

You’d think that if a “political hack” going after Trump for publicity had come up with charges so bogus that Trump refused to settle, he’d have come forward with a pre-emptive strike against the suit before it was filed. But that was another point that, predictably, nobody on the Curvy Couch brought up.

Instead, co-host Brian Kilmeade said sympathetically, “The way you were outlining it, there’s nothing here. It’s more personal than anything else. Are you gonna sue the state back?”

“Well, we’re looking into that,” Trump claimed. “We’re thinking about bringing a major lawsuit. Think about how many schools you have all over the place and he picks Trump? I mean, give me a break.”

So Kilmeade all but held up a cue card telling Trump that it was time to go after Obama. Kilmeade prompted asked, “After golfing with President Obama who clearly has not been fond of you?”

Trump took the hint:

Well, I tell you what. Look, I’ve been a very harsh critic of the president. And I don’t want to be. If he was doing a great job, I don’t care, (even though) I’m a Republican. …They meet on Thursday evening. I get sued by this AG Schneiderman… on Saturday at one o’clock. Now, think of it. What government agency in the history of this country has ever brought a suit on a Saturday? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

(Sympathetic chuckles were heard in the background)

So he meets with the president on Thursday night, he sues me on Saturday. It was a terribly drawn suit, incompetently drawn suit and 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 IRS.

Nobody on the couch pointed out that this was mere speculation from a guy who had already been proven wrong about other crazy speculation about Obama. Or that maybe Trump could put those secret Hawaii Obama birth-certificate investigators on the case.

However, Kilmeade did note that according to the legal complaint, the school promised “one-on-one time” with Trump. Kilmeade asked if that was true and whether or not Trump spent “one-on-one time” with the students.

Trump's answer was suspiciously evasive:

Look, I was very much involved with the school from the standpoint of, I see instructors, I talk to instructors, I talk to people, I worked very hard with the people that run the school to make sure it’s good. I check resumés. It was very important to me. Obviously, it’s not my main business. It’s a small business. It’s a business frankly that I would give, and I would have given, the profits to charity. …It was a business where I could help people. …By the way, with profits going to charity, if there were any. And the profits would have gone to charity.

Naturally, nobody pressed him for a real answer. Instead, Doocy offered another friendly hint to attack Obama, “Just to recap. You feel like you have been targeted politically?”

“Well, look, I think so,” Trump said. Then Mr. Birther added hilariously, “I’m not a very paranoid person.”

The three co-hosts accepted that nonsense without question. Doocy gave Trump another hint to take a shot at Obama, saying, “And the president hasn’t like you for a while,”

Trump answered, with all seriousness, “Well, you know, it’s one of those things. Maybe it’s a personality conflict.”

It’s easy to see why Trump might not have wanted to bring up his birther accusations at the same time that he’s holding himself up as a beacon of truth and integrity in education. But what’s “fair and balanced” Fox News’ excuse?