Castro posts names of San Antonio Trump donors
President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign criticized U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro on Tuesday after the congressman posted online the names and employers of 44 prominent San Antonio donors to Trump.
“Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump,” Castro, who is chairman of his twin brother Julián Castro’s presidential campaign, said on Twitter.
“Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders,’” Joaquin Castro said, a reference to Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, which authorities say was carried out by a gunman who has been linked to a hatefilled manifesto warning of a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
Among the donors Castro identified were Balous Miller, owner of the Bill Miller BBQ restaurant chain; Christopher “Kit” Goldsbury, developer of the Pearl entertainment district; and real estate agent Phyllis Browning.
Miller, Goldsbury and Browning each have given $5,600 to Trump, the maximum allowable contribution to a single candidate in one election cycle, federal elections records show. None of the three could be reached for comment Tuesday.
It’s striking that Castro would lash out at members of the business community in the city where he and his brother have been an institution for more than a decade — and where elected officials are cautious about picking battles with business interests.
Julián Castro was mayor of San Antonio from 2009 to 2014 and spearheaded a revitalization of downtown. The Pearl has been a centerpiece of that effort.
Two of the businessmen Joaquin Castro denounced for contributing to Trump — philanthropist and oil executive William Greehey and home builder Wayne Harwell — have donated to his congressional campaigns in the past, according to records from the Federal Election Commission.
Greehey gave Castro a total of $10,000 in 2011 and 2013, and Harwell gave $1,000 in 2011.
Tim Murtaugh, Trump’s campaign communications director, called on Castro to delete the tweet and for Julián Castro’s campaign to disavow it.
“Democrats want to talk about inciting violence? This naming of private citizens and their employers is reckless and irresponsible,” Murtaugh said in a statement.
“He is endangering the safety of people he is supposed to be representing. No one should be targeted for exercising their First Amendment rights or for their political beliefs.”
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called Castro’s tweet “WRONG” and said he should retract it.
“EVERYONE needs to tone the hateful partisan rhetoric way down,” Cruz tweeted. “In our constitutional Republic, the People rightly hold their representatives accountable; elected representatives should not be vilifying & doxxing their own constituents.”
Castro responded to critics on Twitter by saying the information he posted “doesn’t have private or personal info — no addresses or phone #, etc. It’s publicly reported info printed in newspapers routinely.”