Former President Trump in a new interview warned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) against running for president in 2024.
“I don’t know if he is running. I think if he runs, he could hurt himself very badly. I really believe he could hurt himself badly,” Trump told Fox News in an interview late Monday after a rally in Ohio. “I think he would be making a mistake. I think the base would not like it. I don’t think it would be good for the party.”
“Any of that stuff is not good. You have other people that possibly will run, I guess,” Trump added. “I don’t know if he runs. If he runs, he runs.”
The former president also suggested he knew unflattering information about DeSantis that he’d be willing to share if the two were to face off in a primary.
“I would tell you things about him that won’t be very flattering — I know more about him than anybody — other than, perhaps, his wife,” Trump said.
Despite those comments clearly trying to knock down DeSantis, Trump disputed that there was any kind of a “tiff” between the two men and called the Florida governor a “fine guy.”
Trump on Monday appeared to set up the launch of a third White House bid, telling supporters in Ohio that he would make a major announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Nov. 15.
Trump has in recent days more freely gone after DeSantis, who is widely seen as perhaps Trump’s most viable rival in a potential GOP primary.
At a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, Trump mocked the Florida governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious” as he read off polling numbers he had picked out that showed him leading among voters over potential primary challengers.
Trump also held a rally in Miami on Sunday but did not invite DeSantis, who is on the ballot for reelection on Tuesday. But at that rally, Trump urged supporters to vote for the governor, and Trump himself cast his ballot for DeSantis on Tuesday.