NEW YORK (AP) — The Republican vice presidential nominee’s plane is currently parked in an undisclosed hangar, an empty spot on its fuselage where a sticker bearing his name will soon be placed.
Fundraisers have been planned.
Only one announcement remains from the former president Donald Trump revealing his choice.
Senior advisers and longtime allies insist they still don’t know who the presumptive GOP nominee will choose to join him on the ticket — with many believing the choice is still being determined.
The move comes at an unprecedented time of upheaval in the presidential race. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party continues to struggling with his disappointing performance in the debate and growing calls for the 81-year-old president to step down in favor of a younger candidate.
The Democrats’ crisis gave Trump a boost little incentive to change the subject with a vice presidential announcement that would be sure to attract a wave of attention and focus.
But Trump will have plenty of opportunities this week to ramp up speculation about a process his team has kept extraordinarily secret.
“It could happen any time this week,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said during an appearance on Fox News.
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Trump has two rallies scheduled. The first is scheduled for Tuesday night at his golf club in Doral, Fla., near Miami. The timing and location of the prime-time rally seem like an ideal opportunity to unveil his choice if it is Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Miami native and one of his top contenders.
Rubio will be at the event, according to an adviser familiar with the senator’s plans, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity about the selection process.
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, right, points at Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally, March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean, File)
On Saturday, Trump will travel to Pennsylvania, a key state for an afternoon rally at the Butler Farm Show. The venue, near Pittsburgh, is not far from the Ohio border, where Sen. J.D. Vance, another potential candidate, lives.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has grown close to the former president since dropping his own bid for the nomination before voting began, is also reportedly on Trump’s short list.
Trump doesn’t need a rally to reveal his choice. He could simply announce the news on his Truth Social platform any time between now and the Republican National Convention, which begins in Milwaukee on July 15. Or he could wait until the convention opens to make a big reveal onstage, harking back to his days as a reality TV host of “The Apprentice.”
Trump has repeatedly said he plans to reveal his choice just before or during the convention. But he has remained tight-lipped about his choice.
Late last month, before the debate, Trump told NBC News during a campaign stop in Philadelphia that he had already made a decision.
“In my mind, yes,” he said.
But less than a week later, he told a local Virginia television station that his decision was still pending.
“I have people in mind. I have so many good people. We have a very strong bench,” he said. “But we will make a decision before or at the beginning of the convention.”
Favorites say they don’t know yet
“As President Trump himself has said, the primary criterion for choosing a vice president is a strong leader who would make a great president,” Trump adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement he has released several times. “But anyone who tells you they know who or when President Trump will choose his vice president is lying, unless that person’s name is Donald J. Trump.”
This includes favorites for the position.
Sen. Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, speaks June 14, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Rubio said he remained in the dark.
“Look, I haven’t heard anything, I don’t know anything, and you probably know more about this than I do,” he said. “Donald Trump has to make a decision. He’ll make it when he has to. He’ll make a good decision. I know for a fact that I’ll be there for the next three or four months, working for his campaign in some capacity.”
He also dismissed questions about whether he discussed change residence from Florida if he is chosen as “presumptuous.” The Constitution prohibits the president and vice president from being from the same state.
“We will address these issues as they arise,” he said. “But we are not there yet. But we will get there soon, one way or another.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Vance also said he had received no news one way or the other: “I haven’t gotten a call.”
“But most importantly,” he continued, “we’re just trying to get Donald Trump elected. Whoever his vice president is — he’s got a lot of good people to choose from — these are the policies that have worked and the leadership style that has worked for the American people. I think we need to bring that back to the White House, and I’m fighting to try to do that.”
Top ally continues to push for Tim Scott
On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Trump ally, continued to lobby for fellow South Carolinian Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate.
“I don’t think he’s decided,” he said, again making the case for Scott, who he said would be a particularly smart choice if Biden were to be replaced at the top of the ticket by Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to hold the office.
If Harris is elected, Graham said, “it will be a radically different race than it is today. I hope people think about that from our side.”
Biden insisted he would not give up and said only: ” the Lord Almighty ” might change his mind.
Graham praised Trump’s other picks. He called Burgum “rock solid” and said Vance “could be a good wingman,” but questioned whether the Republican, once a vocal critic of Trump but now one of his fiercest defenders in the Senate, could bring in new states.
Rubio, he said, faces the question of his residency, but he called him a “very articulate conservative” who could help Trump “tremendously.” Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also speaks Spanish.
“If I were President Trump, I would make sure I picked someone who could add value in 2024. Expand the map,” Graham said.
___ Associated Press journalists Steve Peoples and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
News Source : apnews.com
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