Former US President Donald Trump on Sunday further fueled speculation over who would be his 2024 running mate, dropping the names of Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem when asked about whom he is favoring, The Hill reported.
Trump was asked in an interview with Fox News when he will announce his pick for vice president, to which he said, “Not for a while. We have so many great people in the Republican Party, but not for a while.”
The interviewer, Maria Bartiromo, further pressed the former president on how he is picking his running mate.
“Always it’s got to be one thing,” Trump said. “It’s got to be who would [be] able to be a good president. I mean, you always have to think that because you know, a civil emergency … things happen right? No matter who you are, things happen. It’s got to be number one. Who’s your enemy.”
He stated that there are “a lot of good people,” to which Bartiromo asked if Trump has not decided who it is.
“I haven’t, and there’s no reason,” Trump responded, adding he speaks to “everybody” and revealed he recently called Scott, who suspended his White House bid last year and threw his full support behind Trump.
“I called him and I said, ‘You are [a] much better candidate … for me, than you were for yourself,'” he said. “When I watched Tim, he was fine, he was good, but he was very low-key. I watched him in the last week, defending me, and sticking up for me and fighting for me.”
Trump later said Noem has “been incredible fighting” for him, pointing to her comments where she said she would never run against him “because [she] can’t beat him.”
In July, Trump said he would consider some of his 2024 GOP primary rivals as potential running mates or Cabinet members if he wins back the White House.
Asked at the time if his running mate could be among those in the 2024 field, Trump replied, “Possibly.”
However, last month, both Trump and his main rival, Nikki Haley, dismissed the idea that she could be his vice president.
“She’s not tough enough. She’s not smart enough. And she wasn’t respected enough. She cannot do this job. She’s not going to be able to deal with President Xi. She’s not going to be able to deal with Putin,” Trump said of Haley.
Haley, for her part, said, “I don’t want to be vice president.” She further claimed that the question of who Trump would pick was trivial, as she expected to emerge victorious in the primaries.
Trump also floated the name of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), a staunch Trump ally, as a potential running mate.