Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said the “veep stakes” could be “lingering” as former President Trump continues to tease his short list of vice presidential candidates.
Mulvaney, who served in the Trump administration, joins ‘The Hill on NewsNation’ to discuss candidates;. He said he thought Trump simply said “yes” to the name provided by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, who recently hosted a town hall event with the former president.
At an event in Greenville, South Carolina, the Republican front-runner confirmed the list of names on his shortlist for vice president.
Candidates include Sen. Tim Scott (R), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), Congressman Byron Donald (R, FL), and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. (Republican), former governor of Hawaii. Representative Tulsi Gabbard served in Congress as a Democrat, but has since become more conservative.
“He would have said yes to just about everyone except Mike Pence and Michael Cohen,” Mulvaney said, adding that this is a vice presidential version of Trump’s former reality show, “The Apprentice.”
“He’s going to drag this out as long as possible,” Mulvaney continued. “He loves attention on who his running mate will be.”
At a town hall event ahead of the South Carolina primary, President Trump said all candidates were “solid” and that his running mate would help him from a “voter standpoint.” He said he wanted He added that he wanted someone with “common sense” on issues such as borders, electric cars and high interest rates.
Mr. Trump particularly criticized Mr. Scott. Mr. Scott ran for the Republican Party, but suspended his campaign last November. Scott gave a surprising endorsement to Trump last month, choosing Trump over his only remaining candidate, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, for the Senate seat.
Mulvaney previously said Scott’s endorsement gained attention after Scott ruled out running for Trump.
Still, Mulvaney insisted there would be a “big show” at the Republican National Convention later this year, when Trump will announce his vice president.
“Why don’t you drag it out as long as you can? Again, he knows better than me, because he’s better.” [at] “This is more important than anyone else, but this could drag on for a while,” Mulvaney said.
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