Trump to CNN: ‘I never agreed’ to Hispanic Chamber meeting

Welcome to the latest round of he-said, Trump-said: The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Friday accused Donald Trump of backing out of an upcoming event because he was afraid he’d face a hostile crowd and aggressive questioning about his anti-immigration views; the GOP front-runner says he never agreed to the event in the first place.

In an interview on Geraldo Rivera’s radio show last month, Trump said he’d agreed “to do a few kind of luncheon or whatever down in Washington” in October after meeting with Palomarez in New York.

The Trump camp’s statement about exploitation provoked ire from the Hispanic Chamber, which called his statement on sponsorship a “lie”.

Speaking of USHCC’s president Javier Palomarez, Hicks said, “Mr. Palomarez continues to leverage the national media attention surrounding Mr. Trump to benefit his organization and exploit Mr. Trump to enlist additional support and increase interest and revenue in his coalition including asking Mr. Trump to join his chamber for a fee amounting to between $25,000 and $2 million dollars, which Mr. Trump refused to do”.

The Trump campaign did not return Fox News Latino’s request for comment before this article was posted. “He asked if we would consider Doral for our Miami Convention”.

While the Chamber says it intends to treat Trump the same as it’s treated any other interviewee-and, with both Republicans and Democrats in its ranks, there’s no reason to believe otherwise-Trump’s alleged concerns show a very valid crack of fear in his blustery charade, with the knowledge that one of America’s biggest voting blocs is not feeling his racist rhetoric.

The USHCC’s objective was to engage Trump on a wide array of issues that all Americans care about, including: jobs and the economy, small business, taxes, global trade, national security, race relations, women’s rights and immigration. The USHCC said that its objective in addressing the immigration issue “was to “refocus the debate toward the more positive, fact-based, and economically sound narrative that the USHCC has been advancing for years, long before the 2016 election cycle”. “With an 84 percent disapproval rating among Hispanics, Trump’s decision to withdraw from the session only deepens our community’s already negative perceptions of him”. “I mean, I never agreed”, he told CNN in a phone interview later in the day. Palomarez “is having the meeting down in Washington”. I will go to Washington. “That won’t be that easy a meeting because you have hundreds of people and they will have hundreds of constituents of his and they may disagree with me, but ultimately we will all get along”.

Trump had also spoken publicly about plans to appear before the group.

The Republican front-runner also was apparently uncomfortable with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos being in attendance, USHCC officials said.

“So how is that a fiscally responsible solution for someone who is trying to be a standard bearer for a party that prides itself on fiscal responsibility?” he added in a question presumably similar to what Trump would have been asked. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., former businesswoman Carly Fiorina and Democratic frontrunner former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.