The president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce took a swipe at Donald J. Trump Tuesday for skipping out on a question-and-answer session with the group this week.
Javier Palomarez opened up a forum in Washington with Ohio Gov. John Kasich by thanking the 2106 GOP White House hopeful for showing up and noting that there was another “fellow who chickened out.”
Mr. Palomarez’s group and the Trump campaign traded punches last week after the New York billionaire announced that he was going to appear at a rally in Nevada on Thursday instead of appearing at a Hispanic Chamber forum.
Ammar Campa-Najjar, a spokesman for the Hispanic Chamber, criticized Mr. Trump for pulling out of the event and said that it “only deepens our community’s already-negative perceptions of him.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Palomarez thanked Mr. Kasich for “keeping your word and coming coming to talk to the Hispanic community — unlike others in your party.”
Mr. Kasich responded, “My pleasure. Why wouldn’t I come?”
Hope Hicks, a Trump spokeswoman, last week said that Mr. Palomarez is trying 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, which Mr. Trump refused to do.”
Ms. Hicks also said Mr. Trump will continue to reach out to Hispanic voters.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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