Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has already chosen his running mate for the 2024 general election should he win the Republican presidential nomination.
But President Trump did not answer a question about who that person was during a televised meeting at a town hall in Des Moines, Iowa.
“Well, I can't really tell you,” the 77-year-old president told Fox News hosts Bret Bayer and Martha McCallum, who hosted the event.
“I mean, I know who it's going to be,” he added.
The front-runner in the Republican presidential primary also boasted that he has fielded numerous calls from people eager to serve in a potential new administration, exploding the “hardline stance” of the previous administration. .
“There are a lot of people who want to work with me,” he said. “I have people calling me. Just as I was on stage, I got a call from two of the most important people in the military who wanted to come work for me.”
“Everyone wants to come work for us. No problem. We had great people. [in his first term]we had a stiff, less-than-great couple, as I would call them, but that's true for everyone,” he added.
President Trump also criticized President Biden over his policy toward Iran, accusing the incumbent president of enriching America's adversaries by paying for the release of American hostages and rolling back sanctions.
When President Trump lost to Biden (age 81) in 2020, he said of the Islamic Republic's financial situation that “Iran is bankrupt,'' and during his administration persuaded China and several other countries to stop purchasing Iranian oil. claimed to have done so.
“They didn't have money. Hamas didn't have money, Hezbollah didn't have money. Nobody had money,” he added.
President Trump specifically criticized the Biden administration's move to extend a sanctions waiver last November that gave Iran access to about $10 billion from Iraq in exchange for power purchases.
President Trump called Iraq “a subsidiary of Iran” and said, “We receive $10 billion to provide electricity to Iraq, but Iraq owns Iraq.”
The former president went on to argue that the United States should have taken control of Iraq's oil production during the 2003 invasion.
President Trump looked back on his position on the Iraq War before entering politics, saying, “If you're going to do it, keep the oil, and remember, keep the oil.'' “They didn't store oil. … And we have nothing. We have nothing. It was often said about war that the spoils belong to the victor. I We get in somewhere, we make it disappear, and then we leave. We are run by fools. We are run by foolish people.”
President Trump has described his foreign policy vision for his second term as “peace through strength.”
He also did not rule out the possibility of withdrawing from NATO.
“It all depends on whether they treat us well,” he said of his commitment to the Atlantic Alliance. “European countries took advantage of that [of the US]”
President Trump also noted that he is pressuring NATO members to commit to increased defense spending, saying, “I'm the one who has the money to indict what they're doing now in support of Ukraine.'' It's all thanks to the funds we received from them.”
Asked how much he would focus on “retribution,” a central theme of his 2024 campaign, in a second term, Trump downplayed the idea that he would want to get back at his opponents, but said if his supporters would He indicated that he would support it. He chose that path.
“First of all, a lot of people would say it's not that bad,” President Trump said of going after his opponents. “Look at what they did. Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, FBI and Twitter hoax, 51 intelligence agency hoax, all these different hoaxes were done by them. I mean, a lot. People would probably say that's pretty normal.”
He added: “There will be no time for retaliation. We are going to make this country successful again. There will be no time for retaliation.”
“Our ultimate reward is success.”
Trump leads his competitors in the Hawkeye State by a 35-point lead, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages.
Trump's closest rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, have approval ratings of about 16.5%, compared to Trump's approval rating of 52.2%.
The Iowa caucuses will be held on January 15th.
