President Donald Trump is reportedly considering holding a Florida rally to announce his 2024 bid during Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s planned inauguration on Jan. 20.
Three people familiar with the matter told NBC News last week that “preliminary planning’ was underway to counter program Biden’s inauguration, should it happen.
Trump chose the day because that’s when he announced his reelection campaign in 2017, the sources explained.
The White House, however, denied the report and said Trump has not decided what he is going to do on Inauguration Day.
“Anonymous sources who claim to know what the President is or is not considering have no idea. When President Trump has an announcement about his plans for Jan. 20 he will let you know,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
The NBC News report does confirm previous reports about Trump’s Inauguration Day plans, though.
“The president has, in the past two weeks, even floated the idea of doing a 2024-related event during Biden’s inauguration week, possibly on Inauguration Day,” the left-wing Daily Beast reported last month.
Biden insisted last week that Trump should attend his inauguration “for the country.”
“The protocol of the transfer of power, I think, is important. But it is totally his decision, and it’s — it has no personal consequence to me. But I do think it is for the country,” Biden told CNN on Thursday. “That there is peaceful transfer of power with the competing parties standing there, shaking hands, and moving on.”
If Trump does launch a 2024 campaign, Republicans have already made it clear they will support him.
“If he were to run in 2024, I think he would be the nominee,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., according to Politico. “And I would support him doing that. He’d have a lot of support out in the country.”
