Regrets? He has a few.
President Donald Trump apparently regularly jokes that he ‘could have had Tom Brady’ as a son-in-law, adding ‘instead I got Jared Kushner’, according to a New York Times report citing five people who have heard the wisecrack.
Trump is said to have tried to play matchmaker between the legendary New England Patriots quarterback and his eldest daughter Ivanka, before her 2009 marriage to Kushner.
‘At one point, Donald wanted her to date Tom Brady, the quarterback,’ Trump’s first wife Ivana wrote in her book Raising Trump. ‘He said, “You have to meet him!” But Ivanka wasn’t into it.’
Trump and Tom Brady have been friends for years, and Trump reportedly likes to joke that Brady could have been his son-in-law. They are seen above golfing in Palm Beach in 2006
Ivanka (left) was urged by Trump to meet Brady but wasn’t interested, her mother said. Instead, she married Jared Kushner (right) in 2009
Brady was also married in 2009, to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen (with him above after Super Bowl VI). Her influence is said to have put a damper on his friendship with Trump
Trump and Brady do have a friendship dating back to at least 2002, when the Trump Organization hired Brady to help judge the Miss USA pageant.
The two men struck up a friendship and became regular golfing buddies.
‘We’ve just played golf together many, many times and, you know, I’ve always had a good time with him,’ Brady said in a 2016 radio interview.
‘He’s been a friend of mine, supported our team. He’s been on the Patriots sidelines a lot and always called me after games to encourage me over the course of 15 years.’
Brady married Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen in 2009, and by the time of the 2016 election, her influence seemed to put a damper on Trump and Brady’s bromance.
Patriots fans pose with a sign proposing Brady for vice president in 2015. Brady stopped short of openly endorsing Trump in the election, and they later locked horns over anthem kneelers
Brady stopped short of endorsing Trump in the election, and when Trump said that the Patriots star had voted for him, Bundchen lashed out on Instagram with a horrified ‘NO!’
After Brady was photographed with a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat in his locker, the chastened play caller said that his wife had told him to stay out of politics, adding ‘I think that’s a good decision.’
Brady and Trump locked horns most notably over NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, an action that Trump vehemently opposed.
While Brady never knelt himself, he did stick up for his teammates who did in the face of Trump’s withering criticism.
Brady is seen celebrating his fifth Super Bowl win in 2017. Trump reportedly regularly laments that Brady didn’t end up as his son-in-law, adding ‘instead I got Jared Kushner’
‘I certainly disagree with what he said. I thought it was just divisive,’ Brady said in a radio interview with WEEI last fall.
The Times report about Trump’s son-in-law joke came in a sweeping profile of Ivanka Trump and Kushner, examining how they have weathered criticism and a controversy over Kushner’s security clearance to remain as entrenched at the center of White House Power as ever.
Ivanka’s announcement last week that she would shutter her clothing line seemed to underscore the idea that the couple from New York plan to remain in Washington DC for the long haul.