Melania Makes Her Pick For Trump's Vice President

A new report released Thursday revealed that former First Lady Melania Trump is making her voice heard in the current deliberations surrounding Trump's running mate, with the former model advocating for former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to be chosen as her husband's running mate for 2024.

Melania reportedly believes that Carlson would be a good fit for Trump because it would allow him to extend his onstage presence. When asked about whether Trump would pick Tucker for his running mate, the leading Republican candidate said, "I like Tucker a lot. ... He's got great common sense." Other potential picks for Trump's running mate include J.D. Vance, Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake (R-AZ), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR), and Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD).

In addition to potentially picking Carlson as his vice president, Trump is considering a number of hardline Republicans to fill his cabinet, including Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), former advisor Stephen Miller, former Chief Counsel for Nominations for Sen. Grassley (R-IA) Mike Davis, and others.

Miller is currently being considered for attorney general or to be a top advisor on immigration issues and border security. In Trump's first term, he headed up the first administration's policies on the southern border, which led to some of the lowest levels of illegal immigration in the country's recent history under Title 42. Miller currently heads the America First Legal Foundation, which is preparing a number of attorneys for a second Trump term.

'War Room' host and Trump ally Steve Bannon is also expected to make a return to the White House after he was taken off as a senior advisor during the first administration. Bannon could be picked as Trump's chief of staff, with Carlson telling Axios that Bannon would move to ensure Trump sticks to his campaign promises. "Steve believes: If you said we're building a wall, we're building a wall," Tucker explained.

Former Defense official Kash Patel is also expected to make a return to the next Trump administration, potentially being picked for a top spot in the intelligence community, such as the NSA or CIA. Patel recently joined Steve Bannon on his podcast, where he explained, "One thing we learned in the Trump administration the first go-round is we've got to put in all of our compatriots from top to bottom. And we've got them for law enforcement ... [Defense Department], CIA, everywhere. ... Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens."

Other notable names to be included in a future Trump cabinet include former presidential personnel head Johnny McEntee, former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, Trump's former acting director of national intelligence Ric Grenell, Trump campaign staffer Susie Wiles, former Texas Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), former advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

You can read Axios' full piece here.

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