Attention has focused on Mr. Fuentes since Mr. Trump came under sharp criticism for canceling his appearance at an American military cemetery near Paris to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, a move that was ostensibly made because of rainy weather.
Public accounts at the time said Mr. Fuentes had merely delivered the news to Mr. Trump that officials said the weather made it too difficult to fly the presidential helicopter, Marine One, the 50 miles from Paris to the cemetery.
But two people with direct knowledge of the events said that Mr. Fuentes had decided on his own, well before the military aide on duty made a determination, to tell the president that the weather was too poor to travel by helicopter.
Mr. Trump could have traveled by motorcade, but those familiar with the discussions said that Mr. Fuentes told the president that it would not be a problem if Mr. Kelly went without Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump was savaged in the news media for skipping the cemetery visit, a fact that he blamed on Mr. Kelly, even though other aides repeatedly told him that it had been Mr. Fuentes’s doing, according to the people with knowledge of what took place