NEW YORK — The future Republican vice-presidential candidate’s plane is currently parked in an undisclosed hangar, an empty space in the 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 revealing your choice.
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 name is still in flux.
“I haven’t made (a) final decision. But I have some ideas about where we’re going,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity that aired Monday night.
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 was sure to attract a lot of attention and focus.
Trump is also waiting to see how things play out with Biden.
“A little bit, you know, we wanted to see what they’re up to, to be honest. Because, you know, it could make a difference,” he told Hannity.
But Trump will have plenty of opportunities this week to ramp up speculation about a process that his team has kept extraordinarily secret.
“It could happen any time this week,” Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
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 seem to provide an ideal opportunity to reveal his choice, if it is Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a Miami native and one of its leading candidates.
Rubio will be present at the event, according to an aide familiar with the senator’s plans, who, like others, spoke on condition of anonymity about the selection process.
On Saturday, Trump will travel to the battleground state of Pennsylvania for another rally at the Butler Farm Show. The site, just outside 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 Gov. 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 opening of the convention to have a large curtain reveal on the stage reminiscent of his days as host of the reality show “The Apprentice.”
He said Monday that the announcement will happen “probably a little bit before the convention, but not much. It could even be during the convention that we would do it. I would love to do it during the convention. … That would make it even more exciting.” ”
Trump spent months teasing 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.”
“Anyone who says they know who or when President Trump will choose his vice president is lying, unless that person is named Donald J. Trump,” Trump adviser Brian Hughes said in a statement he has repeatedly issued. .
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 have worked and the style of leadership that has worked for the American people.”
On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Trump ally, continued to pressure 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, adding that Scott would be a particularly smart choice if Biden were replaced at the top of the ticket by Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman of color and of South Asian descent. to serve in the office.
“If I were President Trump, I would pick someone who could add value in 2024. Expand the map,” he said.
Biden insisted that he will not give up and said only “ the Lord Almighty ” could change your mind.
___ Associated Press writers Steve Peoples and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
