Donald Trump, the former President of the United States, has outlined his considerations for selecting a vice president and acknowledged certain staffing challenges during his initial administration.
In an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump emphasized the importance of choosing someone who would make a good president.
“I have a lot of good people. We have a lot of really good people. he said
“I have a lot of good ideas, but I haven’t — and there’s no reason to do that quickly,” he added, before calling Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) “a real tiger” and lauding South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for not running against him.
Trump said he won’t announce his VP pick for a “while” and also admitted to making personnel mistakes in his first term.
“Of course, but everybody does. Obama had. What about Biden? Look at the people running this Biden thing. The difference is, I fire people,” Trump said when pressed by host Maria Bartiromo. “I fired Comey. I got rid of him.”
The 77-year-old former US leader explained that he had been an outsider before taking office in 2016 and now has more familiarity with political talent.
“I also know people that I didn’t know before. I know now the smart ones. I know the dumb ones. I know the weak ones and the strong ones.”
Trump revealed he intends to bring some old Cabinet members back in a hypothetical second term.
At another point in the interview, while stressing that Chinese leader Xi Jinping was a “very good friend of mine during my term,” Trump predicted that China would meddle in the 2024 election against him.
“I think they will. And they won’t be interfering on my behalf. We should go same-day voting, paper ballots, voter ID, and no mail-in ballots,” he said.
When asked about how he was going to bring the “anti-Trumpers” back on board, Trump highlighted his record on domestic policy.
“I don’t know if they’re really anti-Trumpers. They want — they want security. They want safety. They want a great economy. They want a strong border,” he said.
Ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Trump has been slapped with 91 criminal counts.Trump has pleaded not guilty to all of those counts against him and denied wrongdoing.Last week in Manhattan federal court the former president was hit with an $83.3 million jury verdict for defaming advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.
“It’s all about courage. You have to have courage for the country,” he said. “If I didn’t run or if I was in fifth place, I wouldn’t have any indictments.”
Anytime I get indicted, it’s an honor, because I’m doing it for you and the people agree with it.”