Eric Trump and Lara Trump have emerged as a new GOP power couple. Here's a timeline of their relationship.
- Eric Trump and Lara Trump got married in 2014, have two children, and live in Jupiter, Florida.
- Lara left her TV producer job at Inside Edition to work for President Donald Trump's campaign.
- She stepped down as cochair of the RNC amid speculation of her filling Marco Rubio's Senate seat.
With Eric Trump as a trusted advisor to Donald Trump's campaign and Lara Trump's ascent to cochair of the Republican National Committee, there's a new GOP power couple in town.
Eric is the youngest of Donald Trump's three children from his first marriage to Ivana Trump. He serves as the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, managing the Trump family's luxury real-estate ventures.
Lara could gain even more power in Washington if she is appointed to the Senate. In December, she stepped down as cochair of the RNC amid speculation that she could fill Sen. Marco Rubio's Senate seat after Donald Trump nominated Rubio for secretary of state.
Here's a timeline of Eric and Lara's relationship.
When they met, Eric was working for his father at the Trump Organization and Lara was a producer at Inside Edition.
Lara spotted Eric from across the room and was "immediately intrigued," she told Ainsley Earhardt in an interview on "Fox & Friends" in 2016.
"After about two years together, I finally convinced Eric, and it took a lot of convincing, and still to this day I think he'll tell you it was one of the best things that we've ever done," Lara said on "Fox & Friends."
Eric proposed at the Trump Seven Springs estate in Bedford, New York, with a diamond platinum ring from the now-defunct Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry collection.
Donald Trump Jr. was the best man for his brother while Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner, officiated the wedding, the New York Daily News reported. Their dog, Charlie, also served as the ring bearer.
Lara broke both of her wrists in a horseback-riding accident a few weeks before the wedding, forcing her to wear casts on both arms.
"I had to get creative with a way to make casts look bridal," she told People magazine. "Fortunately, my wedding planner, Jennifer Zabinski, and my designer, Preston Bailey, came up with some fabulously bedazzled gloves to try and blend these casts."
Eric became an active member of his father's campaign, making regular appearances at events and talk shows while serving as an advisor and fundraiser.
The Trumps fostered the dog before deciding to adopt, an outcome affectionately known as a "foster failure."
"It's official: we are foster failures!!!" Lara wrote on Instagram. "Ben & Charlie are now brothers forever. Welcome to your furever family, Ben! We love you so much!!! Thank you @rescuedogsrocknyc #AdoptDontShop."
"I'm incredibly honored to be part of this journey on which he's invited me, Don, Ivanka, Tiffany, Melania, my beautiful wife Lara, our entire family, to play such an integral part," he said in his RNC speech. "Dad, you have once again taught us by example, you are my hero, you are my best friend, you are the next president of the United States."
Lara made campaign stops speaking to women voters, traveling with Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson and "The Apprentice" alum Omarosa Manigault Newman in order to focus on "minority communities and people who might not traditionally think Donald Trump is their candidate," Lara told Star News Online.
"I wasn't going to have the time to adequately dedicate to this," Lara told the North Carolina newspaper Port City Daily in 2016 of her decision to take time off work. "When they're reporting on your family on the show you work for, it's a little challenging. We managed to keep everything pretty even-keeled for the duration of this whole thing, but certainly it's nice to not have to worry about that from day-to-day."
They were joined onstage by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.
The Trump campaign's digital vendor, Giles-Parscale, hired Lara as a liaison to the campaign.
Giles-Parscale president Brad Parscale told AP that Lara is an "incredibly talented person with the right experience for us."
In 2017, she also started producing and hostingΒ the weekly "Real News Update," which gave updates on the Trump presidency on Facebook.
"Eric's going to be an amazing dad," Lara told People magazine. "The nieces and nephews love hanging with him. He's the cool uncle. He's watched 'Frozen' many times."
Eric announced the news on X, formerly known as Twitter, along with a photo of the new baby.
".@LaraLeaTrump and I are excited to welcome Carolina Dorothy Trump into the world," Eric wrote on X. "We love you already!"
"Never in a million years did I think that I would be on this stage tonight, and I certainly never thought that I'd end up with the last name Trump," she said in her RNC speech.
She continued: "My seventh-grade English teacher, Mrs. Bee, used to tell us, 'Believe none of what you hear, half of what you read, and only what you're there to witness firsthand.' The meaning of those words never fully weighed on me until I met my husband and the Trump family. Any preconceived notion I had of this family disappeared immediately. They were warm and caring. They were hard workers and they were down to earth. They reminded me of my own family. They made me feel like I was home."
Donald Trump did not attend Biden's inauguration, breaking a long-standing norm in US democracy.
Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, have also purchased properties in Florida since Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago after the 2020 election.
Eric and Lara's five-bedroom, seven-bathroom Florida mansionΒ features two primary bedrooms, a safe room, and a backyard with a pool, kitchen, and a full cabana bath.
On a March 2021 episode of "Fox & Friends" announcing her new position, Lara said she's long felt like part of the Fox team because she's appeared on the network so frequently over the last several years.Β
"I'm so excited, first of all, to be joining the Fox family," she said. "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 over the past five years, I would come there so often that the security guards were like, 'Maybe we should just give you a key.'"Β
Eric accompanied Lara to the Fox News offices during their New York visit. He remains a frequent contributor to the network himself.
"Not only was this day the beginning of an amazing life together, two years later (and tens of thousands of hours worked and miles traveled on the campaign trail for both of us), November 8th, 2016 would come to represent one of the greatest political victories in US history," Eric captioned a carousel of photos on Instagram. "I am incredibly proud of the family we have created, the way we have both developed and all that we have accomplished and stood for in these incredible 7 years. Thank you for being an incredible Wife, Mother and Friend."
Lara paid tribute to Eric with an Instagram post of her own.
"Seven years, 2 kids, 2 Presidential campaigns, 1 additional dog, 2 broken wrists, 1 broken collarbone, 1 major move and we're just getting started..." she wrote. "Happy Anniversary to my partner in it all, @erictrump."
Ivanka Trump did not attend the campaign event, saying in a statement that she did not plan to be involved in politics moving forward. Tiffany Trump also skipped the launch.
Company policy does not allow those running for office or working for active political campaigns to be employed by Fox News. However, she can still make unpaid appearances on the network.
"We appreciate Lara's valuable contributions across FOX News Media programming," aΒ Fox News representative told Business Insider's Joshua Zitser in a statement.
In a statement, Donald Trump endorsed Lara's bid for RNC cochair, calling her "an extremely talented communicator" who is "dedicated to all that MAGA stands for." He also endorsed North Carolina GOP chair Michael Whatley.
Both Lara and Whatley were formally elected as cochairs of the RNC in February, cementing the former president's hold over the party.
"Truly humbled and honored to serve our party alongside @WhatleyNCGOP - now it's time to work, time to fight and time to win BIG LEAGUE this November!" Lara wrote on X.
Eric and Lara both delivered speeches at the Republican National Convention.
Eric addressed Donald Trump's legal battles, saying that his election victory would be the "greatest retribution" after being "persecuted."
Lara echoed Eric's sentiments in her speech, saying, "I have seen this man dragged through hell and back, in and out of courtrooms, indictments, impeachments, mugshots, and even an assassination attempt. And yet, he has never backed down."
Eric and Lara joined other Trump family members and associates at the campaign's election night watch party held at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Lara told the AP that after Donald Trump's election win, "what I intended to do has been done" at the RNC. Among the considerations for her next steps in politics is filling Sen. Marco Rubio's Senate seat, whom Donald Trump nominated for secretary of state.
"It is something I would seriously consider," Lara said of stepping in for Rubio in the Senate.
Rubio's replacement will be chosen by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.