President Donald Trump, who didn't have any amount of experience in politics before being elected, may have considered his even less politically informed daughter to be the vice president. According to Bloomberg, the report came from Rick Gates, who was Trump’s deputy campaign chairman in 2016 and a key witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Gates discussed the details in his new book, "Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed and America Lost."
“During a VP discussion that included Jared and the other kids all assembled in one room, Trump said, ‘I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?’" Gates wrote. "All heads turned toward her, and she just looked surprised. We all knew Trump well enough to keep our mouths shut and not laugh.”
The book is scheduled to be released on Oct. 13. However, Bloomberg News obtained a copy of the book and published some of the notable details.
"She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her,”’ Trump said while discussing Ivanka's qualifications to be vice president, the book stated.
According to Bloomberg, Gates and Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, were convicted for tax and lobbying crimes. The author of Wicked Game was sentenced last year to three years’ probation and 45 days of intermittent confinement. Manfort was also sent to prison following Gates' testimony.
In his book, Gates said Trump also considered former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or then-Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee for vice president. The other potential candidates were Iowa Senator Joni Ernst and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions.
However, Gates said Manafort subtly pushed for Mike Pence. Still, Trump was focused on his daughter, according to the book.
"'Look, I don’t like any of these people,’” Trump said, the author recalled. “Once again, he said, ‘I think it should be Ivanka.’”
The President pushed the idea for weeks, according to the book, signaling to his advisers “just how serious he was about putting his politically inexperienced daughter just a heartbeat from the presidency.”
When Manafort conducted two tests to gauge voters’ opinions of Ivanka, Gates said that while she didn’t poll tremendously high, it was higher than expected.
"That only added to the seriousness of her consideration,” Gates said.
The President's team believed that Ivanka "brought a balance to her father" as someone who is "more moderate," the author wrote. However, the fashion designer reportedly pulled herself out of the consideration.
“She went to her father and said, ‘No, Dad. It’s not a good idea.’ And he capitulated,” Gates wrote.
Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, favored House Speaker Newt Gingrich as a running mate, according to the book.
“But Trump had already told us, privately, that he thought ‘there was something wrong and off’ with Newt,” Gates wrote. “He would constantly hit Trump with a barrage of policy ideas, and Trump did not have the appetite or patience to deal with him.”
The author added that Trump wasn't fond of Pence either. However, the 74-year-old became impressed after hearing Pence's harsh views on Hillary Clinton, Gates wrote. While Pence became vice president, Ivanka and her husband took over as senior advisers to the president.
According to CNN, the President praised his daughter during a recent rally in Londonderry, New Hampshire, suggesting that she would be a better candidate than Sen. Kamala Harris, who he called incompetent.
"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."
