President Donald Trump has vehemently rejected claims by a number of US mainstream media outlets that he weighed having first daughter Ivanka as his running mate in the 2016 presidential election.
"Now Fake News @CNN is actually reporting that I wanted my daughter, Ivanka, to run with me as my Vice President in 2016 Election. Wrong and totally ridiculous. These people are sick!", Trump tweeted in apparent rage, with many more calling to take action against what the president calls "lamestream media":
CNN is an insult to journalism.👎🏽
— Righteous⚡️Crusader (@Craftmastah) September 29, 2020
thankyou! the amount of lies and disrespect they do is just too much! they r already getting exposed and they still kept going! they r desperate coz they know they dont have any chance of winning again! Ever!
— Moking (@Moking04) September 29, 2020
Some, meanwhile, revisited his recently reported tax records, which allege that from 2000 to 2018 he didn't pay income tax in 11 of those years and paid just peanuts, $750 – in 2017. The claims have been rejected by POTUS as lies, timed to coincide with his presidential campaign.
Trump is an insult to law abiding taxpayers
— James (@caretaker08) September 29, 2020
I'll pay you $750 to never tweet again.
— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) September 29, 2020
Earlier, a string of media outlets including Bloomberg and The Washington Post spread the claims from a soon-to-be-published book by the former deputy chairman of the 2016 Trump campaign, Rick Gates.
In the book titled "Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost", Gates reportedly cast a retrospective glance at conversations between Trump and his aides in June 2016 about a prospective vice president to join him after the then-Republican presidential hopeful won the GOP primary.
"I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?" "She's bright, she's smart, she's beautiful, and the people would love her!", Gates cited Trump as allegedly saying at the time.
After Ivanka Trump reportedly revolted telling her father that "it wasn't a good idea", made him "capitulate" and pay attention to another candidate, Mike Pence was picked as his running mate, according to Gates. Trump reportedly didn't look favourably upon Pence at first, but the ice started to break as Pence took aim at "crooked" Hillary Clinton, Trump's opponent in the 2016 poll. It was then that Indiana Governor Pence delivered a "vicious and extended monologue" about the ex-Democratic presidential hopeful.
The book is scheduled to be released on 13 October, weeks before the November presidential election.
In February 2018, Trump’s ex-campaign manager was charged with making false statements to the FBI, money laundering, and conspiracy against the US, leading him to be sentenced to serve three years on probation, spend 45 days in jail on weekends, pay a fine of $20,000 and take part in community service.
