Trump 'will absolutely' run for re-election AGAIN in 2024 if he loses to Biden, his ex-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney says
DONALD Trump "will absolutely" run for re-election again in 2024 if he loses to Joe Biden this year, his ex-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said.
Mulvaney said on Thursday that he could see Trump running again if he's beaten by Biden during the fraught 2020 battle, which has seen protests erupt as Americans anxiously await the results.
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"After this election's over who is the leading Republican candidate for 2024?" he told the Dublin think tank Institute for International and European Affairs.
"I think now, folks are starting to realize, wait a second, if Donald Trump loses he might be the guy, and I'm telling you, absolutely.
"I would absolutely expect the president to stay involved in politics and would absolutely put him on the shortlist of people who are likely to run in 2024."
Mulvaney was ousted as Chief of Staff and now serves as special envoy for Northern Ireland after he shrugged off questioning regarding a Ukrainian deal during an October 2019 presser, saying "we do that all the time."
A year later, he has described Trump as a "very high-energy 74-year-old," who would be keen to dip his toe in politics once more.
Mulvaney said Potus would be "further engaged in 2024 or 2028 if he were to lose this next election," when Trump turns 78 and 82 respectively.
His assessment echoed comments from Bryan Lanza, the former communications director Trump's transition team, who told the Today show his former boss would "make a strong case to run again."
In another interview with CNBC, Lanza said that he "wouldn't be surprised to see him on the ticket in 2024" if he loses this election.
Likewise, Mulvaney emphasized that Trump "doesn't like losing" but insisted that the GOP lawsuits filed in critical states to stop the count weren't a threat to democracy in the United States.
"It should not surprise anybody that there are lawyers and that there are lawsuits, and it is not a tacit admission of loss, any more than it is a declaration of victory," he told the think tank.
Earlier today, Mulvaney told CNBC Trump would exhibit "a peaceful transition of power," adding "I just hope the same is true on the other side."
He said: "Could things get really sloppy and messy and slow between now and then? Absolutely
"They were, by the way, in 2000 as well, yet we managed to work through it,' he said, referring to the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
"American elections can be a sloppy, ugly thing but it's sort of like making law which we describe as making sausage: No one wants to see it happen but you enjoy the end product."
His comments came on the day Trump again declared a premature victory in his first press briefing since Election Day – but the president was blasted by top Republicans accusing him of undermining the US electoral system.
Meanwhile, votes are still being counted in battleground states Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada.
A federal judge today denied the Trump campaign's attempt to stop the vote count in Philadelphia, PA, but allowed both sides to observe the fraught tally there.
Biden and Trump need 270 electoral votes to become the 46th president of the United States.
According to CNN projections, Biden now has 253 electoral votes while Trump has 213 as of Thursday evening.
While ex-aides indicated Trump would run again if he's defeated this time, his son Donald Trump Jr recently fueled rumors he'd make a bid for the presidency by posing with a "Don Jr 2024" sign.
HOLDING A RECOUNT
Joe Biden has a slender lead over Donald Trump in the race to 270 electoral votes.
The Democrat has so far flipped three states that Trump won in 2016 – Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona.
But the President wants a recount of votes in Wisconsin and has filed lawsuits to stop vote counting in both Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The recount of votes can be complicated because the guidelines are set at state and sometimes local levels.
THE RULES
Wisconsin – a recount cannot be requested until election results are verified on December 1. State rules also dictate that a recount can only be requested by a candidate if the race is separated by a margin of one per cent or less.
Michigan – the state conducts an automatic recount if candidates are separated by a margin of 2,000 total votes or less. To get a recount by request, a campaign must submit a petition over alleged fraud or counting errors within 48 hours.
Pennsylvania – the state only provides an automatic recount if the race is separated by a margin of 0.5% or less, or if election officials find irregularities in the results
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