Donald Trump announces his 2024 presidential campaign as GOP debates future: recap
Former president Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will seek the presidency again in 2024, even as a rising number of Republicans are urging the party to look elsewhere in light of their 2022 midterm debacle.
“I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said during an announcement speech at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla.
Minutes before his scheduled 9 p.m. announcement from Mar-a-Lago, Trump filed a paperwork with the Federal Election Commission saying he was running for president in 2024, and setting up a fundraising account.
“America’s comeback starts right now,” Trump said during his speech at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Fla.
Trump had hoped to use a ceremony at his Mar-a-Lago home to seize credit for Republican election victories; but the GOP’s failure to take the Senate and struggles in House races scotched that plan and forced Trump onto the political defensive.
GOP’s poor showing in the 2022 midterm elections and noted that the party as led by the businessman also fared badly in the elections of 2018 and 2020.
“Trump’s cost us the last three elections, and I don’t want to see it happen a fourth time,” Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan told CNN, an example of some of the most pointed criticism from Republicans since Trump’s first run for the presidency in 2015-16.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who defied anti-Republican trends by winning reelection with more than 59% of the vote. DeSantis is so popular that Trump has already started attacking him.
In last week’s midterm elections, Republicans failed to win control of the Senate – even though they only needed a net gain of one seat – and struggled in a number of U.S. House and state office races. The GOP is still on track to win control of the House, but probably by less than a half-dozen seats – a crushing disappointment for party leaders who had envisioned a “red wave” and blamed Trump for a bare trickle.
“Trump Is the Republican Party’s Biggest Loser,” said a headline in the normally supportive Wall Street Journal editorial page.
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The only thing that’s certain is a second Trump presidency would be limited to one term. That much has already been decided by the U.S. Constitution.
The 22nd Amendment states it pretty clearly: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”
— Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
Read the whole story here:A second Trump administration would be limited to one term, says U.S. Constitution
Trump proposes changes to election process
Trump announced that he would like to make changes to how elections are run, such as requiring all votes to take place on paper ballots and to have all votes counted on election night.
Presidential elections are currently decentralized and administered at the state level.
— Erin Mansfield
Far-right politicians line up to support Trump
Politicians affiliated with the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus and its campaign arm have begun to announce their support for four more years of President Donald Trump.
“THIS IS HISTORIC,” tweeted Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, Trump’s former White House physician who was tapped to run the Department of Veterans Affairs but later withdrew.
“We will Make America Great Again!” tweeted Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia.
“I will do everything I can to deliver Ohio for President Trump once again,” tweeted Max Miller, a Republican Congressman-elect from Ohio.
— Erin Mansfield
in the midterm elections.
“And if you step up now,” the email said, “our party will defeat MAGA Republicans again in 2024.”
– David Jackson
the panoply of investigations still smoldering from his previous stint in the White House.
Would President Joe Biden’s administration take the historic step of prosecuting a political rival? How might a high-profile criminal or civil case proceeding against Trump during a presidential campaign be viewed by voters? What are the implications for the Department of Justice if prosecutors charged Trump but failed to win a conviction?
What’s clear: In the eyes of the law, Trump will remain a private citizen during his campaign – unable to rely on protections from prosecution he enjoyed as president.
— John Fritze and Kevin Johnson
Read the whole story:‘Not above the law’: Why Trump’s decision to run for president won’t change his legal woes
But does a political party have to nominate a person because they are currently serving as president – or because they previously served as president? Here’s what you need to know.
— Marina Pitofsky
Read the whole story here:Do Republicans have to nominate Trump in 2024? Does Biden have to be picked? What to know
Trump files paperwork for 2024 run
Former President Donald Trump has filed official paperwork with the Federal Election Commission declaring himself a candidate for president in 2024.
Additional documents filed with the FEC set up an account for campaign fundraising. It will be linked to the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, which for months has been pouring money into Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America.
— Erin Mansfield, David Jackson
Trump is under fire over the midterms. DeSantis is rising. And a 2024 rivalry is just beginning.
possibly under indictment down the line.
Republican office holders reacted tepidly to the possibility of an announcement.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., told reporters that “anybody can run” and that the “world has changed considerably” in recent weeks. Cornyn said he doesn’t think Trump will be “the only one who will run for president in 2024 and I’ll support the Republican nominee. But I don’t know that it will be him.”
Several Republicans, including long-time allies like former spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany, had urged Trump to delay his announcement, at least until after a Dec. 6 Senate runoff in Georgia. Trump refused.
— David Jackson
Trump talk: Do Republicans think Donald Trump will just go quietly? HAH! Good luck with that.
reported missile strike on Poland.
Speaking from the site of a G-20 economic conference, Biden said the U.S. will support Poland’s investigation into the missile strike and suspicions that Russia is involved.
– David Jackson
The push for DeSantis
An unprecedented race by nature is unpredictable, but one thing seems fairly certain: DeSantis will play a large role, one way or another.
A number of Republicans are pushing DeSantis to run against Trump, citing his success winning reelection last week as opposed to Trump’s failures.
The conservative Club For Growth, an anti-tax organization, put out polls showing DeSantis winning one-on-one contests against Trump in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to hold Republican delegate contests in the 2024 nomination race. Club-sponsored polls also showed DeSantis ahead of Trump in Florida and Georgia.
David McIntosh, president of the Club For Growth’s political arm, said the polling shows that “Republican primary voters recognize Trump’s insults against Republicans as hollow and counterproductive, and it’s taking a significant toll on his support.”
McIntosh and Trump clashed over strategy and candidates at points during the 2022 midterm campaign.
— David Jackson
Trump is still in a strong position
Despite the recent negativity, some Republicans pointed out that Trump remains in a strong position for 2024; he still has a significant conservative base and would be hard to beat in a Republican primary.
Trump has been down before – especially after the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021 – and bounced back with the help of GOP acolytes.
Brendan Buck, a former spokesperson for 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, said he would love to see a “new face” for the party but is “skeptical” that a Trump challenger could prevail.
Even if DeSantis or someone else could somehow topple Trump, the new GOP leader would still have to face a vindictive ex-president more than willing to tear down the party, or even run as an independent, Buck said.
“What then are the chances Trump wouldn’t entirely sabotage that person in the general election?” Buck said.
— David Jackson
Weekend presidential cattle call
DeSantis is not the only potential Trump challenger, and an entire group will be on display this weekend in Las Vegas.
Trump’s own vice president, Mike Pence, is also thinking about taking the plunge. Pence is currently on a book tour.
Pence, DeSantis and other potential Republican candidates are scheduled to address this weekend’s annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, the first presidential “cattle call” of the 2024 presidential cycle.
The other hopefuls at the conference include former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Tim Scott of South Carolina.
— David Jackson
The decision: Trump weighs announcing 2024 run as early as this summer amid Jan. 6 revelations, allies say
Biden v. Trump, redux?:Biden says he would be ‘very fortunate’ if Trump runs against him in 2024
Two-thirds of Americans say no thanks to a Biden v. Trump rematch in 2024
All those investigations: Donald Trump’s scandals are unique in history. Here’s how.
The U.S. Justice Department and local prosecutors in Atlanta are looking at Trump’s role in attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss and the subsequent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
A grand jury is also investigating whether Trump improperly removed classified documents from the White House when he left in early 2021. That probe included a search of his Mar-a-Lago, the site of Tuesday’s announcement.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and has called the investigations politically motivated.
Since 2021, Trump has faced legal scrutiny in at least six independent federal and state inquiries that are both criminal and civil in nature. At least two investigations involve the 2020 election.
A special House committee has been digging into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, also the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.
New York’s attorney general has sued the Trump Organization over its business practices and made referrals to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
— David Jackson
Watchdog says Trump already a candidate under campaign finance law
A nonpartisan watchdog group alleged in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission that former President Donald Trump and his affiliated fundraising groups have been violating campaign finance laws.
Monday’s complaint from the Campaign Legal Center focuses on $20 million transferred from Save America to a super PAC called MAGA Inc. in advance of the 2022 midterms and alleges that MAGA Inc. “intends to spend millions influencing federal elections, including Trump’s own campaign.”
At issue are federal restrictions on how candidates versus non-candidates are allowed to spend money and a requirement by the Federal Election Commission that candidates file a specific form once they have raised or spent more than $5,000. The Campaign Legal Center alleges that Trump’s financing is “well in excess” of this threshold.
“He never stopped running in a sense because he never stopped raising money,” Saurav Ghosh, the Campaign Legal Center’s director for federal reform told USA TODAY. “It just became a legal problem when he thought up a way that he could use that war chest to give him a jump start on 2024. Unfortunately the law doesn’t allow that.”
Ghosh said it is not likely that the FEC — a commission of three Republicans and three Democrats that often deadlocks on contentious issues — is likely to penalize Trump.
— Erin Mansfield
Sen. Tuberville on Trump’s potential presidential bid
When asked about former President Donald Trump’s planned announcement Tuesday evening, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said he is a supporter of the former president and had dinner with him last week where the two discussed when is the best time to launch a presidential campaign.
“I gave him my thoughts and opinions on when to, when not to (run), but he’s going to do what he thinks is right for his campaign,” Tuberville said.
Tuberville said the former president has some “negatives” to overcome but said he believes they will resolve themselves when Trump is on the campaign trail and starts talking about issues.
Tuberville, who said Trump helped him get elected, dubbed Trump the “heir apparent” when asked whom he views as the current leader of the Republican party but added that the GOP is searching for one.
— Rachel Looker
How to watch Trump’s announcement live
Former President Donald Trump’s 9 p.m. ET announcement from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida will be livestreamed on several websites.
- The nonpartisan, nonprofit network C-SPAN will have a livestream here.
- A livestream will be broadcast from Trump’s account on the video hosting website Rumble.
- The Right Side Broadcasting Network, which regularly streams Trump events and has received money from a Trump political action committee, will also have a livestream.
— Erin Mansfield
The Democrats
One group is particularly enjoying the Republican spectacle: Democrats
Some are already stirring the pot against a Trump-divided party.
Florida Democrat Nikki Fried, the state’s agriculture commissioner, tweeted recently against DeSantis: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. Don’t be fooled by @RonDeSantisFL, he is more extreme, radical and dangerous than the other Florida resident.”
Fried also had a message for Trump, who has referred to the governor as ‘Ron DeSanctimonious:’ “Oh Donald, I had a better nickname for him ‘tater’. He didn’t like that!”
Biden told reporters he looked forward to a Trump-DeSantis match-up – “it’d be fun watching them take on each other” – and long said he wouldn’t mind a re-match with Trump.
As far back as March, Biden said: “I’d be very fortunate if I had that same man running against me.”
— David Jackson