Two of President Trump’s most virulent critics were married Saturday in a celebrity-studded affair in Miami.
Ana Navarro, 47, a Republican campaign strategist and political commentator on CNN, and Al Cardenas, 71, a leading Republican lobbyist, tied the knot at the Indian Creek Country Club, a lavish setting on a private island off the coast of Miami Beach.
The couple are allies of Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida who lost to Trump in the 2016 presidential primaries, and also have close ties to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., another Trump rival in 2016.
Navarro previously lived with Gene Prescott, 75, a top Democratic fundraiser and owner of the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. Cardenas is divorced with four children.
Guests at the ceremony included Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon, both CNN colleagues of Navarro, singer Gloria Estefan and actress Eva Longoria, and Sens. Mitt Romney, R-Utah; and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
Romney was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and an on-off critic of Trump. Menendez was re-elected to a third term in November shortly after a federal judge declared a mistrial in Menendez’s corruption trial when jurors deadlocked for a second time.
Navarro tweeted before the ceremony about her special day, saying she was taking a break from her usual political punditry. “We’re getting married today! I’m in no-politics zone. If something big happens, pls send messenger pigeon,” she said.
I echo everything that my sweetheart says & feels. 2 hrs and counting……..@ananavarro
At Last… https://t.co/H28eI7ZWPI— Al Cardenas (@AlCardenasFL_DC) March 2, 2019
Navarro served on Bush’s inaugural transition team when he was elected Florida governor in 1998. She also served as the national co-chairwoman of John McCain’s Hispanic Advisory Council. Navarro announced her engagement to Cardenas late last year on “The View.” The pair have been long-time political allies, both playing a major role in South Florida politics and electing Republicans across the state.
The Nicaraguan-born CNN political commentator has long been a fierce and outspoken critic of Trump. She once said, “I can very much look into the camera and say, ‘I believe Donald Trump is a racist.'”
Cardenas, a former chairman of the American Conservative Union, served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida under Jeb Bush’s tenure as governor. Now a partner at Squire Patton Boggs, he was heavily involved in Bush’s fundraising apparatus during the 2016 presidential primary.
During the midterm election, Cardenas tweeted about Trump in response to a highly controversial television ad about immigration, saying Trump was “the worse social poison to afflict our country in decades.”
