Former President Donald Trump is reported to have narrowed down his running mate options to four candidates after teasing a timeline for his decision this week.
The former president is reported to be considering North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, as well as Sens. JD Vance of Ohio, Marco Rubio of Florida and Tim Scott of South Carolina, as his top four options for the Republican ticket, Bloomberg reported on Thursday (March 2), though senior adviser Brian Hughes pushed back at the claim in a statement obtained by the New York Post.
"Anyone claiming to know who or when President Trump will choose his VP is lying, unless the person is named Donald J. Trump," Hughes said.
Trump said that he would reveal his running mate decision at some point "not too much before" the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to be held in Milwaukee from July 15-18, while speaking to FOX 6 Milwaukee during a campaign visit to the state on Wednesday (May 1).
“I’ll be picking, but probably not too much before the convention, which I happen to be having in the great state of Wisconsin,” Trump said.
Trump had previously picked former Vice President Mike Pence, the then-governor of Indiana, in the final week leading up to the 2016 Republican National Convention. Sources familiar with the situation also claimed that former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was almost definitely out of the running for vice president, while South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem had "no shot" at the position, following prior reports that both were among the candidates being considered.