NEW YORK (AP) — The future Republican vice presidential nominee’s plane is currently parked in an undisclosed hangar, an empty spot on its fuselage where a decal with his name will soon be placed.
Fundraising was planned.
All that remains: an announcement from the former president donald trump about who your choice is.
Senior advisers and longtime allies insist they don’t yet know who the presumptive Republican nominee will choose to join him on the ticket — with many believing the choice is still evolving.
The decision will come at a time of unprecedented turmoil in the presidential race. President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party continue to dealing with his poor debate performance and growing calls for the 81-year-old president to step aside in favor of a younger candidate.
The Democrats’ crisis gave Trump little incentive to change the subject with an announcement from the vice president that would certainly draw a lot of attention and focus on his choice.
But Trump will have plenty of opportunities this week to ramp up speculation about a process that his team has kept extraordinarily secret.
Opportunities to advertise
Trump has two rallies planned. The first is scheduled for Tuesday night at his golf club in Doral, Florida, near Miami. The primetime schedule and location would seem to provide an ideal opportunity to reveal his choice if he is Florida’s senator. Marco Rubionative of Miami and one of its main candidates.
On Saturday, he will travel to the battleground state of Pennsylvania for an afternoon rally at the Butler Farm Show. The location, outside of Pittsburgh, is not far from the Ohio border, where Senator J.D. Vance, another potential choice, lives.
Also on Trump’s list is North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who has grown close to the former president since abandoning his own bid for the nomination before voting began.
Trump doesn’t need a rally to reveal his choice. He could simply announce the news on his Truth Social platform any time between now and the Republican National Convention, which begins in Milwaukee on July 15. Or he could wait until the convention opens to have a large curtain on stage reveal reminiscent of his days as host of the reality show “The Apprentice.”
Trump has repeatedly said he intends to reveal his pick shortly before or during the convention. But he was coy about his choice.
At the end of last month, before the debate, Trump told NBC News at a campaign stop in Philadelphia that he had already made a decision.
“In my opinion, yes,” he said.
But less than a week later, he told a local Virginia television station that his decision was still in the works.
“Well, I have people in mind. I have so many good people. We have a very deep bench,” he said. “But we will make a decision sometime at the beginning of the convention or before the convention.”
The first placed say they don’t know yet
“As President Trump himself has said, the main criteria in selecting a vice president is a strong leader who can be a great president,” Trump adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement he has issued repeatedly. When President Trump chooses his vice president he will be lying, unless that person is named Donald J. Trump.”
This includes favorites for work.
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Rubio said he remains in the dark.
“Look, I haven’t heard anything, I don’t know anything, and you probably know more than I do about this,” he said. “Donald Trump has a decision to make. He will get it when he needs it. He will make a good decision. I’m sure I’ll be there for the next three or four months, working on your campaign’s behalf in some way.”
He also rejected questions about whether he discussed changing your residence from Florida if he is chosen as “presumptuous”. The Constitution prohibits the president and vice president from being from the same state.
“We will address these issues as they arise,” he said. “But we’re not there yet. But we will arrive soon, one way or another.”
On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Vance also said he hasn’t heard back one way or another: “I didn’t get the call.”
“But most importantly,” he continued, “we’re just trying to work to elect Donald Trump. Whoever his vice president is – he has a lot of good people to choose from – it’s the policies that worked and the style of leadership that worked for the American people, I think we have to bring that back to the White House, and I’m fighting to try do that.”
An important ally is still pushing for Tim Scott
On the CBS program “Face the Nation”, Sen. Lindsey Grahama longtime Trump ally, continued to lobby for his South Carolina colleague, Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate.
“I don’t think he’s made up his mind,” he said, again defending Scott, who he said would be a particularly smart choice if Biden were replaced at the top of the ticket by Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and person of American descent. South Asia to serve in the office.
If Harris is chosen, Graham said, “This is a dramatically different race than it is now. I hope people are thinking about this on our side.”
Biden insisted that he will not give up and said only “ the Lord Almighty ” could change your mind.
Graham praised Trump’s other picks at the same time. He called Burgum “solid as a rock” and said Vance “could be a good wingman,” but questioned whether the Republican firebrand — once a vocal critic of Trump but is now one of his fiercest defenders in the Senate — could bring new states.
Rubio, he noted, has to face the issue of his residency, but called him a “very articulate conservative” who could help Trump “enormously.” Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also speaks Spanish.
“If I were President Trump, I would pick someone who could add value in 2024. Expand the map,” Graham said.
___ Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
