In a new book, Rick Gates claims that President Trump wanted to select his daughter Ivanka as his running mate in 2016, The Washington Post reports.
Gates, a deputy manager of Trump’s 2016 campaign, makes the claim in Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost, which will be published in two weeks by Post Hill Press.
“What about Ivanka as my VP?” Gates recounts Trump saying to a group of campaign aides. “She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!”
Trump pushed the idea several times, only dropping it when Ivanka Trump told him she didn’t think she’d be the best choice. Trump later picked then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate.
Gates, who in 2019 was sentenced to a short jail term and three years probation for making false statements and conspiracy against the United States, announced his book in August, saying it would not be “salacious.”
The Post says the book is not “a tell-all, but rather a defense of the president and how he and others helped elect him.” Gates told the newspaper that he believes Trump is “the most decisive president we’ve had probably since Eisenhower.”
Wicked Game is slated for publication on Oct. 13.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
