Trump considering announcing 2024 bid in fall ahead of midterms, source says
Former President Donald Trump is considering launching his 2024 presidential campaign this fall, a source close to the president confirmed to CBS News.
The former president told New York magazine in a post published Thursday that he's "already made that decision." What he hasn't settled on is the timing. "I would say my big decision will be whether I go before or after," he said, in reference to the midterm elections in November.
President Joe Biden is currently facing low approval ratings amid record-high inflation and disillusionment among Democrats after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. But a national poll released this week from The New York Times and Siena College found that Trump currently trails Mr. Biden in a head-to-head matchup.
The same poll found that a majority of Republicans do not want Trump to run again, although 49% supported him over five potential 2024 candidates. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the biggest threats to a Trump candidacy, recently held a meeting in Fort Lauderdale connecting major donors with GOP governors and gubernatorial candidates, sources confirmed to CBS News.
On Truth Social, Trump hit back at The New York Times after the poll was published, calling them the "failing New York Times" and "truly the enemy of the people."
The possible fall launch was first reported by The Washington Post.
Trump plans to return to Washington, D.C. on July 26 – his first trip back to the nation's capital since he left office on Jan. 21, 2021. The former president will headline a speech to the America First Policy Institute, the institute said in a release Thursday.
Trump has been holding a number of rallies as the primary season heats up this summer, including one coming up this Saturday in Arizona.
Talk of Trump's possible 2024 announcement comes as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has been holding public hearings to reveal what it has learned so far about the riot and the role of Trump and his inner circle. The committee has unveiled new details about the pressure campaigns by Trump and his allies to overturn the election results on former Vice President Mike Pence, the Justice Department, state lawmakers and even local elections officials. The panel's prime time hearing next Thursday will delve into what Trump was doing during the height of the assault on the Capitol, between 2 p.m. and just after 4 p.m. Committee vice chair Liz Cheney said the hearing would provide a "minute-by-minute" account of what transpired that day.
The committee has also focused on a plot by Trump's allies to put forward alternate electors in seven battleground states Mr. Biden won. Committee chair Rep. Bennie Thompson said Wednesday that the committee is having conversations with the Justice Department related to the phony elector scheme.
On the social media platform Truth Social, Trump has repeatedly tried to cast doubt on the Jan. 6 committee hearings. Last week, he referred to the committee members as "Political Hacks and Thugs."