() — Former President Donald Trump is anxiously pondering when, exactly, he should announce a 2024 presidential bid, a decision that has become even more pressing as he tries to regain control of his image following a series of revelations by the House select committee. Chamber investigating his role in the events of the January 6, 2021.
For the past week, Trump has told his associates that he is eager to launch another presidential campaign this month to capitalize on increasingly dismal numbers in the polls of the President Joe Biden and put potential Republican rivals on notice.
But her desire to fast-track a campaign announcement, abandoning earlier plans to wait until after the November midterms, grew even deeper after the former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinsonraised serious questions in a televised congressional hearing this week about the trump behavior during the final months of his term, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Some Trump allies have privately admitted that the House committee’s public hearings have proven more damaging than expected, as congressional investigators continue to air snippets of sworn testimony from current and former Trump advisers that undermine their false claims. about the 2020 election and raise new questions about its potential legal risk.
The hearings have also clearly affected Trump, who spent most of a 90-minute speech to evangelical conservatives last month complaining about them and this week has published more than a dozen posts on his Truth Social website aimed at to undermine Hutchinson’s credibility.
In recent days, some of Trump’s advisers have reached out to their closest allies to let them know that the former president is seriously considering a announcement earlier than expected. A Republican source familiar with those conversations was told that Trump planned to announce as early as the first week of July, while others in his orbit cautioned that he currently doesn’t have the infrastructure for a major campaign ad and “doesn’t want this to be a failure,” as one person close to Trump described it.
Another source said Trump was unlikely to make an announcement without alerting the press to ensure maximum coverage.
At one point, Trump staffers had discussed a possible early July event in Michigan, a key state in the midterms and beyond, that sparked internal speculation as a possible location for his campaign ad, but the event was scrapped before any serious planning.
Multiple sources, who were granted anonymity to speak candidly about close discussions, compared the environment surrounding Trump’s 2024 decision to his first presidential campaign in 2016: chaotic and disorganized with little understanding of who besides Trump himself. , is in charge.
“Every day is different. We are told that it will be announced imminently, and by afternoon that has changed,” a knowledgeable source commented.
A person close to Trump who previously said the former president would wait until after Labor Day to impact the 2024 Republican primary changed his tune earlier this week, saying a September announcement is now “up in the air” and that if Trump announces it early, “it will be July.”
“He’s sounding a lot more engaged lately,” another person close to Trump added.
Before moving to Mar-a-Lago earlier this summer for his Bedminster, New Jersey, club, Trump insisted to those around him that he would announce it before the November midterm elections. He then changed course just a few weeks later, telling his allies he didn’t want to interfere with the midterms and thought he could gain more momentum by waiting to announce after the election, assuming Republicans regain the House majority, since they are favorites to do it.
Three sources described Trump as anxious and reactive whenever talk of a future race comes up.
He vacillates between concerns about the investigations he faces and a desire to “fight fire with fire,” as one source put it, knowing that as soon as he launches a new bid for the White House, he’ll likely get whatever airtime he thinks he will. you need to be your own best advocate. Although the former president has granted dozens of interviews since he left office, most have been with authors of unpublished books or right-wing media outlets with limited reach.
The absence of Trump-aligned Republicans on the investigative panel of the House of Representatives about what happened on January 6 has only exacerbated his desire to redirect attention to himself, possibly by launching a presidential campaign. Without any representation on the commission, Trump allies have been unable to question witnesses in real time or preemptively respond to witness testimony.
That dilemma was on full display this week when Hutchinson, a 26-year-old former aide to Trump White House General Secretary Mark Meadows, provided a detailed testimony exhibiting the warnings Trump and his top advisers received prior to January 6 and their response, or lack of it, on that day. The hearing was announced just 24 hours in advance, while Hutchinson’s identity as a live witness was leaked at the last minute.
“He knows that if he announces [una candidatura a la presidencia] will be back center stage,” giving her a chance to rival audiences, a source told .
But others say Trump’s primary motivation for declaring his candidacy so early is because the other potential Republican presidential hopefuls are vying for a race. Top Republicans like Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Rick Scott of Florida, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence have recently made stops in early voting states and are laying the groundwork. bases for your own potential campaigns.
One source said Trump “wants to clear the field and challenge other people to compete against him.”
There is perhaps no potential rival to which the sentiment applies more at the moment than the Governor Ron DeSantiswhom Trump has obsessed over amid the Florida Republican’s emergence as a hero of cultural conservatism and, according to some of Trump’s own aides, a more likable version of the former president himself.
Through his Save America leadership PAC, the former president has recently released examples that purportedly demonstrate his strong position within a potential Republican field by 2024.
Trump’s next appearance on the campaign trail is scheduled for July 9, when he will host a rally for Republican Alaska Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka. While sources close to the former president don’t expect that to be the vehicle for a campaign launch, they haven’t ruled out a spontaneous post on his Truth Social site that could kick-start the 2024 Republican primary.
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