One of former President Donald Trump’s advisers said the 45th president will “of course” announce that he is running for president next week despite calls from some Republicans to hold off.
Miller, who heads the social media website Gettr, said he spoke with the former president on Friday. Trump told him that “there doesn’t need to be any question” about his plans, he said.
“Of course I’m running. I’m going to do this, and I want to make sure people know that I’m fired up and we’ve got to get the country back on track,” the 45th president said, according to Miller.
A day before the 2022 midterms, Trump told a rally in Ohio that he will make a significant announcement at his Mar-a-Lago residence next week. After leaving office, Trump has often suggested he'd run again.
Miller’s statement to Bannon, meanwhile, is the most explicit one yet about a possible 2024 White House bid. Trump has not issued a public comment on Miller’s confirmation.
Some Republicans have urged Trump to delay his event due to the pending Georgia Senate runoff election. GOP candidate Herschel Walker, who is backed by Trump, is slated to face off against Sen. Raphael Warnock (R-Ga.) after neither candidate obtained more than 50 percent of the vote.
In several interviews, Miller suggested that Trump should delay the announcement and instead focus on Walker’s campaign.
“Priorities A, B, and C need to be about Herschel [Walker] right now,” Miller told Newsmax earlier this week. “This is bigger than anything else in the country. We’ve got to show the focus is on Georgia.”
Whether or not the Republican Party has control of the Senate could hinge upon the race in Georgia. Currently, vote-counting is still going on in Nevada and Arizona.
This week, Trump has increasingly criticized Republicans who some have suggested could run for president in 2024, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Notably, DeSantis handily defeated his opponent by nearly 20 points on Tuesday night.
“Young Kin (now that’s an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?) in Virginia couldn’t have won without me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I Endorsed him, did a very big Trump Rally for him telephonically, got MAGA to Vote for him—or he couldn’t have come close to winning.”
