President Trump has reportedly told some of his advisers that if President-elect Joe Biden is officially certified as the winner of the 2020 race, he could announce his plan to run for the White House in 2024 shortly after, according to The New York Times.
The conversation came amid the president mulling different scenarios for his future as he faces an uphill battle challenging election results that have been called in favor of Biden.
The Times reported Thursday that at a White House meeting Wednesday, the president spoke with several advisers, many of whom told the president that his chances of changing the outcome of the 2020 election through his campaign’s multistate legal battle are extremely low.
“He knows it’s over,” one adviser told the Times.
According to interviews with half a dozen advisers and others close to Trump, the president has no larger strategy to continue denying the election results in several key battleground states, but is instead hoping to maintain support from his base as he considers what he will do once he leaves the Oval Office.
Trump’s reelection campaign has filed lawsuits in Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania over allegations of widespread voter fraud and voting irregularities, with Trump repeatedly claiming on Twitter that he won the election and that there was a coordinated effort by Democrats to steal the election from him.
Election security officials, local election officials and courts have disputed the voter fraud claims.
The president has reportedly told advisers that if the race is certified for Biden, he is seriously considering announcing his 2024 bid shortly after.
Axios first reported Monday that Trump was considering running again in 2024. The news came just two days after The Associated Press and other major news outlets called the 2020 race for Biden. Trump has since refused to concede.
U.S. presidents are only allowed to serve two terms, but those terms are not required to be consecutive. The only president in history to serve two nonconsecutive terms is former President Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd and 24th president.
On Thursday, betting site Bovada placed Trump, Vice President Pence and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as the three most likely GOP figures to win the Republican primary in 2024.
Other prominent Republicans seen as having decent chances of leading the party’s next ticket include two of Trump’s 2016 rivals, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), as well as other current members of the Senate Republican Conference such as Sens. Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Tim Scott (S.C.).
Trump is also considering starting his own streaming media channel to compete directly with Fox News, Axios reported Thursday, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.
The news comes as Trump has increasingly directed criticism at the outlet, which escalated last week after the network was the first to call the state of Arizona for Biden.