Trump suggested Ivanka as his 2016 running mate: book

President Trump repeatedly suggested in 2016 that his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, serve as his running mate, according to a new book.

Excerpts from “Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost,” a new book from former 2016 deputy Trump campaign manager Rick Gates, details conversations the president had with aides in June of 2016 about selecting a running mate following his victory in the Republican primary, according to The Washington Post.

“I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?” Trump told his campaign staffers at a meeting about the VP search, according to Gates. “She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!”

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill on the reported efforts to consider Ivanka Trump, currently a White House staffer, for the vice presidential role. Ivanka Trump herself is said to have rejected the suggestion in conversations with her father, according to the Gates book.

The book, due next month, is the latest by an ex-aide to the president which casts a highly critical light on Trump’s first term in office. It is due out just weeks before the election.

Its publication follows that of “Rage,” a look at the Trump presidency from author and legendary Post journalist Bob Woodward, which was published earlier in September and rocked the White House at the time with its revelations.

Gates, who pleaded guilty in February 2018 to charges of conspiracy and lying to investigators, told the Post in an interview that he would accept a pardon from Trump were one to be offered.

“I mean, who wouldn’t?” he told the Post. “We have not made any overture … but if I were looking at this objectively, I would say that this started with political intention and that people were caught up in the inquiry in ways that they wouldn’t have been if the inquiry had been done more properly.”