Former President Donald Trump is turning up the volume when it comes to his repeated teasing of a likely 2024 White House bid.
Sources in the former president’s political orbit tell Fox News that a potential announcement could possibly occur during the week starting on Monday, Nov. 14 — after the midterm elections. But the sources caution that things are “fluid.”
Fox News reported on Thursday afternoon that Trump was elevating his language, further signaling his intentions to announce a run for president in 2024, as advisers and allies said they believe it is not a question of “if” he announces, but “when.”
Hours later, the former president amped up his 2024 language during a rally for Sen. Chuck Grassley and Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa, the state whose caucuses for half a century have kicked off the presidential nominating calendar.
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“I will very, very, very probably do it again, OK? Very, very, very probably,” Trump said at the rally in Sioux City, in the heavily red northwestern corner of Iowa. “Get ready. That’s all I’m telling you. Very soon. Get ready. Get ready.”
Axios on Friday reported that Trump and his political team are eyeing Nov. 14 as a possible launch date for a potential 2024 presidential campaign, which would be followed by a string of political events.
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A source in Trump’s political orbit waved Fox News off the actual date of Nov. 14 but added “that week is being looked at, but it’s all fluid.”
Asked about the Axios report, Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich told Fox News that he’s not commenting “on the never-ending media speculation and rumors.”
Budowich added that “as President Trump has said, Americans should go vote up and down the ballot for Republicans, and he will continue that message tomorrow night in Pennsylvania.”
November 14 is the same day the Democrat-dominated House Select Committee, which is investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists aiming to upend congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election, has asked Trump to testify in compliance with its subpoena.
Fox News on Wednesday confirmed that at the staff level in Trump’s political world, discussions are underway about possible venues and dates for a potential formal announcement from the former president. The news was first reported by The Associated Press.
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Kellyanne Conway, who served as the former president’s campaign manager during the 2016 general election and later as a top adviser in the Trump White House, told reporters at a roundtable on Thursday at the Christian Science Monitor that she expects the former president to announce “soon.”
“Obviously, there’s a family wedding coming up on his property, and Election Day is late this year. But as he would say, wait and see,” Conway said.
The “family wedding” Conway referred to will be that of Trump’s daughter, Tiffany Trump, who is scheduled to get married at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Nov. 12.
Trump has been constantly flirting with making another presidential run since leaving the White House in January 2021. At rallies across the nation in support of his endorsed GOP candidates in recent months, Trump has discussed the potential for a 2024 run and has repeatedly said, “I may have to do it again.” The former president has also repeatedly made unproven claims that his 2020 election loss to now-President Biden was due to “massive voter fraud.”
Nearly two years after his re-election defeat, Trump remains hands-down the most popular and influential politician in the Republican Party, and the most ferocious fundraiser who holds sway over grassroots donors. And poll after poll indicates that Trump would start out as the overwhelming front-runner for the GOP nomination.
However, Trump’s repeated 2024 teasing hasn’t kept other potential Republican White House hopefuls from making moves toward launching presidential campaigns.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas, and Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland are among the possible White House hopefuls who have made multiple trips to Iowa and the other early-voting primary and caucus states over the past year and a half.
Many of these possible candidates have said their decisions to run for the White House won’t be based on what Trump decides.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report