Trump campaign allegedly cancels interview with Latino reporter after he speaks Spanish
The campaign team of Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump is being accused of cancelling an interview with a freelance correspondent for TV Azteca, after he spoke Spanish on arrival for his appointment at Trump Tower.
Marcos Stupenengo - who has previously worked for CNN, Fox and ESPN - was waiting to conduct the interview when he received a call and began speaking in Spanish. At that point, Trump campaign officials told Stupenengo that they did not want to take part in the interview with him, a source knowledgable with the incident told BuzzFeed News.
The Argentinian journalist reportedly received an apology from a Spanish-speaking Secret Service agent, who said he was sorry and that he did not know what was happening. In a comment to BuzzFeed News, Stupenengo said, "I can say that after 13 years of journalism worse things have happened to me."
Stupenengo's report, which aired Monday (16 May) night, confirmed that he was kicked out of the Trump campaign headquarters for speaking Spanish. BuzzFeed also reported that, after getting kicked out of Trump Towers, the reporter went over to Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters to conduct an interview.
Trump's campaign, however, denied the interview was ever scheduled. Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks emailed POLITICO, saying, "There was no interview scheduled. We do not know this individual or anything about the alleged situation".
This is not the first time the Trump campaign has clashed with Latino and foreign media. Early in his campaign, Trump was taped arguing with and later kicking out Univision anchor, Jorge Ramos, during a press conference. POLITICO reported earlier in May that foreign reporters have routinely been denied access to Trump's rallies and will often not receive responses for their inquiries.
Trump also appears to have a problem among Latino voters. A recent Gallup poll - released on 11 March 2016 - revealed that 77% of US Hispanics view Trump unfavourably, while only 12% view him favourably. Gallup reported that the billionaire real estate magnate has the most negative image among Hispanics of any Republican candidate running at the time of the poll—Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich—and the two remaining Democratic candidates—Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
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