Former First Lady Melania Trump According to a former White House source, she will “definitely” have an influence on who her husband chooses as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
“When it comes to who Mrs. Trump considers best to serve alongside her husband as he attempts to take back the White House, she will certainly have her say,” the source, who has previously served as one, said. Trump’s allies “What he did during his presidency was a huge shock,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Whether Trump will seek her advice when choosing his vice presidential candidate will be decided later. However, based on what I have seen in the past, it is safe to assume that she will be clear and forthright about whether certain people are or are not suitable for the vice presidential position,” the source said of Melania.
If she makes it clear who she thinks is best suited for the job, it wouldn’t be the first time Melania has influenced her husband’s thinking about a vice presidential pick.
Former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump stand together during an event at their Mar-a-Lago home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In his 2018 book, “First in Line: Presidents, Vice Presidents and the Pursuit of Power,” Kate Anderson Brower mentioned Melania played a key role in choosing a “clean” and “safe” candidate to serve as Trump’s running mate in the 2016 election.
“It meant there was no affair and no messy financial entanglements. In short, it meant there was no drama. She realized that her husband already had enough of that,” Brower said at the time.
Although they now have a troubled relationship due to the results of the 2020 presidential election, Trump ultimately chose the former Vice President Mike Pence To serve as his running mate in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
Brower said Melania is “definitely on Pence’s side” because they have “no secrets at all.”
While it is still unclear who Trump will choose as his vice president for the 2024 presidential election, which is less than five months away, Reports published last week He praised the former president and first lady’s relationship with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and his family.
The Puck report highlights Melania’s relationship with Burgum’s wife, Katherine, and how she “worked with Melania on numerous occasions during Trump’s presidency, including the creation of resettlement-friendly workplaces.”
Former President Donald Trump stands with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and his wife, Katherine Burgum, at a caucus night rally held at Treasure Island Casino on February 08, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The report also details how the Bergums were invited. white House To celebrate the signing of the First Step Act criminal justice reform initiative, the outlet noted that the issue is “especially important to Katherine.”
Additionally, the outlet reported how the two couples “connected” with each other at Mar-a-Lago for Easter brunch this year.
It’s not yet known whether Melania will speak on Burgum’s behalf as the former president considers his options for a vice presidential pick, but she has had success making suggestions to her husband in the past.
The former First Lady is said to have petitioned the former President on specific topics, especially those involving public perception and trust.
“There were certainly times when he did take Mrs. Trump’s advice, and those incidents were generally related to what I consider public perception,” the former White House insider told Fox. “He also knew when not to. He generally did not take her advice on issues that she had special knowledge of — like the economy, business, trade and other such dealings.”
“I think she’s like Nancy Reagan behind the scenes in many ways,” the source said. “Although she wasn’t in the public eye every day, she played a role in many of the decisions that were made for the better during the Trump presidency with regard to public perception, trust and advocacy.”
Then-First Lady Melania Trump sits during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on February 12, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Speaking to Fox News’ Aisha Hassani at the Republican National Committee’s Washington, D.C. headquarters last week, Trump said he had a “pretty good idea” of who his vice presidential running mate would be.
His decision, however, is not expected to be made public until this summer’s Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to take place from July 15-18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
