Former President Donald Trump said Saturday night that it’s “too early” to tell if he would consider former Vice President Mike Pence to be his running mate if he runs for president in 2024.
Trump told Fox News in an interview at the North Carolina GOP Convention that while he and Pence have a “very good relationship,” it is too early to be discussing potential running mates.
Trump hasn’t publicly indicated whether he would definitively run for president, however he has committed to remaining active in politics and has hinted at another presidential run in 2024. Naturally the subject of selecting a running mate would come up.
“Mike and I have a good relationship, we continue to have a good—but it’s too early to be discussing running mates certainly,” the former president said.
“I was disappointed with Mike on one thing, as he understands and some other people understand, but overall I had a very good relationship with Mike, and he’s a very fine person and a fine man,” Trump told Fox News. The former president picked Mike Pence as his running mate in 2016 to solidify his conservative credentials as a candidate.
The former president was likely referring to Pence’s refusal to reject the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6. During the breach of the U.S. Capitol building, some chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” after the vice president said he did not have the power to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s election win.
“I was disappointed on one account, but that was a choice that Mike made, and I want people to make their own decisions, and he did,” Trump added.
Speaking with Fox Business last month, however, Trump said he would consider Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a running mate.
President Donald Trump listens as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis holds up a sign during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on April 28, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
“I endorsed Ron, and after I endorsed him, he took off like a rocketship,” he said. “He’s done a great job as governor. I’m saying what I read and what you read, they love that ticket. Certainly, Ron would be considered. He’s a great guy.”
Hinting again at a possible 2024 presidential run Saturday evening, Trump said that he’ll be making a design “sooner than people think.”
“I’ll make a decision in the not too distant future, maybe sooner than people think. And I think they’re going to be very happy,” Trump told Fox News.
Several Republicans, including two lawmakers, have predicted that Trump will indeed make another bid for the presidency in 2024.
When asked during a Fox News interview about Trump’s prospects on May 25, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said that “every time” he has spoken to Trump, the former commander-in-chief “says that he wants to run.”
“He plans to run, I think, but he hasn’t fully committed that yet. But I certainly hope he does, because no president has done more of what he said he would do than President Trump,” Jordan said. “Best president I think we’ve ever had. Keeping his word, doing what he said, doing what he was elected to do.”
Mark Meadows, a former Republican congressman and Trump’s former chief of staff, agreed with Jordan’s assessment.
“Here’s what I will say is, the American people want him to run. I believe he’ll run. And at the end of the day, it’s a time for choosing, and the American people will choose Donald Trump,” Meadows said on Fox News.
Jack Phillips contributed to this report.