Reports emerged last week that Jeffrey Loria had a "handshake agreement" to sell the Miami Marlins to the father of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Wednesday brought a tweak to that news, with another report raising questions about the appearance of a possible quid pro quo involving the administration.

The New York Post reported that Trump’s chief of staff, Reince Priebus, was able to get the president to "sign off" on making Loria his ambassador to France. Priebus is also pushing other "GOP loyalists" for similarly coveted positions, according to the newspaper, which has sparked a "fight between the White House and State Department."

At the same time, other reports indicated that Loria still wants to complete what he hopes will be a $1.6 billion sale of his team to a group led by a member of the Kushner family, but with Joshua Kushner, Jared’s younger brother, named as the key figure. In addition to being the brother-in-law of Ivanka Trump, Kushner, 31, is the founder of a private equity and venture capital firm, but there are questions about whether he and his partner in the Marlins venture, Joseph Meyer, can raise the necessary funding to purchase the team.

The Miami Herald reported that a source said Kushner is "devising a complicated financial arrangement that would include bringing in partners later." Meyer, 37, married a sister of the Kushner brothers, and he took over as publisher of the New York Observer when Jared stepped down to take a position as a senior adviser to Trump.

Fans hopeful about potential sale as Marlins president David Samson stays mum Tim Healey

Even if the Miami Marlins are for sale, the Marlins don’t want to talk about it.

Club president David Samson made that clear Saturday afternoon at Marlins Park, speaking to the media for the first time since reports surfaced that owner Jeffrey Loria has a tentative agreement to sell the team for…

Even if the Miami Marlins are for sale, the Marlins don’t want to talk about it.

Club president David Samson made that clear Saturday afternoon at Marlins Park, speaking to the media for the first time since reports surfaced that owner Jeffrey Loria has a tentative agreement to sell the team for…

(Tim Healey)

According to the New York Post, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is unhappy that Priebus has circumvented him and pushed certain influential figures directly to Trump for his approval to ambassadorships. Loria donated $125,000 to Trump’s campaign in September.

Tillerson reportedly expected to be given two names by the Trump transition team for each ambassadorship and to be able to interview them himself before making the decision on who would get the positions. A State Department official told the New York Post that some of the "people Reince has put up are problematic," and that "what Reince is doing has to be squared with process and reality."

Joshua Kushner may buy Miami Marlins: AP source Steven Wine

The Kushner family, which already has close ties to the White House, may soon move into Major League Baseball.

Joshua Kushner, whose older brother is an adviser to President Trump, has a preliminary agreement to buy the Miami Marlins for about $1.6 billion, a person with direct knowledge of the…

The Kushner family, which already has close ties to the White House, may soon move into Major League Baseball.

Joshua Kushner, whose older brother is an adviser to President Trump, has a preliminary agreement to buy the Miami Marlins for about $1.6 billion, a person with direct knowledge of the…

(Steven Wine)

The 76-year-old Loria is a widely despised figure in South Florida for keeping the Marlins’ annual payroll among the lowest in MLB, often by purging the team of talented players on the verge of paydays, while getting hundreds of millions in public funding for a new stadium. He went from being a New York art dealer to the owner of the Montreal Expos in the early 2000s, then sold that team, which became the Washington Nationals, in a multiparty transaction that eventually landed him the Marlins in 2003 for $158.5 million.

The Herald reported Wednesday that Loria is not currently negotiating with anyone other than Kushner and Meyer, but the newspaper noted that an unidentified "former owner of another big league team would be interested in buying the Marlins if the Kushner deal falls apart."

If he gets the ambassadorship to France, Loria would become the second major sports team owner to be tabbed for such a position in the Trump administration, following Jets owner Woody Johnson, who the president announced last month would be his ambassador to the United Kingdom. However, the New York Daily News reported Wednesday that Johnson’s appointment may also be getting held up in the Tillerson-Priebus dispute.

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