Former President Trump stated on Wednesday that he has eliminated some individuals from his list of possible vice presidential candidates due to their behavior.
“I probably have, a couple of people that you may know very well,” Trump said in an interview on Newsmax’s “Greg Kelly Reports” when asked whom he is excluding from consideration as his running mate. The interview was highlighted by Mediaite.
“Some people that I didn’t think behaved properly,” Trump continued. “Yeah, I think I’ve ruled some people out, but I’ve ruled a lot of people in. We have a lot of great people in the Republican Party, and they’ll do a terrific job, I think, but certainly I have people that I wouldn’t want as a vice president.”
At the end of last month, the former president confirmed a list of names floated to be on the short list to be his running mate, which includes Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who used to be a Democrat but has since left the party.
Nikki Haley, Trump’s former United Nations ambassador and rival for the GOP presidential nomination, was seen by some as a possible running mate, but both she and Trump have shot down the idea.
Haley dropped out of the race after Super Tuesday and said Trump has to “earn” the votes of her supporters after she increasingly ramped up her criticism of her former boss in the last few months of her campaign.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that,” Haley said. “At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing.“
