Donald Trump has dramatically revealed he already knows who he will choose as his running mate if he is the Republican 2024 presidential nominee.
But the GOP frontrunner isn’t telling anyone else about his thinking yet, and it wasn’t clear if he has informed the person he wants to be his future vice president.
Asked who it would be during a Fox News town hall in Des Moines, Iowa on Wednesday night, the former president said: ‘I can’t tell you that really, I mean, I know who it’s going to be.’
He refused to name the person when host Martha MacCallum pushed him on their identity.
Donald Trump has revealed he knows who he will choose as his running mate
Trump at the town hall
‘What about any of the people who you’ve run against?’ MacCallum asked. ‘Would you be open to mending fences with any of them?’
‘Oh, sure. I will, I will,’ Trump responded.
He then joked that he could pick Chris Christie, who has been his most vocal critic among the other Republican candidates.
‘I’ve already started to like Christie better,’ Trump said.
‘Christie for vice president?’ MacCallum joked.
‘I don’t see it, I don’t see it,’ Trump said. ‘That would be an upset. Christie for vice president. Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to announce …nah.’
He had earlier joked about starting to like Christie again after a hot mic moment where he predicted Nikki Haley would get ‘smoked’ moments before he took the stage to suspend his own presidential campaign.
Christie was one of Trump’s top finalists for his running mate in 2016, but he chose Mike Pence instead.
This time the favorites include South Dakota governor Kristi Noem, who is appearing as a Trump surrogate in Iowa, and Senator Tim Scott, whose own presidential bid flamed out.
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor, who is running against Trump for the presidential nomination, has not ruled out being his running mate, even while saying his return to the White House would bring ‘chaos.’
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem is a potential running mate
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s name is also in the frame
However, some of Trump’s most prominent supporters have declared themselves against the idea of a Trump-Haley ticket.
Trump campaign advisor Chris LaCivita told reporters after Trump’s appearance that, ‘All I know is what I heard tonight and I’m not going to categorize it any other way than that.’
‘The president knows what qualities he’s looking for in a ice president, and as far as any specific names, we’re going to leave that to him,’ added senior advisor Jason Miller. Asked whether Trump had told his team he had made a decision in his mind, Miller said Trump ‘has shared with us that he knows the type of qualities’ in a VP.
Other names in the frame have included congresswomen Elise Stefanik and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Ohio senator J.D. Vance. Stefanik parroted Trump’s rhetoric of referring to January 6 defendants as ‘hostages,’ signaling her distance from former Trump Vice President Mike Pence, who was the subject of execution threats that day.
Trump also told the town hall he was not worried that Christie’s exit from the presidential race on Wednesday might boost Haley’s candidacy.
“I’m not exactly worried about it,” Trump said. “I love the people. They love me, I think.’
Christie’s base of support was greatly concentrated in New Hampshire, the northeastern U.S. state that holds the second Republican nominating contest on January 23, after Iowa on Monday.
Nikki Haley has not ruled out being the running mate
Chris Christie will not be Trump’s running matye
Trump noted that Christie was overheard on Wednesday predicting that former U.N. Ambassador Haley was “gonna get smoked” in the race and was “not up to” the job of the presidency.
The former president said he agreed with Christie on that.
Trump retains a commanding lead in the contest to be the Republican Party’s nominee against President Joe Biden in the November 5 general election, according to a nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday.
The poll put him at 49 percent, ahead of Haley at 12 percent and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 11 percent.
The town hall took place at the same time DeSantis and Haley came out swinging during a head-to-head debate.
Both are seeking to emerge as the clear alternative to Trump just days before the campaign’s first votes are cast in Iowa.