--- title: Donald Trump: Hispanic Advisory Council Included Pastor description: One of the key leaders listed as part of Donald Trump’s new Hispanic Advisory Council has not actually agreed to the role. canonical: https://time.com/4460844/donald-trump-hispanic-advisory-council-mark-gonzales/ author: Elizabeth Dias article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-22T14:38:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:15.111Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Inaccurately Claimed Top Hispanic Pastor as Advisor og:description: The founder of the Hispanic Prayer Network wasn't aware he was on the list. og:url: https://time.com/4460844/donald-trump-hispanic-advisory-council-mark-gonzales/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2b06e24638579af/6988a329196cf4195703ceb6/donald-trump-hispanic-advisory-council.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with his Hispanic Advisory Council at Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Inaccurately Claimed Top Hispanic Pastor as Advisor twitter:description: The founder of the Hispanic Prayer Network wasn't aware he was on the list. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta2b06e24638579af/6988a329196cf4195703ceb6/donald-trump-hispanic-advisory-council.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Outreach Inaccurately Claimed Top Hispanic Pastor as Advisor > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d96c25f5-773c-499a-9e70-16627ea50594&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump's Top Pastor [Watch (HLS stream): Trump's Top Pastor](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/A9Hi3DBO.m3u8) (8:46)  _Published 2016-07-18. One of the most visible pastors supporting Donald Trump comes from the most unlikely of places: the small town of Easley, South Carolina. Trump’s candidacy has thrust televangelist Mark Burns into the national political spotlight for the first time._ by [Elizabeth Dias](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias Aug 22, 2016 2:38 PM UTC  Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with his Hispanic Advisory Council at Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Aug. 20, 2016. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with his Hispanic Advisory Council at Trump Tower in the Manhattan borough of New York City on Aug. 20, 2016. Carlo Allegri—Reuters by [Elizabeth Dias](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-dias/) ## Elizabeth Dias Aug 22, 2016 2:38 PM UTC One of the key leaders listed as part of Donald Trump’s new Hispanic Advisory Council has not actually agreed to the role, citing concerns over Trump’s lack of an adequate immigration policy, even though [the official announcement on the Republican National Committee website](https://www.gop.com/rnc-and-trump-campaign-meet-with-national-hispanic-advisory-council-for-trump/) touted his name. When the council first met in New York on Saturday, Dallas pastor Mark Gonzales was not invited and did not attend. “I wasn’t aware that I was on any list in that capacity, officially,” Gonzales says. “We are waiting for more details, we want to see what he will do on immigration. … Our stance remains the same, we are willing to serve in that capacity if that takes place.” Gonzales is the founder of the Hispanic Prayer Network and the Hispanic Action Network, which represent some 10,000 Latino evangelical churches in the U.S. During the 2008 presidential campaign, he chaired the National Hispanic Advisory Council for Senator John McCain. Earlier this August, [Gonzales told TIME](http://time.com/4450564/donald-trump-latino-hispanic-evangelicals) that he had been invited to be part of Trump’s Hispanic advisory council, but he qualified that he would only consider the position once he had learned Trump’s plan for immigration, in particular how Trump plans handle the undocumented population currently living in the United States. On Saturday, [the Republican National Committee released a statement on its website naming Gonzales](https://www.gop.com/rnc-and-trump-campaign-meet-with-national-hispanic-advisory-council-for-trump/) as one of two-dozen Hispanic business, faith, and civic leaders on the new National Hispanic Advisory Council for Trump. The move attempts to counter Trump’s unfavorable rating among Hispanics nationwide, which hovers around 80%. The statement specifically highlighted that key Latino evangelical leaders with large networks are ready to act on Trump’s behalf: “Many of these faith leaders represent hundreds of thousands of Hispanic evangelicals nationwide concerned about the direction of the nation, and are prepared to relay Mr. Trump’s message of ending the failed status quo to their congregations and media audiences,” [it said](https://www.gop.com/rnc-and-trump-campaign-meet-with-national-hispanic-advisory-council-for-trump/). When asked why the statement included Gonzales, RNC spokesperson Helen Aguirre Ferré told TIME he had not officially been added to the board, and she pointed to a different version of the press release without Gonzales’ name that was emailed to reporters at 7 a.m. on Saturday. However, the press release on the RNC website listed Gonzales’ name as of Monday morning. “I don’t know how that occurred except to say is obviously human error and his name should not have been on there,” Aguirre Ferré, a spokesperson for the RNC told TIME. “We are going to correct it immediately.” Gonzales’ name was deleted without annotation after the conversation with TIME. This is not the first time that Trump’s outreach has inaccurately claimed the support of pastors to shore up support with non-white racial or ethnic groups. In November, the Trump campaign[ claimed to win the endorsement of 100 African-American pastors](http://time.com/4129757/donald-trump-black-pastor-meeting-endorsements/), only to have several announce that they actually had not agreed to endorse Trump, and others, such as prominent Detroit [bishop Corletta Vaughn](http://time.com/4428973/dnc-black-pastors-religion-faith/), say they never had even agreed to participate in the meeting in any way. When the meeting actually happened, only several dozen pastors joined, and Vaughn endorsed Hillary Clinton in January. Cuban-American pastor Mario Bramnick of Miami, a recent Trump surrogate and a chapter director for the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is on the advisory board, and did attend the meeting. A smaller task force, he says, is in the process of preparing reports for the campaign on immigration policy. “We agreed we need a better legal immigration policy for the undocumented, how that will shape out, I don’t know,” Bramnick said. “We will see the policy develop as we move forward.” Bramnick’s support for Trump differs from NHCLC’s president, pastor Samuel Rodriguez Jr., who has repeatedly criticized Trump’s plan to build a southern wall and deport with force the roughly 10 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States. The NHCLC represents more than 40,000 Hispanic evangelical churches. Bramnick adds that Trump told the group he “did not mean all Mexicans are rapists and murderers,” and that his wife Melania is a legal immigrant who has all her paperwork—questions have risen over [whether she worked legally](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/melania-trump-immigration-donald-226648) in the U.S. as model in 1995\. The group, he says, also discussed other topics including the economy and education. Gonzales says he has raised suggestions with Trump campaign representatives about how to handle immigration in recent months. Gonzales even has a longstanding “Patriotic Immigration” plan for the undocumented population in the U.S. that includes paying a fine and back taxes; getting health, criminal, and background checks; learning English and taking a civic class; and then being put on a pathway to legal permanent residence status after a probationary period. He says he is tired of politicians skirting the issue. “You are saying, I want you to work here, I want to be able to profit off you, but we never want to give you a voice,” he says. “That’s slavery—we don’t do that in America.” Trump is expected to give an immigration policy speech on Thursday, and Gonzales is still willing to serve on the board depending on what he hears. He routinely votes Republican, and he already supports the GOP nominee because of his positions on Supreme Court nominations, Israel, abortion, and the Johnson Amendment, which would give churches greater freedom to engage in politics. He is continuing to raise support for [his coming campaign to increase voter turnout](http://time.com/4450564/donald-trump-latino-hispanic-evangelicals/) among Hispanic evangelicals, traveling to Arizona and Colorado this week to meet with pastors. “We are stuck with the Republican nominee this particular election,” Gonzales said. “We are just looking for a glimmer of light come Thursday … If he wants the support of the Latino community in the numbers that he needs to win the election, that is on him.” ## Transcript What's your relationship like with Mr Trump? Faster. [ LAUGH ] Good. Mr Trump said, you know you're speaking at the RNC right? We said, what are you serious? He said I want you to do what you always do. Just do what you do. And so here we go, speaking time, I see. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Good morning. Good morning, Daniel, how are you? Good morning. [ LAUGH ] Good morning, Miss Maggie. Absolutely, yes, people are shocked That I don't come from this major, major platform of a location of New York City, or California, but a small town right here in Easley, South Carolina. But that's the heartbeat of this country, and for me, it all goes back to Mr Trump. How much time? Two minutes, then we come back for one song. [ MUSIC ] [ APPLAUSE ] [ MUSIC ] So if you need a miracle in your life I want you to write that miracle down on your envelope. We fully believe in writing all over our envelopes. Once you have your offering ready I want you to raise it up as high as you can get it. Let's get on chairs and stuff they want is close to the Lord as possible Possible, and throw it in there. He is a billionaire from New York City, he could have taken anybody under his wing. There is no black person, there is no white person, there is no yellow person, there is no red person, there is only green people. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Greed is money. It is almost spiritual in a sense, it is bigger than just money right? I meant it is really about Donald Trump has showed over and over and over again how he's willing to give. People, the least likely people in opportunity to prove themselves. For someone like Donald Trump to say hey, your heart is right, your spirit is right. Come follow me. That speaks volumes. When God wants to bless you, he brings a person. He reveals a person. He blesses you with the person in your life. But when he wants to protect you. I teach this all the time, that I don't want a leader who just presents to me their resume because the resume has all your good stuff on there. I want a leader who will lead me who has a record. You know, they have a jail record. They have a record that says I've messed up, I've messed up, I've messed up. But I overcame, overcame, overcame. Is that what Mr. Trump has done? Without question. Without question he exudes the message of grace. That he was once blind, but now he sees. He was once pro- choice but now he is pro- life, after receiving the information. He's been married three times but he's proven to be a powerfully effective father. He's willing to admit his mistakes, but celebrate his children, and when I see him I see the message of grace. I remember when we were in Atlanta and there's a press release there and so many of us black pastors were with him, and I was right beside him. I said lord this may be the very last time I This close to Donald Trump, so whatever financial anointed on his life [ LAUGH ] let him fall upon my life, so I can teach other people. I don't know why me, he chose me. I don't know why out of all of the 50, 60- some odd leaders that were there, why am I the one that was being asked to come on television. Alright, let's go. Let's go. Let's go eat. Here are the keys. Thank you. We go out to eat every Sunday. I'm going to show you who my children are. Well first this is my mother, Joeda. This is my mother. The fabulous woman that burst the fabulous me, and then you have my youngest baby Samara, Samara- Interracial marriage as an interracial family is just so vital. This is my youngest and they are ten. The key to future of our country- Mark is 14. In our family, our children are getting an even greater education On how not to see color. And then where's Diamond? Diamond is next, she's 18. [ LAUGH ] With her fabulous pink hair and fabulous pink lipstick. And then our oldest is Jordan, and she will be 20 in a few days. I know I'm not old enough to have a 20 year old. Funeral but I do. I want to bring you to this stop here and I don't know if they still have the sign up front but we didn't want to really come here because they have the waiting rebel flag but then we saw the Trump sign And so maybe this would be good so we walked in and you can immediately tell that they had their eyes on us, that they were suspicious of us. We were together. And they didn't like that at all. We found something that we wanted and they basically said, that's not for sale. Yeah, that's not for sale When it was clearly for sale. And I didn't tell them I was a [ UNKNOWN ] for Trump, I didn't tell them I traveled on the campaign. I didn't say any of that, I simply said that's the reason right now why so many blacks and whites, cuz there are whites who won't support Mr. Trump because they think he's racist. The majority of the world thinks that the Trump supporter is this, I'm not a champion of Black people. That's why I don't compare myself to Dr. King. He was a champion of the African American communities. It frustrates me basically that the Black community, who, one of the minority groups that suffer the most, are consistently voting For the same people that positioned them to be there. Donald Trump really is the best solution for all minorities that is at the bottom of the tow pole. You know, they're disappointed with the president's comments of, you know, Black Lives Matter and Police Lives Matter. There wouldn't be a hash tag police lives matter if there wasn't a hash tag black lives matter. It seems like black lives only matter when a black life is killed by a white cop. Well, we are Heading to the airport. Heading to catch a flight to New York city. To appear tonight on Megyn Kelly to discuss what's taking place in this country in this place right now. Hopefully we won't be in a combative scenario, but knowing [ LAUGH ] They want to get us to communicate and argue. They want good TV. Go ahead, Pastor Mark Burns, in the back row. Pastor Mark Burns. People want to assassinate an officer. That is why they're out there. [ CROSSTALK ] Down the line, go ahead, Pastor Mark Burns, in the grey sir. Fear factor. It's just that they're scared. They're afraid because in today's society, cops are walking on eggshells because they don't want to show up on the next cell phone video and be automatically condemned before facts are even proven. [ CROSSTALK ] I truly feel appointed for such a time as this. I feel just like Ester did when Mordecai came to her and said you need to have the ear to the king. You have to help protect our people. So, she can position herself to be the voice piece of God, and be the influencing of the king's ear. What kinds of things are you speaking into the king's ear? Just be kind, be loving. [ MUSIC ] And your hope for November? [ LAUGH ] My hope for November, Donald Trump is, we're going to the White House. And I'm going to give the inaugural prayer, that's what I'm gonna do. I'm claiming it all, you know we're going all the way. 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