A newly released photobook by former President Donald Trump includes a longtime debunked rumor that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau鈥檚 father is the late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.
In the book, 鈥淪ave America,鈥� released last Tuesday, Trump writes that Trudeau鈥檚 mother was 鈥渟omehow associated鈥� with Castro. He offers no evidence to support his claim.
鈥淎 lot of people say that Justin is his son,鈥� Trump writes in the book. 鈥淗e says that he isn鈥檛, but how the hell would he know!鈥�
Two Canadian lawmakers, Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock, slammed Trump this week for the bogus claim, calling it 鈥減rofoundly offensive鈥� and a blatant attempt to politically undermine Trudeau.
鈥淲e just thought it鈥檚 about time Canadians showed some outrage about this attempt to interfere into our affairs,鈥� Axworthy, Canada鈥檚 former top diplomat and Liberal Party leader, .
鈥淧art of the Trump or the autocratic playbook is to get people鈥檚 confidence undermined, and it鈥檚 clear coming out in a book like that, it would be picked up by all kinds of enablers.鈥�
In 2018, the Associated Press as false stories claiming Castro being Trudeau鈥檚 father.
The AP reported that 鈥渢he Canadian government denied it, Cuba has never claimed it and Trudeau鈥檚 parents never visited Cuba until several years after Justin Trudeau was born.鈥�
The story circulated on the internet following the Feb. 1, 2018, suicide of Castro鈥檚 oldest son, Fidelito, who supposedly left a suicide note naming Trudeau as his half-brother. Neither state media nor independent reporters covering the death reported the existence of a suicide note.
A theory that Castro was Trudeau鈥檚 father was also shared widely on social media after Castro鈥檚 death in 2016, when Trudeau caused an uproar over remarks praising the late Cuban leader, the AP reported.
Justin Trudeau was born on Dec. 25, 1971, to the late Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife, Margaret.
Trudeau was born a little more than nine months after the marriage of his parents and more than four years before Margaret made a much-publicized first trip to Cuba and met Fidel Castro.
Margaret was 22 when she married the 51-year-old prime minister and was the subject of intense media scrutiny. Experts say it would have been impossible for an earlier visit to Cuba to go unnoticed.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
