Trump Has Reportedly Joked That Ivanka Could Have Married Tom Brady

Donald Trump has quipped — “several times” — that daughter Ivanka Trump could have married New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, witnesses told The New York Times. “Instead,” the president is reported to have said, “I got Jared Kushner” for a son-in-law.

The dig appeared to be less good-natured ribbing and more of an indication of wishful thinking by Trump, who has had a bit of rocky relationship with Kushner. The president has told aides that “Jared hasn’t been so good for me,” The Times reported Saturday.

Could Ivanka have married Brady?

The president’s first wife, Ivana Trump, claimed in her book Raising Trump that Trump wanted Ivanka to date the football star — but insisted that her daughter “wasn’t into it.”

But former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told TMZ earlier this year that the two might have dated. He speculated wildly that Brady’s wife, Gisele Bündchen, may have convinced her husband to skip the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory trip to the White House last year because of “jealousy.” Brady said at the time that he had to attend to family matters.

Politics seems more likely than jealousy at a time other players skipped because of opposition to Trump’s policies. Bündchen is not a Trump fan, and Brady has dodged questions since the election about his earlier Trump support.

Bündchen replied to a fan in an Instagram post that the couple wasn’t backing Trump in the election — even though Trump said that Brady was voting for him. A day after the election Brady told reporters: “I talked to my wife and she said I can’t talk about politics anymore … I think that’s a good decision.”

Brady had said in 2015 that it would be “great” if Trump became president, and he has frequently referred to Trump as his “good friend.”

Neither Brady, Bündchen nor Ivanka Trump have commented on the Times report.