(NEXSTAR) – Former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said he would put Trump on the short list of likely Republican candidates in 2024 if the president loses to Joe Biden.
“After this election’s over who is the leading Republican candidate for 2024?” Mulvaney said. “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.”
Mulvaney made the comments during a webinar with the Dublin think tank Institute for International and European Affairs, the Irish Times reports.
“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 said. “He doesn’t like losing.”
Mulvaney now serves as the United States special envoy for Northern Ireland after Trump replaced him as chief of staff in March, 2020 when he appointed Congressman Mark Meadows.
If Trump runs again in 2024 he would be 78 years old, which Mulvaney doesn’t see as an obstacle to another presidential Trump campaign.
“He’s a very high-energy 74-year-old” said Mulvaney, adding that he expects Trump to be “further engaged in 2024 or 2028 if he were to lose this next election.”
Mulvaney said he wasn’t surprised by Trump’s legal actions in battleground states but predicts a peaceful transition of power in January.