India, July 7 -- US President Donald Trump suggested Monday that Senator Ted Cruz of Texas could become his next Supreme Court nominee should a vacancy arise, floating the idea not as a reward for the senator's legal credentials but as a punchline built around a bipartisan desire to see him leave the chamber altogether.

Speaking in the Oval Office during an event rolling out his administration's new child savings initiative known as "Trump Accounts," Trump turned to Cruz, who was seated in the room, and recalled their bruising rivalry during the 2016 Republican presidential primary before pivoting to a hypothetical nomination.

Cruz, he said, is the only potential nominee who could sail through confirmation with total unanimity, telling ...