President Trump has previously joked that he “could have had Tom Brady” as a son-in-law, according to a new report examining the influence of his adult children.
“Instead, I got Jared Kushner,” Trump said, according to a New York Times report published Saturday. The report, which cites five sources who heard the president, said that Trump has repeatedly told the joke.
The president’s reported aside about Brady was included in a sweeping Times profile of Kushner and his wife, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who have been a mainstay of the administration despite ranging criticism.
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President Trump is known to have an affinity for Brady. The New England Patriots quarterback once referred to Trump as a “good friend,” but stopped short of endorsing him during the 2016 presidential election.
Brady, who hasn’t shied away from criticism of Trump’s comments attacking protesting NFL players, skipped the team’s White House visit earlier this year celebrating their 2017 Super Bowl victory, citing “personal family matters.”
The president’s first wife, Ivana Trump, claimed in her book “Raising Trump” that Trump wanted his daughter to date Brady.
“At one point, Donald wanted her to date Tom Brady, the quarterback,” she wrote. “He said, ‘You have to meet him!’ But Ivanka wasn’t into it.”