claim: President Trump "vetoed" Argentina's decision to honor Jimmy Carter in April 2017.
origin: In late April 2017, rumors appeared thatÂ President Donald Trump had pressured the Argentinian government to â€œrescindâ€ an award they planned to bestow upon former U.S. president Jimmy Carter. For example, the The Intellectualist reported: < The Trump administration pressured the government of Argentine President Mauricio Macri to rescind an award to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Carter, a frequent critic of the authoritarian tendencies of the Trump administration, was set to be honored by Argentina with the Order of the Liberator General San MartÃ­n, the equivalent to Americaâ€™s Medal of Freedom, however, the Trump administration moved to quash this. > CNN EspaÃ±ol reported the same, citing an unidentified source. The award would be delayed, the source said, to â€œavoid conflictâ€ with Macriâ€™s visit to the White House. However, CNN also cited a second source saying that Macri would not have time to give Carter the honor because his visit to Washington D.C. was only two days long. The Argentinian government had announced on 30 March 2017 that Carter would be receiving the Order of San MartÃ­n, calling him â€œa defender of human rightsâ€ during his presidency and praising his offer in 1979 to accept up to 3,000 people who had been detained by the countryâ€™s ruling junta at the time. However, the announcement did not specify that Carter would be honored during Macriâ€™s visit. We reached out to the Argentinian embassy to the U.S. seeking comment but have yet to hear back. A spokesperson for the Carter Center, the not-for-profit group founded by the former president, told us via email: < President Carter is honored to receive this prestigious award from Argentina, and looks forward to accepting it in Atlanta at a date yet to be determined. > Trump said during Macriâ€™s visit that the U.S. and Argentina would be â€œgreat friends, better than ever before.â€ Prior to Macriâ€™s visit to the White House, the two heads of state also spoke shortly after Trumpâ€™s election in November 2016, a conversation that was reportedly arranged following a â€œfriendly and cordialâ€ discussion between Trumpâ€™s son Eric and Felipe Yaryura, an Argentinian businessman with ties to both Trump and Macriâ€™s administration. Yaryura allegedly put the younger Trump in contact with Argentinian Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra, leading to the phone call between Macri and the president-elect. President-ElectTrump also allegedly asked Macri for approval on an office tower bearing his name in Buenos Aires, an allegation denied by both administrations. However, the presidentâ€™s relationship with Macriâ€™s family reaches back to the 1980s, when Trump tried to forge a partnership with Macriâ€™s father, Francisco Macri, between 1982 and 1985. After the two parted ways, Trump reportedly referred to the elder Macri as a â€œknow-nothing.â€