Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has cancelled a meeting with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce that was scheduled for next Thursday, allegedly because he was concerned about the questions he'd be asked, the group said Friday.
Chamber spokesman Ammar Campa-Najjar said that Trump was "unwilling to abide by the terms and conditions" of sessions that three other candidates who were featured had accepted, according to NBC News.
"Trump's decision to forfeit the Q&A session was motivated by the concern of being 'put on trial,'" he said.
Trump denied the allegations, telling CNN that he had never agreed to go.
"I never agreed to do an event. This is the first time I'm hearing about this. I mean, I never agreed," he said to CNN. "He wanted me to do an event because he probably can't sell tickets without me. Why would anybody do an event when he's a negative person?"
However Campa-Najjar said that Trump was present at a Sept. 1 meeting in New York with other chamber officials, and that he specifically chose Sept. 8 to be the date the two parties would have their official meeting.
"Saying that Trump did not personally confirm to do the Q&A on October 8th is a lie, plain and simple," USHCC President Javier Palomarez added in an email, according to the Associated Press. "Clearly, someone got cold feet and couldn't rise to the occasion."
He went on to say Trump's cancellation "further disqualifies him as a serious candidate in the eyes of the Hispanic community."
Giving further credence to the USHCC's claim is that Trump appeared to announce it during a discussion with Geraldo Rivera last month.
"That won't be that easy a meeting because you'll have hundreds of people and they will have constituents of his and they may disagree with me," Trump said. "But ultimately we will all get along."
Instead of showing up for the meeting, Trump will be speaking "to a capacity crowd" at a campaign rally in Nevada that day, his campaign said in a statement.
Despite his cancellation, the statement insists that Trump remains committed to reaching out to the Hispanic community.
"Mr. Trump remains committed to reaching out to the Hispanic community in more genuine and productive ways as he continues to share his vision to make America great again," it read.
