Donald Trump said on Monday he is considering tapping Florida Governor Ron DeSantis instead of Mike Pence as his running mate if he enters the 2024 race.
In a wide-ranging interview with Fox Business' Stuart Varney on Monday morning, the ex-president also lashed out at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and railed against bitcoin as a 'scam'.
He also previewed a potential trip to the southern border 'soon', as Vice President Kamala Harris began her first meetings to address the 'root causes of migration' in Guatemala.
Trump said, 'Sure I would,' when asked by Varney in the phone interview if he would consider the Florida governor for his No. 2.
'But, you know, there are numerous people that are great,' he deflected. 'I would certainly consider Ron.'
'I was at the beginning of Ron. I was the first one to endorse him when he came out as a congressman that a lot of people didn't know and my endorsement helped him tremendously and I know him very well. He's a great guy,' Trump added.
Early polling for the 2024 presidential race shows DeSantis as the second choice among Republican voters. Trump remains at No. 1.
Donald Trump told Fox Business' Stuart Varney in a Monday morning interview that he is considering Ron DeSantis as his running mate if he decides to run in 2024
Early polling for the 2024 presidential election shows Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the second choice among Republican voters – with Trump as No. 1
During the wide-range interview, Trump also railed against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg after the platform imposed a two-year-minimum suspension on his account. He said the CEO used to suck up to him and congratulate him for being 'number one on Facebook'
'We have other great people, I mean you look at some of the people, the Republican people, that have done a great job with states.'
Trump has not officially said if he will launch a bid for the White House in 2024, claiming he would wait until at least after the 2022 midterms to make any sort of announcement.
Since the end of his presidency on January 20, Trump and Pence have had a rather stale relationship. It seems the two have not spoken since leaving office.
Trump feels that Pence could have done more to stop Congress from certifying the Electoral College results for Joe Biden's victory when he presided over the joint session on January 6.
The former president told Varney that Zuckerberg is a 'dangerous' person, just days after the social media platform imposed a minimum two-year-long suspension of his account.
Facebook and Twitter suspended Trump's accounts and booted him from their social media sites after the January Capitol 6 riot, which led to the former president being impeached – and acquitted – for a second time.
Trump said during his Monday morning interview that Zuckerberg used to visit him at the White House and congratulate him for being 'number one on Facebook.'
Trump considering other running mates shows his continued break with former Vice President Mike Pence and his willingness to ditch him if he made another White House run
'You know, Zuckerberg would come to the White House to have dinner with me, couldn't have been nicer,' Trump said. 'Sir, you're number one, congratulations, number one on Facebook.' All of this crap. He would bring his wife.'
'They have to be stopped and they will be stopped eventually they are going to be stopped,' Trump said of Big Tech and social media platforms.
He called the bans 'a danger' to America.
Twitter permanently banned Trump, while Facebook used a panel of experts to look into their policies and make a recommendation on what to do about the former president's account.
Ultimately the oversight board extended Facebook's ban for six months and said the company would need to decide on its own what to do with Trump's presence on their platform.
When Varney asked Trump why he thinks he was stripped of his social media platforms, Trump said: 'Because my voice is very strong and my voice is very powerful,' and claimed Facebook doesn't want to hear his 'sane voice.'
'We don't have free speech anymore, and who are they to tell us what ideology we should be talking about, what politics we should be talking about. They are a disgrace.'
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