Presidential races

Trump pulls out of session with Hispanic Chamber

by Ben Kamisar 10/02/15 02:09 PM ET

Donald Trump has pulled out of his question-and-answer session with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the organization confirmed Friday in a statement.

“Mr. Trump was unwilling to abide by the terms and conditions of the USHCC’s Presidential Candidate Q&A Series — the same rules that all participants have previously followed,” the group’s communications director, Ammar Campa-Najjar, said in an emailed statement.

{mosads}“Trump’s decision to forfeit the Q&A session was motivated by the concern of being ‘put on trial.’ Trump would have been treated no differently than other candidates,” Campa-Najjar said.

Hope Hicks, the GOP front-runner’s spokeswoman, told The Hill in a statement that Trump will be speaking “to a capacity crowd at a campaign rally in Nevada” instead.

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.”

“Mr. Trump remains committed to reaching out to the Hispanic Community in more genuine and productive ways.”

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

“He asked if we would consider Doral for our 2016 National Convention in Miami,” the chamber said in a statement, adding that the group reaffirmed its July decision not to hold its convention at his hotels.

Trump told CNN in an interview that he “never agreed” to the event, and that the interview was the “first time I’m hearing about this.”

In response, the Chamber highlighted an interview with Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera in an email to reporters where Trump says “I think I agreed to do some kind of luncheon or whatever down in Washington” and said he’d being going to D.C. in “October or whatever.”

Trump had reportedly agreed to the event after meeting with Palomarez, last month, amid continual controversy surrounding his comments about Hispanic immigrants.

A spokesman for the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

The chamber has held public interviews with other 2016 presidential candidates, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-Md.). Republican candidate John Kasich is scheduled to speak to the group on Tuesday.