O’Brien on 2024 talk: ‘There’s all kinds of speculation out there’

White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien dismissed talk that he could potentially run for president in 2024, calling a recent report about his presidential aspirations “speculation.”

O’Brien, a staunch ally of President Trump, said a recent report from Politico was “what I call Washington inside-the-Beltway article. So I’m fully focused on my current job. I’m not running for anything right now.”

“I’m not going to make a Shermanesque statement about never running under any circumstances, but I’m focused on implementing the president’s agenda, and getting the foreign policy picture for the American people, and that’s all I’m focused on. But this is starting to become silly season for the Washington news media. And you know, there’s all kinds of speculation out there. So I leave that for what it is,” he said on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.

The remarks come after the Politico report, published Tuesday, said O’Brien has been floating a 2024 bid of his own to friends and colleagues.

A campaign for O’Brien would likely be a long shot given his low name recognition and the already crowded field of Republicans with higher profiles who are believed to have their own presidential ambitions, including Vice President Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).

The potential 2024 field could be thrown into further flux should Trump decide to launch a second bid for the White House after his defeat to President-elect Joe Biden this year. 

O’Brien said he would “never” run against Trump in four years, maintaining the president would “have my 100 percent support.”