Jon Huntsman announces that he is ending his run for the Republican presidential nomination during a press conference at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center on January 16, 2012. (Getty)
Jon Huntsman has been offered the role of U.S. ambassador to Russia, Politico reported on Wednesday.
Huntsman is the former governor of Utah and a former Republican presidential candidate. He has disagreed publicly with Donald Trump a number of times, even in October 2016 calling on Trump to drop out of the race.
Huntsman has seven children with his wife Mary. Here’s what you need to know about them.
1. His Daughter Abby is a Fox News Reporter
Abby Huntsman Livingston speaks at Women In Politics Panel With Chelsea Clinton hosted by Glamour magazine at 92nd Street Y on March 28, 2012 in New York City. (Getty)
Jon Huntsman’s 30-year-old daughter Abby is a reporter for Fox News.
Abby first started appearing on television during the 2012 election cycle, when she would speak on behalf of her father on news programs. In 2013, she became a co-host of The Cycle on MSNBC, and in 2015, she joined Fox News as a general assignment reporter.
Abby is married to Jeffrey Bruce Livingston, who was her high school sweetheart.
In December 2016, Abby apologized on air after erroneously reporting that $70 million of taxpayer money was wasted on food stamp fraud in 2016. The Agriculture Department immediately contradicted that data.
“We reported that back in 2016, $70 million were wasted on food stamp fraud. That was actually incorrect,” Huntsman said, according to Mediaite. “The latest information from 2009 to 2011 shows the fraud at 1.3%, which is approximately $853 million for each of those three years, and nationally food-stamp trafficking is on the decline. So sorry about that mistake.”
2. Mary Anne is a Concert Pianist
Jon Huntsman with his daughter Mary Anne during a news briefing at his residence in Beijing on August 22, 2009. (Getty)
Jon Huntsman’s daughter Mary Anne Huntsman is a concert pianist who has played at Carnegie Hall. She told US News that her parents took her to see a symphony concert when she was very young, and she decided then that she wanted to be a musician.
In October 2015, Mary Anne married Evan Morgan, the son of CNN reporter Gloria Borger. Morgan is also a partner at a Washington investment firm, according to The Washington Post.
During the 2012 election cycle, Huntsman siblings Abby Huntsman, Mary Anne Huntsman, and Liddy Huntsman made up Jon2012Girls, and they released a popular YouTube video parodying an election ad by their father’s Republican rival, Herman Cain.
3. Liddy Huntsman is a Comedian & Runs a Food Blog
Liddy Huntsman attends “All Eyes And Ears” Premiere during the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival at Chelsea Bow Tie Cinemas on April 23, 2015 in New York City.(Getty)
The youngest of the Huntsman daughters is Liddy Huntsman, who on Twitter describes herself as a “Self proclaimed failed comedian who sometimes engages in the occasional political banter.”
Liddy Huntsman in 2014 married Eduardo Hernandez while pregnant with her first child, according to The Hill. She runs a food blog called The Hungry Gringa.
In 2011, Liddy told The New Yorker that her dream career would be writing for Saturday Night Live. She also revealed that she had to deactivate her Twitter account during the 2012 election cycle because it “did not have campaign-appropriate stuff up.”
Liddy’s Twitter account has since been reactivated, and she often chimes in about political issues on it. Recently, Liddy criticized Jason Chaffetz for his statement that Americans may have to choose between buying health insurance and buying an iPhone. She also criticized President Donald Trump for his travel ban.
No iPhones 📱 = healthcare. Uh ok. Talk about being out of touch with Americans struggling with insurance and chronic illness. #chaffetz
America’s freedom is worthless if we deny it to those who seek it. #MuslimBan
Liddy is Type 1 diabetic. When her mother, Mary Kaye Huntsman, was the first lady of Utah, she started the Bag of Hope program, which is aimed at helping children and families cope with diabetes.
4. William Huntsman & Jon Huntsman III Are Both Naval Academy Graduates
Jon Huntsman celebrates during a primary night rally at the Black Brimmer restaurant on January 10, 2012 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Getty)
Jon Huntsman’s son William Huntsman graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2016.
According to Navy Sports, William majored in political science, and according to The American Presidency Project, he played football and studied Chinese while at the Naval Academy. He also plays guitar.
Jon Huntsman III is also a graduate of the Naval Academy. According to the Washingtonian Bride and Groom, he was married in 2016 to Morgan McKenna, who he met through friends of friends in Utah.
5. He Adopted Gracie Mei Huntsman From China & Asha Bharati From India
Jon Huntsman walks with his daughter, Gracie Mei Huntsman, and wife Mary Kaye Huntsman before holding a press conference at Scotty’s Landing restaurant on August 10, 2011 in Miami, Florida. (Getty)
Jon Huntsman adopted his daughter Gracie Mei Huntsman from China; Jon served as the U.S. ambassador to China from 2009 through 2011.
According to Deseret News Utah, Gracie Mei was abandoned on the doorstep of a vegetable market in a poor neighborhood in China. She ended up at an orphanage and was adopted by the Huntsman family in December 1999.
“She is our greatest Christmas present ever,” Mary Kaye Huntsman told Deseret News Utah.
Gracie Mei was featured in the 2015 documentary All Eyes and Ears, which examines U.S. relations with China.
“My daughter is a more important ambassador than me,” Huntsman said at the film’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The youngest Huntsman child is Asha Bharati Huntsman, who was adopted from India in 2009.