Donald Trump hinted on Monday that he could mount a campaign to return as president of the United States as soon as next week.
The former Republican president told a political rally in Ohio on Monday he will be making a “very big announcement” on November 15, marking his most recent suggestion a 2024 presidential leadership bid is imminent.
“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Mr Trump told supporters at a rally for Republican US Senate candidate JD Vance ahead of the midterm elections.
The former president declined to elaborate, saying he did not want to “detract from tomorrow’s very important, even critical election”.
His comments follow similar hints made at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on Thursday night. There, Mr Trump dropped his strongest hint yet that he will launch a third run for the White House in 2024 when he told crowds: “I will very, very, very probably do it again.”
Mr Trump served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, but lost his bid for a second term to Joe Biden in 2020.
On Tuesday, Americans will cast their vote in elections that could result in Republicans winning control of one or both chambers of Congress.
Non-partisan election forecasters predict Republicans are likely to pick up roughly 25 seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives - more than enough to win a majority. Analysts said Republicans could also pick up the one seat they need to win control of the US Senate.
Mr Trump’s latest suggestion that he would make a third run for presidency came after a speech on Monday in which he blasted incumbent President Joe Biden and said the United States was a “nation in decline” under his leadership.
“We are a nation that is no longer respected or listened to anywhere around the world,” he said. “We are a nation that in many ways has become a joke.”
Earlier on Monday, Mr Biden warned that a Republican victory could weaken the country’s democratic institutions.
“Today we face an inflection point,” he told a crowd at Bowie State University, a historically Black college outside Washington.
“We know in our bones that our democracy’s at risk and we know that this is your moment to defend it.”
