Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has denied a report by the Israeli news outlet Maariv that the candidate was planning to visit Israel, Russia and Germany after formally accepting the Republican presidential nomination at the party’s convention this July.
Despite cancelling a trip to Israel that had been planned for earlier this year, and would have included a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a source close to Trump told Maariv that the candidate had mentioned a post-convention tour overseas in meetings with his advisers.
Trump campaign spokewsoman Hope Hicks later told the Washington Examiner that no such trip is being planned.
Nevertheless, should Trump choose to travel overseas between now and November, after securing the nomination, the billionaire most likely use the trip to cultivate his understanding of foreign affairs – a topic that is sure to come up throughout the presidential debate schedule. It would not be uncommon for him to do so as the nominee considering former GOP nominee Mitt Romney traveled to England, Israel and Poland shortly after he accepted the nomination in July 2012.
The difference between Trump and Romney, however, is that Trump has repeatedly made comments about countries he would likely visit that could put such travels off to a poor start.
In December, when Merkel was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” Trump said she was “ruining Germany” by accepting Syrian refugees seeking asylum. The New York businessman drew the ire of the pro-Israel lobby earlier this year after telling Republican Jewish Coalition members he would be “neutral” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and has repeatedly raised eyebrows for his praise of Putin.
Note: This story has been updated to include the Trump campaign’s denial of the reports in response to the Washington Examiner‘s initial request for comment.
