Donald Trump has said he would reverse the deal President Obama made to reopen diplomatic relations with Cuba until it restores freedoms, but the mogul secretly sent emissaries to scope out possible business opportunities in Communist Cuba in 1998, it was reported Thursday.
Newsweek reported that Trump funneled a minimum of $68,000 through an American consulting firm called Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corporation, which was reimbursed by Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts.
Seven Arrows said the trip was for a Catholic charity, but the magazine alleges the activity may have been illegal due to the US government’s embargo on the Communist regime at the time.
It was against the law then to spend money in Cuba without a government license. And a former Trump official told the magazine the Trump Organization did not obtain the proper license to travel and deal with Cuba.
The mission to Cuba does not appear to have developed beyond the exploratory trip.
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway appeared to confirm the facts of the story in an appearance Thursday on ABC’s “The View.”
“Read the entire story. It starts out with a screaming headline, as it usually does, that he did business in Cuba. And it turns out that he decided not to invest there. They paid money, as I understand, in 1998 — and we’re not supposed to talk about years ago when it comes to the Clintons,” Conway said.
“So the question is: Did he spend money? He’s very critical of Cuba, he’s very critical of Castro, he’s been critical of Cuba,” she added.
Indeed, in remarks earlier this month, Trump maintained his hardline approach to Cuba.
“We are … going to stand with the Cuban people in their fight against Communist oppression,” Trump said at an event in Florida on Sept. 16.
“The president’s one-sided deal for Cuba benefits only the Castro regime. But all of the concessions that Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order, which means the next president can reverse them — and that is what I will do, unless the Castro regime meets our demands. Those demands will include religious and political freedom for the Cuban people,” he added.
The Cuba experiment came before Trump flirted with running for president the first time as a candidate of the Reform Party in 2000, before pulling out.
