Former President Donald Trump does not plan to change the date of a Nov. 15 announcement despite the results of the midterm elections, sources close to Trump said.
The sources said chatter that the Republican Party’s performance was tied specifically to Trump is cheap and that his political advisers believe the media is trying to raise the profile of re-elected Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“It was a big night for President Trump’s endorsed candidates. Out of the races that have been called, President Trump has racked up over 215 wins for his endorsements – a truly unprecedented accomplishment and something only possible because of President Trump’s ability to pick and elect winners,” a spokesperson for Trump told Fox News.
The spokesperson also said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., “abandoned winnable races in New Hampshire and Arizona.”
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Sources close to the former president said Trump spoke multiple times with JD Vance, who bested Democratic opponent Tim Ryan in Ohio’s Senate race, and that he continues to watch the results in Arizona and Georgia, which the Fox News Decision Desk has said are too close to call as of Wednesday morning.
In a Monday night interview with Fox News Digital and four other reporters onboard his private jet, Trump said if he formally announces a 2024 White House bid and is re-elected, he would return to the nation’s capital with experience and a new perspective.
Goal No. 1 would be to “seal up the border and stop crime.”
Trump is also calling for GOP leadership change in Congress, specifically pointing at McConnell.
“McConnell has been very bad for our nation,” Trump said. “He has been very bad for the Republican Party. I would be in favor of somebody else – McConnell has done a very bad job.”
He also warned potential Republican presidential candidates, like DeSantis, against opposing him for re-election.
If he does run, Trump said he would tell the media things about the governor that “won’t be very flattering.”
“I don’t know if he is running. I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly. I really believe he could hurt himself badly,” Trump said. “I think he would be making a mistake, I think the base would not like it – I don’t think it would be good for the party.”
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.