Former President Trump on Thursday would not commit to endorsing the eventual Republican nominee for president in 2024 if it’s not him.
“It would depend. I would give you the same answer I gave in 2016 during the debates,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
“It would have to depend on who the nominee was,” he added.
Trump’s comments came shortly after former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), a Trump critic who has said he is weighing a 2024 bid of his own, told Hewitt he does not believe Trump will be the GOP nominee but that he would support whoever the nominee is.
During the first GOP primary debate in the 2016 cycle, Trump also declined to affirm he would back the eventual nominee, drawing criticism from rivals.
Trump’s refusal to say he would support the party’s nominee in 2024 underscores concerns among some Republicans that the former president would run as a third-party candidate if he does not win the nomination, siphoning off a large number of GOP primary voters who are loyal to Trump.
Trump is so far the only declared candidate in the GOP field, although Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and the ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, is expected to announce her candidacy on Feb. 15.
Others, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Vice President Mike Pence, are expected to decide whether to run in the coming months.