Update: In an email to the RNC, Peña said he will continue to support Trump and “remain an active member” of his Hispanic advisory team.
Less than two weeks ago, Texas pastor Ramiro Peña was named a member of Donald Trump’s Hispanic advisory board.
Soon afterward, Peña appeared on “The Jim Bakker Show,” where he explicitly endorsed Trump and said on several occasions that God is using Trump to save the country and will judge America if we don’t elect him president.
Peña, however, changed his tune yesterday after Trump gave a speech on immigration in which he reiterated the same policies on mass deportation and building a border wall that he has promoted throughout his presidential bid.
According to Politico, Peña called the Hispanic advisory council “a scam” that is “simply for optics,” declaring that Trump “lost the election last night” and explaining that he now finds it “difficult” to “continue to associate with the Trump campaign.”
Pena delivered a harsh condemnation in an email to senior Trump and Republican National Committee leaders, obtained by POLITICO.
“I am so sorry but I believe Mr. Trump lost the election tonight,” said Pena, a pastor at Waco’s Christ the King Church. “The ‘National Hispanic Advisory Council’ seems to be simply for optics and I do not have the time or energy for a scam.”
Pena addressed his message to Jennifer Korn, the RNC’s national director for Hispanic Initiatives, along with Karen Giorno and Alan Cobb, both senior Trump advisers. Helen Aguirre Ferre and Lourdes Aguirre, both RNC Hispanic outreach officials, were copied as well.
“I will pray over the next couple of days but it is difficult to [imagine] how I can continue to associate with the Trump campaign,” he wrote. “I owe my national audience an explanation.”
