President-elect Trump says he doesn’t think Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will name his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to succeed Sen. Marco Rubio in the Senate.

“No, I don’t. I probably don’t. But I don’t know,” Trump said Monday as he took questions from reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. “Ron’s doing a good job. That’s his choice – nothing to do with me.”

Trump last month announced that he would nominate Rubio, the three-term senator from Florida and a senior Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees, to serve as secretary of state in his incoming administration.

TRUMP PRESSES DESANTIS TO NAME DAUGHTER-IN-LAW TO SUCCEED RUBIO IN SENATE

Since then, the president-elect and some top Trump allies have recommended that Lara Trump, who from March until a week ago served as Republican National Committee co-chair, fill the next two years of Rubio’s term in the Senate.

DeSantis has said he’ll make a decision on the Rubio Senate replacement by early next month.

DESANTIS SETS TIMETABLE TO NAME RUBIO SENATE SUCCESSOR

Trump on Monday praised his daughter-in-law, saying, “Lara’s unbelievable. She was incredible. The job she did at the RNC…. she is so highly respected.”

And he added that Lara Trump is highly sought after.

Lara Trump speaks to the media following a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 21, 2024. (Brandon Gillespie/Fox News)

“I also know that Lara got so many other things. I mean she’s got so many other things. People want her to be on television. They want to give her contracts,” Trump said. “She’s got so many other things that she’s talking about.”

The president-elect also praised Rubio, but added, “He leaves a vacancy in Florida and Ron’s going to have to make that decision. And he’ll make the right decision.”

Former President Trump shakes hands with Sen. Marco Rubio during a campaign rally on Nov. 4, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Sources have confirmed to Fox News that Trump told DeSantis that he would like to see his daughter-in-law succeed Rubio. But Republican sources in Florida suggest that DeSantis is more likely to name someone who’s held public office in the Sunshine State.

And Lara Trump, in interviews with Fox News and the AP, has said she would “seriously consider” serving Florida in the Senate.

DeSantis, a one-time Trump ally who clashed with the former president last year and early this year during a very contentious 2024 GOP presidential nomination race, mended relations a bit with the former president after the primary season, as he endorsed Trump and helped raise money for the Republican nominee’s general election campaign.

Gov. Ron DeSantis holds multiple storm preparation news conferences on Oct. 7, 2024, as Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida. (Office of Florida governor)

“Florida deserves a senator who will help President Trump deliver on his election mandate, be strong on immigration and border security, take on the entrenched bureaucracy and administrative state, reverse the nation’s fiscal decline, be animated by conservative principles, and has a proven record of results,” DeSantis said last month.

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And he noted at the time that “we have already received strong interest from several possible candidates, and we continue to gather names of additional candidates and conduct preliminary vetting. More extensive vetting and candidate interviews will be conducted over the next few weeks, with a selection likely made by the beginning of January.”

The formal confirmation process for Rubio by his fellow senators won’t kick off until after Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20.

EXCLUSIVE – Former Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia will make her first visit to Capitol Hill since President-elect Trump nominated her to steer the Small Business Administration (SBA) in his second term in the White House.

Fox News has learned that Loeffler will meet starting Tuesday with roughly a dozen Republican senators. Among those she’ll huddle with are Sen. John Barasso of Wyoming, who ranks third in GOP Senate leadership and is the incoming Majority Whip, and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the incoming chair of the Senate Small Business Committee.

Loeffler, who hails from a family of small business owners and entrepreneurs, was raised working on the family farm in Illinois. After becoming the first in her family to graduate college, she spent nearly three decades working her way up in the private sector.  

Along with her husband Jeff, Loeffler built a Fortune 500 financial services and technology company from 100 employees to 15,000. 

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Loeffler later launched another company, named Bakkt, as its founding CEO and first employee. She was also a part owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream.

HEAD HERE FOR THE FULL LIST OF WHOM TRUMP’S PICKED TO TOP ADMINISTRATION POSITIONS

“As an entrepreneur and business leader who founded startups and helped build a Fortune 500 company, Senator Loeffler looks forward to meeting with her former colleagues this week to discuss empowering America’s job creators,” Loeffler spokesperson Caitlin O’Dea told Fox News in a statement. “She is honored to be President Trump’s choice to lead the SBA, and, if confirmed, looks forward to advancing his agenda to make the small business economy great again.”

U.S. President Donald Trump and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) attend a campaign rally at Dalton Regional Airport on January 4, 2021, in Dalton, Georgia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Loeffler and her husband have long been major donors to Republican causes and and candidates, including Trump. Loeffler serves as co-chair of the president-elect’s inaugural committee.

Trump called Loeffler, a longtime ally, “tremendous fighter” as he announced her nomination as SBA administrator.

And Ernst, in a statement, said that “as a successful business owner, Kelly knows what it takes to innovate and create jobs that support American families, and I am confident that she will fight to get Washington bureaucrats off the backs of our nation’s small businesses.”

Then-Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler speaks during a campaign event at Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Georgia, December 5, 2020. (REUTERS/Dustin Chambers)

While successful in the business world, Loeffler was not well known until becoming a politician.

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After GOP Sen. Johnny Isakson resigned from the Senate at the end of 2019 due to his deteriorating health, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia appointed Loeffler to fill Isakson’s unexpired term until the next regular election.

Loeffler narrowly lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in a runoff election in January 2021, after no candidate topped 50% of the vote in a crowded field of contenders in the November 2020 Senate election.

A Florida man was arrested on child abuse allegations over accusations that he allegedly screamed obscenities and physically abused a child for about half an hour over a missing couch cushion, according to officials.

Lance Rachel Sr., 42, was charged with aggravated child abuse and battery by strangulation. He was booked into the Osceola County Jail.

The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said the incident happened on Dec. 7 at a home in Kissimmee, Florida, but that it was not reported until days later.

FLORIDA SHERIFF MOURNS ‘REALLY GREAT’ DEPUTY KILLED DURING TRAFFIC STOP; SUSPECT LATER KILLED

The sheriff’s office opened an investigation into the incident on Dec. 11.

Rachel Sr. was angry because a couch cushion had been displaced and accused the child of lying, according to the sheriff’s office.

The suspect “maliciously” punished the child by screaming obscenities and physically abusing the child for 28 minutes, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies said the incident happened on Dec. 7 at a home in Kissimmee, Florida, but that it was not reported until days later. (iStock)

Deputies said the victim was struck with a belt more than 50 times and was choked and called several disparaging names and other obscenities.

At one point, the suspect threatened to break the child’s jaw, according to deputies.

FIERY CHAOS AT FLORIDA INTERSECTION HAS SHERIFF’S OFFICE SEARCHING FOR DOZENS OF SUSPECTS

Lance Rachel Sr. was angry because a couch cushion had been displaced and accused the child of lying, deputies said. (iStock)

Some of the event was captured on in-home surveillance cameras, deputies said.

On Dec. 16, deputies interviewed Kimberly Rachel, 35, who confirmed the incident happened. She was arrested and charged with failure to report known child abuse.