Face of Nation : Castro initially tweeted a graphic of the list, which includes San Antonio residents who donated the maximum amount of money allowable to Trump under campaign finance laws, on Monday night. In his tweet, he argued that those donations “are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.'”
Democrats have criticized the president’s rhetoric in recent days after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, claimed 22 lives and injured dozens more.
Authorities said they believe the gunman posted an anti-immigrant screed online before the shooting. Castro’s brother, Democratic presidential candidate and former Housing Sec. Julián Castro, said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that he saw a link between the screed and the language Trump uses to describe immigrants. Joaquin Castro serves as his brother’s presidential campaign chairman.
The tweet prompted criticism from the Trump campaign and prominent conservatives. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh accused Castro of publishing a “target list” in a statement that called the “naming of private citizens and their employers” both “reckless and irresponsible.”Some Democrats came to Castro’s defense. Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, tweeted, “the public needs to know who funds racism.”
Sawyer Hackett, the Julián Castro campaign’s national press secretary, said in a statement, “Trump and his right wing enablers whine about publicly available information being released because they want to distract from his role in fueling the kind of racism, bigotry, and white nationalism that we saw in El Paso this weekend. It’s pathetic.” Under federal law, campaigns must collect and report the names, addresses and employers of all people who donate $200 or more to their campaign. Donors can give $2,800 to a candidate per election cycle.
