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Exclusive: Obama Doesn’t Rule Out Presidential Visit to Cuba

Published at 3:27 pm, December 17, 2014

EastIdahoNews.com Staff

ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Marking an abrupt sea change in U.S. policy toward Cuba, President Obama said on Wednesday he is open to visiting the communist Caribbean country before he leaves office.

“I don’t have any current plans, but let’s see how things evolve,” Obama told ABC News’ World News Tonight anchor David Muir in an exclusive interview.

The president also told Muir he spoke by phone with Alan Gross, the American detained in Cuba for more than five years, as he flew back to Washington following his release from a Cuban prison.

“The first thing he said was, ‘Mr. President, for you I don’t mind interrupting my corned beef sandwich.’ So I told him he has mustard on his upper lip,” Obama joked. “But we had a nice conversation. He obviously is joyful about being reunited with his family.”

No sitting U.S. president has visited Cuba since Calvin Coolidge in 1928, according to the American Presidency Project at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

“I certainly wouldn’t rule out a presidential visit,” Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said earlier Wednesday.

“Like many Americans, he has seen that Cuba is a place where they have a beautiful climate and a lot of fun things to do,” he said. “So, if there’s an opportunity for the president to visit, I’m sure he wouldn’t turn it down.”

The White House says senior administration officials will immediately initiate direct contact with their Cuban counterparts to begin the process of normalizing diplomatic relations.

More of the interview will air on “World News Tonight” at 6:30 p.m. ET Wednesday. In the wide-ranging conversation, Muir also asked Obama about Fidel Castro, the 2016 presidential race and the Hollywood hacking scandal.