The same day that theJustice Department made public theaccusation against Donald Trump, the former president spent the day playing golf with the Cuban-American congressman Carlos Gimenez.
Trump and Giménez were photographed together smiling in agolf course of Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, an image that the Miami congressman posted on his Twitter account and has accumulated more than 827 thousand views and 13.8 thousand likes in less than 48 hours.
“Golf with Trump!” wrote Giménez, who is serving his second term in the United States House of Representatives.
Giménez could not immediately be reached to comment on the “sports meeting” with Trump, but this Saturday the Telemundo 51 channel broadcast some of his statements on the subject.
“Many people were calling him telling him that they supported him, that what had happened was a scandal… but it was a good day. He [Trump] is confident and believes – and I also believe – that when he goes to trial they will find him not guilty,” said Giménez.
Giménez's relationship with the former president has been up and down since Trump announced his first presidential bid in 2015, but golf has been a haven of mutual understanding.
Previously, both politicians played golf on several occasions during the trump presidency, when the president came to the fields of West Palm Beach.
But things were not always golf and cordiality.
When Giménez sought re-election as mayor of Miami-Dade County in 2016, he had opposing views on Trump due to his anti-immigrant stances and derogatory statements in a news program.Access Hollywood, which came to light shortly before thepresidential election that year. At that time Giménez was a democratic activist.
The statements that ignited public controversy dated back to a 2005 interview, when he confessed to presenter Bill Bush that "when you are a star, women let men do anything, even "grab their...".
Giménez even asked him to withdraw from the race for the White House and promised that he would vote forHillary Clinton.
But Trump's surprise victory in 2016, even though he lost the popular vote, made some local officials and politicians in Miami change their minds and sides.
By January 2020, Giménez was already leaving the position of county mayor and gave Trump a warm welcome upon his arrival at theMiami International Airport in the middle of the re-election campaign.
“Thank you for everything you have done for our economy and to fight socialism. I hope to be with you against the radical left that is determined to turn the US into Venezuela,” Giménez then wrote in his welcome message.
Trump later reciprocated the gesture with a boost for Giménez's career by United States Congress.
“Carlos will have a great victory, very exciting. It's great for Florida, and great for the USA! “You have my complete and total support!” Trump wrote.
In November 2020, Giménez was among South Florida congressmen and politicians invited to theTrump campaign closing event in Miami. The audience of Trump supporters, however, seemed to remember Giménez's anti-Trump views just four years earlier and gave him a loud boo.
But Giménez was elected to Congress and was then re-elected in 2022 in the midst of the Republican wave that dressed the state of Florida in red.
It is unclear whether Giménez will seek a third term in Congress, despite his fundraising exceeding $1 million.
Some analysts consider that among his aspirations could be the position of mayor of the city of Miami, where he was previously administrator and fire chief, or a possible return to theMiami-Dade alcaldía.
In any case, Miami continues to be in the vortex of national politics and Trump's moves, which on Tuesday, at 3 pm,He will appear in federal court in the Florida city to be arraigned on 37 criminal charges.
Demonstrations by his supporters are also expected around the court while police forces and the Federal Marshals Department adjust their plans to guarantee security and order in the area.
Thehearing is assigned to federal judge of Colombian-Cuban origin Aileen Mercedes Cannon, who was already in charge of a controversial decision in the case of the documents seized by the FBI in the Mar-a-Lago mansion last year, and which constitute the central axis of the 37-count accusation against Trump and a personal assistant.
After the hearing, Trump will travel to New Jersey to participate in a campaign fundraising evening with supporters, on the eve of his 77th birthday, which he will celebrate on June 14.
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