Trump Reportedly Wanted Daughter Ivanka To Be His Vice President

Topline

President Trump reportedly wanted to select his daughter, Ivanka Trump, to be his vice-presidential running mate during his 2016 campaign, according to a new book by (convicted) former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, with the development coming just hours after a bombshell investigation by the New York Times on the president’s taxes that implicated his daughter in helping to reduce what he owed to the federal government.

President Donald Trump hugs his daughter and senior advisor Ivanka Trump at the White House in … [+] February.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Key Facts

According to Bloomberg, which first reported on Trump’s first VP pick, Ivanka Trump was floated as a possibility during a summer 2016 meeting with the then-candidate’s children and Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband.

“[Ivanka’s] bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!” Trump reportedly told the assembled group.

Ivanka Trump, then 34, was politically inexperienced, leading campaign advisors to steer Donald Trump towards vetting options like then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, according to Gates’ book.

Trump was reportedly serious enough about choosing his daughter that two internal polls were conducted, with the results showing voter’s opinions of her were higher than anticipated—further cementing Trump’s ambition to run with Ivanka.

It was Ivanka Trump herself who reportedly told her father it wasn’t a good idea for her to be his vice president, according to Gates’ book.

Pence reportedly became Donald Trump’s VP pick after delivering a “vicious and extended” monologue on Hillary and Bill Clinton to the then-candidate over breakfast later in the summer of 2016, Gates’s book states.

Crucial Quote

“He’s not joking,” Gates reportedly thought during the meeting when Donald Trump first suggested Ivanka Trump as his running mate. “We all knew Trump well enough to keep our mouths shut and not laugh” at his suggestion, Gates reportedly writes in the book.

Big Number

$747,622. That’s how much money in consulting fees Ivanka Trump seems to have received from her father’s business, according to the New York Times’ accounting of the president’s taxes. That number matches 2017 disclosure forms Ivanka Trump filed with the White House, with the amount paid to a consulting company she co-owned.

Key Background

Ivanka Trump, along with husband Kushner, were made senior White House advisors to Trump following his 2016 presidential win. Gates’ book containing the vice presidential revelation, Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost, is scheduled for publication October 13, just weeks before the election. The revelation also follows a series of ethical controversies involving Ivanka Trump throughout her father’s first term. Most recently, in July, Ivanka Trump faced accusations of an ethics breach when she posted a photo of herself holding a can of Goya black beans on Twitter, a possible violation of ethics rules for White House staffers. At the time, Goya CEO Robert Unanue had publicly praised President Trump, triggering a backlash and boycott of his company’s products. Ivanka Trump was previously under the ethics microscope about having access to classified material while not working as a federal employee, prompting the White House to make her one—which is when she filed the 2017 disclosure forms that match the consulting fee from her father’s taxes. She also shut down her Ivanka Trump clothing brand in 2018, after ethical concerns were raised about her controlling that business while working in the executive branch.