Former US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would find it “very disloyal” if former Vice President Mike Pence or other members of his former Cabinet sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.
“Many of them have said they would never run if I run, so we’ll see if that turns out to be true,” Trump told Fox News personality Brian Kilmeade in an interview, as quoted by The Hill. “I think it would be very disloyal if they did, but that’s OK, too.”
Trump added that “the polls have me leading by 40, 50 points” and said he would decide on whether to pursue another presidential bid “in the not-too-distant future.”
In addition to Pence, several other high-profile Republicans such as former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley are also reportedly considering a bid for the White House.
Other potential candidates include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Trump’s comments come days after Pence hinted he may not be supporting Trump if he runs again for the White House in 2024.
Speaking during an event at Georgetown University, Pence was asked by a student if he would vote for Trump in 2024 and replied, "Well, there might be somebody else I prefer more.”
"All my focus has been on the midterm elections, and it’ll stay that way for the next 20 days. But after that, we’ll be thinking about the future," Pence added. "Ours and the nation's. And, I'll keep you posted."
Trump has not actually publicly confirmed to date that he is planning to run again for president in the 2024 election, but has hinted at such a run several times.
In one radio interview, Trump said that the only thing that could prevent him from running would be “a bad call from a doctor or something”.
Before that, in an interview with Fox News, Trump said that he has already made up his mind regarding a 2024 run, but couldn’t explicitly declare his intentions because of “campaign financing” issues.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, said last month that his father-in-law is “thinking about” running for President in 2024 and had asked Kushner about that possibility.
Kushner said he would "rather not go into" what Trump asked him, but added, "But basically, I know that he's obviously thinking about it. He hates seeing what's happening in the country."
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)