Rubio 'pushing hard' to be Trump's VP – but he could make impeachment more enticing to GOP

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has joined the top tier of contenders to become Donald Trump's running mate, but one Republican warned that he would provide very poor protection against impeachment.

Trump once mocked the Florida Republican as "Little Marco," most infamously during an exchange over their relative penis sizes at a GOP debate, but now Rubio is aggressively pushing his way onto the shortlist for 2024 vice presidential candidate, reported The Daily Beast.

“He’s pushing hard, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” said one source who attended a recent donor retreat at Mar-a-Lago. “This didn’t come out of nowhere. But hey, it’s all good.”

Another Trumpworld source agreed “Marco is definitely in the game on the VP thing,” and one of the qualities working in his favor is his perceived distance from the former president's orbit.

“He checks quite a few boxes," said veteran Florida pollster Brad Coker. "I think it goes far beyond just the Latino vote. What would set him apart from J.D. Vance and some of the others is that he’s not seen as some sort of Trump acolyte.”

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A former Rubio adviser said the senator was "well-vetted" by Mitt Romney's team in 2012 and by the national media during his unsuccessful bid for president in 2016, so he wouldn't "embarrass" the presidential nominee, but that squeaky-clean profile might wind up hurting Trump down the road if he faced another impeachment.

“Rubio is the inception of the Never Trump movement,” said a GOP source familiar with the discussions. “If Donald Trump wants to be convicted and removed by Senate Republicans, he will select Rubio, who [Mitch] McConnell would be glad to appoint as the president.”

There's also a problem with Rubio's residency, because the 12th Amendment bars electors from casting their votes for a president and vice president from the same state – which would take Florida's 30 electoral votes off the table.

“There’s a lot of small reasons that sort of accumulate which raise his profile," Coker said, "and he might be the one who brings the most to the ticket, but he has the problem that both he and Trump live in Florida.”