Trump Likes the ‘Concept’ of a Woman VP But Says There Are More Important Criteria Than Just Gender

Former President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks during the Georgia state GOP convention at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center in Columbus, Ga., on June 10, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump said he likes the idea of a woman serving as his vice president if elected to the Oval Office in 2024, but he was quick to add that there are more important factors than male or female to consider when picking his running mate.

“Are you leaning toward a woman?” NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker asked President Trump in an interview Thursday.

“I like the concept, but we’re going to pick the best person,” President Trump replied. “But I do like the concept, yes.”

The former president then said that it’s relatively early going in the presidential campaign and he hasn’t given much thought to his pick for a running mate.

“You always do a little bit, but I really don’t think it’s time. I want to win,” he said.

Former President Donald Trump arrives to deliver remarks to the Georgia state GOP convention at the Columbus Convention and Trade Center in Columbus, Ga., on June 10, 2023. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Rumors have long swirled that President Trump was considering a woman as his running mate in order to court the female suburban vote that some strategists believe would be key to beating President Joe Biden.

Media speculation has pointed to former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Trump White House press secretary and current Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

In the interview on “Meet the Press,” President Trump was asked about Ms. Noem as a possible pick, with the former president saying she‘d be “fantastic” and saying he’d consider her for VP.

“She’s been a great governor,” President Trump said, adding that Ms. Noem gave him a “beautiful endorsement” during a recent rally in her state.

“Certainly she’d be one of the people I’d consider, or for something else maybe. But we have a lot of people. We have a lot of great people in the Republican Party,” President Trump said.

Trump Open to Ramaswamy

President Trump recently praised Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy when asked if he would consider the 38-year-old biotech engineer as a running mate.

“I think he’s great,” President Trump told conservative talk show host Glenn Beck at the end of August. “Look, anybody that’s said I’m the best president in a generation ... and he said it a couple of times ... I have to like a guy like that.”

For his part, Mr. Ramaswamy has expressed positive sentiment about the idea of being President Trump’s running mate and serving as his VP, although he seems to have rejected it as an actual possibility.

Entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy waves as he arrives to take part in the first Republican Presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis., on Aug. 23, 2023. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images

Asked on Britain’s GB News whether he would be “happy to be [Trump’s] VP”, Mr. Ramaswamy replied: “See, this isn’t about me. If this were about me, sure. That’s a fine position for someone to have at my age.”

He then insisted he was not interested in any job other than president because he feels he could only “reunite this country” as the commander-in-chief.

“This is about reviving our country and I can only reunite this country if I’m doing it from the White House as the leader and the face of our movement,” Mr. Ramaswamy told Nigel Farage in the interview.

It’s a position he’s expressed before, telling Fox News in an interview in mid August that, “I’m not interested in a different position in the government” other than president.

“Frankly, I’d drive change through the private sector sooner than becoming number two or three in the federal government,” he added.

During his interview with Glenn Beck, President Trump said he would be receptive to a youthful and comparatively unestablished candidate who could bring a fresh perspective to Washington.

“He’s a very, very, very intelligent person. He’s got good energy, and he could be some form of something. I tell you, I think he'd be very good. I think he’s very good. I think he’s really distinguished himself,” President Trump said of Mr. Ramaswamy.

But while the former president signaled his appreciation for Mr. Ramaswamy’s potential as a running mate, he also voiced caution regarding the entrepreneur’s tendency to court controversy.

“He’s starting to get out there a little bit,” he told Mr. Beck in the interview. “He’s getting a little bit controversial.”

“I got to tell him to be a little bit careful. Some things you have to hold in just a little bit, right?” President Trump continued. “But he’s got a lot of good energy.”

Mr. Ramaswamy has ruffled feathers among some in the Republican Party with his pledge to shut down the FBI and a host of other federal agencies.

Many Republicans have ramped up their criticism of the agency amid indications that it had become unduly politicized in a number of ways, including allegations of targeting parents protesting at school board meetings, using intimidation tactics against pro-life activists, or colluding with social media companies to censor Americans’ free speech ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

In July, Mr. Ramaswamy unveiled a plan to dismantle the FBI in his first year in office as part of a broader thrust to take an axe to the tentacles of the regulatory state.

Then in a Sept. 13 speech, he elaborated that he would dissolve the FBI and move some of its staff to the U.S. Marshals and some other agencies as part of his broader plan to cut the federal employee headcount by 75 percent during his first term.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was asked in an interview on an Iowa Public Broadcasting Service program what he thinks about Republican calls ranging from reducing funding for the FBI or, like Mr. Ramaswamy’s pledge, demands for the FBI’s complete dissolution.

“Anybody that takes that position is stupid for saying it,” the Republican senator said. “We’ve got to have an FBI.”

Mr. Grassley followed up bay saying, “Obviously, things aren’t right with the FBI, from my point of view.”

“But you don’t defund the FBI to make that point, you reform the FBI.”

Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Mr. Grassley’s remarks.