Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows says former President Trump’s world is looking to “move forward in a real way.”
During an interview on Newsmax’s “Cortes & Pellegrino” on Friday, Meadows said he and the former president had been meeting with “some of our Cabinet members,” most recently earlier that day.
Meadows said he “wasn’t authorized to speak” on Trump’s behalf but noted that the meeting wouldn’t have happened if there weren’t plans to “move forward in a real way.”
“We met with several of our Cabinet members tonight. We actually had a follow-up … meeting with some of our Cabinet members. And as we were looking at that, we were looking at what does come next,” Meadows said.
“I’m not authorized to speak on behalf of the president, but I can tell you this, Steve: We wouldn’t be meeting tonight if we weren’t making plans to move forward in a real way, with President Trump at the head of that ticket,” he told host Steve Cortes.
It wasn’t exactly clear what Meadows meant by his remarks, but he appeared to be referring to the possibility of Trump running again in 2024.
The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for Trump for further comment.
The former president told previously told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that he’s made a decision on 2024 but didn’t directly say what it was. However, Trump hinted at another bid.
“It’s not that I want to,” Trump told Hannity. “The country needs it. We have to take care of this country. I don’t want to. Is this fun? Fighting constantly? Fighting always? I mean, the country, what we have done, is so important.”
Trump is still overwhelmingly the most popular figure in the Republican Party, with polls showing the former president outpacing other possible contenders among GOP voters.
Earlier this month, Trump held a 70 percent lead over possible opponents in the Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) came in second with 21 percent support.