Donald Trump slams CNN for their 'sick' and 'totally ridiculous' report that he wanted daughter Ivanka to run as his VP in 2016
President Donald Trump tweeted on Monday night that reports stating he wanted his eldest daughter Ivanka Trump as his running mate were both 'sick' and wrong'.
'Fake News @CNN is actually reporting that I wanted my daughter, Ivanka, to run with me as my Vice President in 2016 Election. Wrong and totally ridiculous. These people are sick!' the president tweeted.
The story, first featured in the Washington Post then CNN, featured claims made in the new book by former Trump deputy campaign chair Rick Gates.
According to Wicked Game, published on October 13, Trump wanted his daughter as he prized loyalty above all else.
'I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?' Trump reportedly asked during the run up to the 2016 election. 'Ivanka should be vice president.'
Donald Trump tweeted late Monday night there is no truth he wanted his daughter Ivanka Trump to be on the 2016 ticket as his running mate
Ivanka Trump with her father at the 2016 Republican National Convention - she served as an adviser to the campaign that year. A new book reveals he also wanted her as vice president
Trump brought up repeatedly, including during a conversation that included Jared Kushner and all the other adult Trump children. The pair are pictured in April 2020 at the White House
Trump's desire is revealed in Rick Gates' forth coming book 'Wicked Game: An Insider's Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed and America Lost,' which is out October 13
'All heads turned toward her, and she just looked surprised. We all knew Trump well enough to keep our mouths shut and not laugh,' Gates wrote. 'He went on: 'She's bright, she's smart, she's beautiful, and the people would love her!'
It was an idea Trump allegedly brought up repeatedly, including during a conversation that included Jared Kushner and all the other adult Trump children, Gates writes in 'Wicked Game: An Insider's Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed and America Lost.'
Trump was so keen on having Ivanka as vice president and 'cool to other options, including his eventual selection of then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, that his team polled the idea twice,' the Post reported.
Ivanka is said to have told her father that it was not a good idea and Trump eventually chose Pence after the then-governor gave a 'vicious and extended monologue' about former President Bill Clinton and Trump's 2016 rival Hillary Clinton at a breakfast event.
Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump with Rick Gates (left) and Paul Manafort (right) at the Republican National Convention in July 2016 during a speech rehearsal
At the time Ivanka Trump was a fashion and real estate executive who made appearances on her father's reality show 'The Apprentice.' She was also an adviser on her father's campaign but she had no previous political experience and had never held elective office. Pictured in the White House in April
At the time Ivanka Trump was a fashion and real estate executive who made appearances on her father's reality show 'The Apprentice.' She was also an adviser on her father's campaign but she had no previous political experience and had never held elective office.
But Trump wasn't sold on any of the names being pitched to him as part of the Republican ticket, including Mike Pence.
The then-presidential nominee's actions signaled to his team 'just how serious he was about putting his politically inexperienced daughter just a heartbeat from the presidency,' Gates noted.
So the campaign tested her appeal by placing Ivanka Trump's name next to a dozen potential vice presidential candidates in internal campaign polls.
'She didn't poll tremendously high, but higher than we expected, and that only added to the seriousness of her consideration,' Gates wrote.
It was Ivanka Trump who pulled herself out of contention: 'She went to her father and said, 'No, Dad. It's not a good idea.' And he capitulated.'
'This is not true and there was never any such poll,' Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told CNN on Monday.
Rick Gates leaves federal court in December 2019. He was later jailed for 45 days
Gates, who served as the campaign's deputy manager, became a star witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Gates writes Trump values loyalty above all which is why he puts family members in key positions.
Ivanka Trump and Kushner both have high-ranking positions in the Trump White House. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr run the Trump Organization - the family business.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly touted his belief Ivanka could be commander in chief.
During an August campaign rally in New Hampshire he said his daughter would make a better president than the Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris.
'I want to see the first woman president also, but I don't want to see the first woman president get into the position the way [Harris] would do it, and she's not competent, she's not competent,' he said.
'I want to see the first woman president also, but I don't want to see a woman president get in to that position the way she'd do it, and she's not competent, she's not competent,' he said during a rally in Londonderry, New Hampshire. 'They're all saying, 'We want Ivanka.' I don't blame you.'
This year Ivanka Trump is serving as surrogate for her father on the campaign trail, visiting battleground states like Arizona, North Carolina and Florida.
Trump's third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize comes from a group of Australian law professors, on the basis of the 'Trump Doctrine' of foreign policy
Also on Monday night, the president tweeted after receiving a third Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
'The 'Trump Doctrine' earns President Trump a third Nobel Peace Prize Nomination!' the president tweeted.
'Might as well mention this because it will never be reported by the Lamestream Media!' he then added in a second tweet.
Trump's third nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize comes from a group of Australian law professors, on the basis of the 'Trump Doctrine' of foreign policy.
Law professor David Flynt appeared on Sky News Australia over the weekend, saying the 'Trump Doctrine' is 'something extraordinary.'
'What he has done with the Trump Doctrine is that he has decided he would no longer have America in endless wars, wars which achieve nothing but the killing of thousands of young Americans and enormous debts imposed on America, and nothing solved in the countries in which it is carried on. So he's reducing America's tendency to get involved in any and every war.'
'He has, firstly, common sense, and he is only guided by national interest … and therefore an interest in the western alliance,' Flynt continued.
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