You have to wonder why this isn’t front page news in every newspaper and on every cable news channel in America. It seems, well, kind of important that a president-elect who publicly swore he’d never settle this case just agreed to pay $25 million freaking dollars to settle a fraud lawsuit.

Donald J. Trump has reversed course and agreed to pay $25 million to settle a series of lawsuits stemming from his defunct for-profit education venture, Trump University, finally putting to rest fraud allegations by former students, which have dogged him for years and hampered his presidential campaign.

The settlement was announced by the New York attorney general on Friday, just 10 days before one of the cases, a federal class-action lawsuit in San Diego, was set to be heard by a jury. The deal, if approved, averts a potentially embarrassing and highly unusual predicament: a president-elect on trial, and possibly even taking the stand in his own defense, while scrambling to build his incoming administration.

It was a remarkable concession from a real estate mogul who derides legal settlements and has mocked fellow businessmen who agree to them.

But the allegations in the case were highly unpleasant for Mr. Trump: Students paid up to $35,000 in tuition for programs that, according to the testimony of former Trump University employees, used high-pressure sales tactics and employed unqualified instructors.

Obviously, Trump settled this case because it was about to go to trial and even more damaging information would come out, in the weeks leading up to his (don’t say, don’t say it) inauguration. This guy scammed America just like he scammed the gullible fools who signed up for Trump University.