Former President Trump is putting to rest any suggestion that he may delay his launch of a 2024 White House bid, according to long-time adviser Jason Miller, despite Miller and other allies suggesting he push back the announcement until after the Georgia Senate runoff.
“President Trump is going to announce on Tuesday that he’s running for president. And it’s going to be a very professional, very buttoned-up announcement,” Miller told former Trump White House official Stephen Bannon on his radio show on Friday.
Miller said he spoke with Trump on the phone earlier in the day, when Trump was on the golf course. Trump relayed to Miller that “there doesn’t need to be any question” about his intentions, the longtime adviser said.
“Of course I’m running. I’m going to do this, and I want to make sure people know that I’m fired up and we’ve got to get the country back on track,” Trump said, according to Miller.
Miller, who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns and has remained an adviser to Trump post-presidency, said he’s expecting a large crowd and hundreds of media members in attendance for the Tuesday announcement at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Confirmation that Trump is going forward with the planned campaign launch comes after Miller and others publicly urged the former president to delay his event in light of the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Herschel Walker (R), Trump’s hand-picked candidate in the Georgia Senate race, is headed to a runoff against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D). That vote is scheduled for Dec. 6.
Some Republicans have expressed concerns that if Trump announces his presidential campaign before then, the election will become a referendum on the former president, who lost Georgia narrowly in the 2020 election.
“Priorities A, B and C need to be about Herschel [Walker] right now,” Miller said Wednesday on Newsmax. “This is bigger than anything else in the country. We’ve got to show the focus is on Georgia.”
Trump has drawn his share of the blame for an underwhelming night on Tuesday for the GOP. Mehmet Oz, who Trump backed in a crowded Republican primary, lost the Pennsylvania Senate race to Democrat John Fetterman, and Trump-backed candidates lost gubernatorial races in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Trump could still notch wins if his endorsed candidates in Arizona and Nevada prevail.