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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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Donald Trump will not pick Marco Rubio as his 2024 running mate because the Florida Senator mocked the size of his hands during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, according to former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
Scaramucci made the comment on the The Rest is Politics U.S. podcast, in which he also predicted Trump will choose "a white guy" and said the presumptive Republican nominee is looking for "Mike Pence 2.0."
Ever since Trump became the presumptive GOP presidential candidate in March there has been intense speculation about his choice of running mate, following his dramatic falling out with Pence over the latter's refusal to back his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election result.
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In February Trump said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Senator Tim Scott, Rep. Byron Donalds, biotech tycoon Vivek Ramaswamy and former House Democrat Tulsi Gabbard were all on his shortlist for the vice-presidential role. Other widely tipped candidates include North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and Senators J.D. Vance and Rubio.
Speaking on the podcast, which he co-hosts, Scaramucci, who was sacked by Trump just days after being appointed communications director in July 2017, said barbs from Rubio during the 2016 GOP primary mean he won't be selected as the presumptive candidate's running mate.
He said: "Donald Trump has microscopic hands, it's weird when you look at his body and you look at these tiny little hands coming out of those cufflinked shirts, ok this is a little weird, the guy is sensitive about it.
"Marco called it out on the campaign, there is no way he's picking Marco Rubio. No way! Because he doesn't want that replay on all the liberal media, he's not going to go with that."
In early 2016, Rubio lashed out at Trump on the campaign trail claiming he had "small hands" before euphemistically asking "and you know what they say about men with small hands?" Trump, who had earlier given Rubio the nickname "little Marco," responded by holding his hands up at an event in March 2016 and asking: "Look at those hands, are they small hands?"
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He added: "And, he referred to my hands—'if they're small, something else must be small.' I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee."
Scaramucci, who has now endorsed President Biden, also claimed in the show on Friday that Trump would pick a white male running mate because anything else would detract attention from him.
He said: "This guy's going with a white guy. Let me tell you something he's such a narcissist he can't pick Tim Scott and then have somebody say to him 'well Tim Scott helped you with the Black vote so that's why you won the presidency'
" 'No you have to understand something I won the presidency because of me Donald J. Trump … I'm going to pick this nondescript back-seater, I'm looking for Mike Pence 2.0.' "
When asked for comment, Steven Cheung, Donald Trump's spokesperson, said "11 days"—an apparent reference to the length of time Scaramucci spent working in the White House during 2017 before he was fired.
Newsweek contacted Senator Marco Rubio's Washington, D.C., office for comment by email Saturday outside usual business hours.
Earlier this week social media users noticed the web address trumpburgum.com automatically redirected to Trump's official campaign website, sparking speculation Governor Burgum could have been chosen as his running mate.
Update 6/23/24 6:50 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Steven Cheung, Donald Trump's spokesperson.
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