Shady finances and dealings with a criminal… just not the one you might be thinking
about. Smooth talker or talking smack, Lara Trump's making moves all the way to the top.
When the conservative-leaning
Fox News network suggested a Donald Trump presidential campaign well before many
took the "Celebrity Apprentice" host seriously, Donald quickly became a solid fan. But Trump's
love soured when Fox failed to support his claims that a 2020 win was stolen from him,
leaving him frustrated with the network he once swore by, according to The Guardian.
So what does any of this have to do with Lara Trump? Well,
Lara joined the ranks at Fox News after her father-in-law left office,
signaling that the ice may be thawing between the network and the Trump dynasty.
"She is a new Fox News contributor. Welcome to the family, Lara!"
But Lara was already a familiar face around the network, having made so many appearances, she
says security joked that she should have her own key. As she shared during her first day on-air,
"I sort of feel like I've been an unofficial
member of the team for so long, you guys know, it was kind of a joke."
During Trump's campaign
and administration, Lara was a regular fixture in the press. Along with husband Eric Trump,
she was outspoken in her support of Donald — and she dutifully took aim at his 2020 rival,
Joe Biden. While on the road in Iowa, Lara noted one facet of Biden's public persona, saying,
"I'm supposed to want him to fail at every turn,
but every time he comes on stage, and they turned to him, I'm like, 'Joe,
can you get it out? Let's get the words out, Joe.' You kind of feel bad for him."
"America is a nation that can be defined in a single word: (garbled)."
The comments on Biden's speech patterns were quickly perceived as a blow below the belt,
with famed airline pilot "Sully" Sullenberger writing an op-ed for
The New York Times about his own experience with a stutter.
Way back when,
Lara had her eyes set on a different prize. She attended culinary school
and even started a baking business. According to Cosmo, Lara left her home state of North
Carolina and headed to New York's French Culinary Institute. In the Big Apple,
she studied pastry making for over a year, and then took her skills to the next level.
She launched Lara Lea Confections from 2009 to 2010, baking up designs ranging from
cartoon characters to designer bags. And while her business didn't last very long,
Lara once told Wrightsville Beach Magazine that her side hustle was
the perfect outlet for her creativity — which it seems her family now gets to enjoy.
When we think of the Trump kids
and their partners, perhaps the first couple that comes to mind is Ivanka Trump and Jared
Kushner. Ivanka's been in the spotlight for decades, but Jared's no wallflower,
either. His family's New York real estate firm is valued at $15 billion,
according to The Wall Street Journal. And the pairing just seemed like an obvious, upscale fit.
But when it comes to Lara and Eric Trump, their backgrounds couldn't be more different.
"This is not North Carolina anymore, that's for sure."
As Lara told Star News Online,
"I'm a girl from North Carolina who really has no business even being involved with
this family. But I just so happened to fall in love with a guy, we clicked, and it worked."
Lara revealed that the two met at an event in New York City, by happenstance. And
after three months of trying to get it on the calendar, the couple finally went on
their first date. Even then, Lara admitted that she didn't have high expectations, but added,
"It ended up being the best date I've ever been on."
Long before Trump
became notorious for taking on bad actors in the press, Lara was rising through the ranks in
media. She signed on to Inside Edition in 2012 as a story coordinator, and two years later,
was promoted to associate producer. All in, Lara spent nearly 5 years with the outlet.
"I promised my father-in-law when he got into this that I would win
him North Carolina, so, pressure's on now."
Ahead of the 2016 election,
Lara left her role at the show to focus on Trump's campaign, telling Port City Daily,
"I wasn't going to have the time to adequately dedicate to this. […] When
they're reporting on your family on the show you work for, it's a little challenging."
As Newsweek reported,
Lara was a consistent presence in her father-in-law's administration. But
while she was known for her public support, she also worked behind the scenes. As it turns out,
Lara had been the host of a number of "high-level meetings within the
White House," lobbying for various domestic policy issues. She also reportedly met with
a number of Cabinet nominees. Political watchdogs said of her involvement,
"[It's] a clear crossing of the well-established line between campaign work and public service."
"You know what? Tune out the distorted and biased
commentary out there and look at what this president has done."
While she may have been cast in a shadowy light by opponents,
four-time presidential advisor David Gergen noted,
"This White House is being run like a family business,
and campaigning is their bread and butter."
Ever since Trump left
office in January 2021, he's been floating around the notion of another political run
in the future. But he's not the only member of the family who has ambitions for public
office. While rumors have circulated around Ivanka's future as a political candidate,
Lara has also made it clear that a campaign of her own is never out of the realm of possibility.
"Nothing would be a greater honor for me than to represent the people of my home state."
As noted by The New York Times in late 2020,
she was eyeing a run in her home state of North Carolina,
hoping to unseat Senator Richard Burr. A campaign advisor who traveled with Lara told the outlet,
"She's very charismatic, she understands retail politics well, and has a natural instinct for
politics. In North Carolina, in particular, she's a household name and people know her.
She worked really hard on the campaign and was very involved in a lot of decisions throughout."
And while Lara's name was floated around as a contender in the 2022 midterms,
she finally announced that she would not be seeking Burr's seat this time
around. As she revealed at the GOP North Carolina convention,
"I am saying 'no' for now. Not 'no' forever."
Now the proud parents to their children, Carolina and Eric Junior, it seems Lara had always wanted
to have a family. As People reported, Lara found out she was pregnant with their first
child on hubby Eric's birthday. Lara explained to the outlet of the start of her pregnancy,
"I was exhausted in the beginning. It surprised me,
because I'm a very active person, and until the fatigue hit, I didn't believe it would
actually happen to me. It really affected me. But I'm feeling really good now."
Later busy parenting two young children at the time, Lara was also vocal about
not closing down schools during the pandemic. As she said on Fox Business in December 2021,
"I have young kids, two and four years old, and you know,
they learn so much from interacting with their peers, so it is so bad from start to finish."
It's not uncommon for politicians to leverage
their platforms for change. As we know, first ladies have a history of spearheading causes close
to their hearts; like Michelle Obama with healthy eating and Melania Trump with cyberbullying.
While Lara Trump is of course not a first lady, she has still aligned hearself with
certain causes — most notably, animal rights. According to Politico,
Lara partnered with the Beagle Freedom Project back in 2017, leading organizers to believe
that animal rights would become a central component of Donald Trump's administration.
"Do you think there's gonna be a first dog in the White House?"
"I'm working on it as hard as I can."
Instead, her efforts appeared to be tied to a rather controversial group. The Beagle Freedom
Project is led by Kevin Chase, who spent six years in prison after being charged with the
harassment and stalking of researchers, per Politico. Chase admitted that he had not,
quote, "disclosed his criminal background" to Lara before she signed on, claiming that
unless he's in front of Congress or speaking on the record, he doesn't usually bring it up.
Donald Trump spent decades cultivating
a real estate empire and his reputation as the billionaire businessman who spared no expense.
And while the reality of that image may be up for some debate, there's still a lot of money
being shared within that family. And Lara — an informal adviser to the White House — allegedly
received upwards of $15,000 a month for her work, as two anonymous GOP sources told HuffPost.
Lara was paid by Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale through
his own company rather than directly by the campaign. As HuffPost noted,
that way, the payments wouldn't have to be reported to the public. Of the shady legal
issues surrounding the reported $180,000 annual income, Parscale simply stated,
"I can pay them however I want to pay them."
Taking a look at the overall situation, legal expert Paul Ryan shared with the outlet,
"A lot of people close to Donald Trump are getting rich off of [this] campaign."
While Bill Clinton's
presidency was marked by the introduction of the internet, and Barack Obama's administration
was the first in which social media played a major role, Donald Trump all but revolutionized
communication between the top U.S. office…and the rest of us tweeting from our toilets.
"They've made it so hard to be a Trump supporter. The media
vilifies anybody that supports our president."
Trump's Twitter account alone was used more as a source for news than it was for official White
House announcements. And fans and haters flocked to the platform to get the buzz on the president,
like it was hot celebrity gossip. Then there was Trump's presidential YouTube channel,
which heavily featured Lara in a segment called Real News Insights.
Throughout more than 100 episodes of the series, Lara would break down the topics of the day,
often joined by guests. From Matt Gaetz to Rudy Giuliani to Lindsey Graham,
the channel served as a direct link from the Trump family to avid supporters.
Considering her position within the Trump dynasty, as well as her notoriety in the local and national
political arena, we feel safe calling it now; We definitely haven't seen the last of Lara Trump.