Trump sends a message to senators with bid to make Lara Trump one of their colleagues: ‘Get used to it’
Donald Trump’s brash push to have his daughter-in-law appointed to a seat in the Senate is sending a message that isn’t being lost on the Republican lawmakers who would serve closely with her.
They are already living in Trump’s world. Sharing formal luncheons an late-night-amendment votes with his close family member would be just the latest accommodation to it.
‘I mean, he’s selling watches,’ Republican Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana told DailyMail.com. ‘And I think he’s going to keep doing the stuff that for most people, it doesn’t bother half the country. And for the other half, they better get used to it, because the indictment was mostly against their point of view and how this place is run generally,’ the Trump ally said.
Braun, the governor-elect of Indiana, was referencing the signed gold watches Trump is selling for up to $100,000 – a product that came out months before Trump started selling a $199 fragrance pegged to his visit last weekend to Notre Dame Cathedral. Both product pitches indicate that Trump has no intention of bowing to watchdog groups or historic norms that have shielded presidents from profiting from the office.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would have the power to appoint a successor to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who is looking increasingly likely to be confirmed as Secretary of State after the new year. And DeSantis himself could be up for the powerful post of Defense Secretary if Pete Hegseth’s nomination should implode – although key Republican senators like Joni Ernst are now supporting the ‘process’ to confirm him.
‘I think he’s qualified for the role and I certainly don’t start out with any negative disposition,’ said Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer after meeting with Rubio, in a sign he could sail through the chamber. A DeSantis nomination could involve a complex exchange that could still land Lara Trump in the Senate.
Rubio himself told DailyMail.com he believes Lara Trump has what it takes to join the Senate. ‘I do,’ he said. And he said there isn’t anything inappropriate with Trump angling on his daughter-in-law’s behalf.
‘Why would it not be? He’s a resident of Florida on top of being the president-elect. If he has an opinion on who it should be he should share it,’ Rubio said.
President-elect Donald Trump’s push to get his daughter-in-law Lara Trump appointed to the Senate is drawing support from Senate Republicans.
Lara Trump, who just announced she has stepped down from her post as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, would bring new blood in the chamber, which is three-quarters male and where there are five octogenarians, 30 members over 70, and 21 over age 65 – even if her children Luke and Carolina are blood relatives of the Article II head of the country.
Trump recently spoke to DeSantis about his daughter-in-law, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, at a time when he is attempting to stock his cabinet with loyalists.
One Republican senator who spoke to DailyMail.com said party members would not harbor concerns about having the president’s daughter-in-law sit inside the weekly strategy sessions that senators hold over crab cakes and other regional cuisine.
But the senator did raise an issue. ‘I think that’s going to be a difficult thing for the Florida governor – she’s from North Carolina,’ the senator said. (She is currently a resident of Florida, as is her powerful father-in-law).
She gave an interview to the Associated Press Monday where she indicated she was wide open to the post.
‘It is something I would seriously consider,’ she said. ‘I’m being completely transparent, I don’t know exactly what that would look like. And I certainly want to get all of the information possible if that is something that’s real for me. But yeah, I would 100 percent consider it.’
Republican voters also like the idea.
The power play isn’t lost on Senate Democrats, who will soon adjust to minority status in a chamber where Republicans will hold a 53-47 edge after their election pickups.
Whoever DeSantis picks would get to serve until 2026, when a special election would be held for the remaining two years of Rubio’s term.
‘Look, the reality is, it’s the governor’s appointment. We can comment or have opinions, but we have no impact There’s a new sheriff in town. His name is called Trump,’ said Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
