Donald Trump Wanted to Do ‘Apprentice’ in the White House: Report

Oval Office boardroom firings! Donald Trump reportedly once considered hosting The Apprentice at the White House if he won the 2012 presidency.

The intriguing tidbit was revealed in June by Vanity Fair contributing editor Sarah Ellison. In VF, Ellison recalled an alleged conversation that Trump, 70, had with NBCUniversal Chief Executive Steve Burke in 2011 when he was considering a run for president. “[Burke] was interested in green-lighting a new season of The Apprentice. Trump could pursue one option or the other, it seemed, but not both,” Ellison wrote. “During their conversation, Trump told Burke that he would reconsider his candidacy, but he wanted to hear it from him directly.”

Burke would later change his tune, according to her account. Ellison added: “[Burke] outlined, presumably fantastically, that Trump should run for president; and on the off chance that he won, he would continue to star in The Apprentice from within the White House.”

Trump would never get the chance to combine both worlds though. He eventually bowed out of the race in May 2011. In June 2015, in the middle of his current campaign for presidency, NBC fired him over controversial remarks he’d made about Mexican immigrants.

“At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values. Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump,” NBCUniversal told Us Weekly in a statement at the time.

Trump’s team later responded. “As of today, Donald J. Trump is no longer affiliated with NBC,” their statement read. “Mr. Trump stands by his statements on illegal immigration, which are accurate. NBC is weak, and like everybody else is trying to be politically correct — that is why our country is in serious trouble.”

Trump hosted The Apprentice from 2004 to 2015. Last year, he also was pulled from his duties with NBC‘s Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants.