Marcos Brindicci/Reuters
A spokesperson for Donald Trump has denied that the president-elect asked Argentine President Mauricio Macri to help with the permitting process on a planned Trump building in Bueno Aires when Macri called to congratulate Trump on his election victory. "Not true," Trump spokesperson Jason Miller told USA Today of the allegation, first printed in Spanish-speaking daily La Nación. A representative for Macri also denied having the conversation, telling BBC journalist Will Carless that “They didn’t talk about the [Trump] tower at all... It’s absolutely untrue.”
Trump is currently engaged in a Buenos Aires construction project, which has been delayed due to permitting issues. After Macri called Trump to congratulate him on his win, prominent Argentine journalist Jorge Lanata said that "Macri called [Trump]. This still hasn’t emerged but Trump asked for them to authorize a building he’s constructing in Buenos Aires, it wasn’t just a geopolitical chat.” Lanata later clarified that he was "half-joking, half-serious" when he made the remarks.