Trump Endorses Rubio, Who Can Now Stop Sweating Over Potential Ivanka Primary Challenge

GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) shake hands after the Republican presidential debate in Charleston, South Carolina on January 14, 2016. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) can start sleeping easy now.

Ex-President Donald Trump gave a “complete and total endorsement” of Rubio’s reelection bid on Friday morning, officially shutting down rumors of his daughter, Ivanka Trump, running for Rubio’s seat.

“Marco will never let the great people of Florida, or our Country, down!” Trump said in a statement issued through his Save America political action committee.

He also praised Rubio, who helped oversee the Senate Intelligence Committee’s probe into the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, for boosting Trump’s denial of any wrongdoing in what the ex-president called “the FAKE Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax.”

The endorsement is likely a big relief for Rubio, who visibly struggled to play it cool when asked about a potential primary challenge from Ivanka Trump during a Fox News interview in January.

“I like Ivanka Trump very much. We work together very well,” the GOP senator said after stuttering that all senators can be primaried and that he is “not the owner of the Florida Senate seat.”

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