Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dismissed the possibility of being Donald Trump's vice president and dropped hints about considering another White House run in 2028.
DeSantis withdrew from the Republican presidential primary last month after losing in Iowa and endorsed the former president.
"People were mentioning me [as his vice president]. I'm not doing that," DeSantis asserted during an audio call with his supporters, which was obtained by the New York Post and confirmed by CNN.
Despite recent speculations regarding DeSantis being on Trump's vice-president shortlist, the governor asserted his decision to remain in his current role. The governor highlighted that certain individuals seem to be actively pursuing the position but that he is not among them.
"It seems to me, just from watching kind of the body language and stuff, that you have a handful of folks who seem to be auditioning for it," he said.
During the call, DeSantis addressed the selection criteria for a running mate, contrasting his approach with perceived identity politics within Trump's team. "I think my criteria [for running mate] was different than what probably Donald Trump's criteria will be," he added.
"My criteria was, basically, I need someone who can do the job if it came to that, and I would have been the third-youngest president elected so chances are, actuarily I would probably be in pretty good shape, but you never know what else can happen, it's happened before."
"So you need someone who can just go in, day one, no problem, they can do the job."
"I'm not sure that those are necessarily going to be the criteria that Donald Trump uses. I think he's going to probably use different criteria. I've heard that they are looking more at identity politics. I think that's a mistake. I think you should just focus on who you think the best person for the job would be."
Addressing the current conservative political landscape, DeSantis criticized the vetting process for vice presidential candidates by Trump and his team. He attributed attacks from Trump's allies to bitter ex-staffers and expressed concern about how conservative media covers the former president's activities.
Despite ruling out the role of vice president, DeSantis did not dismiss the possibility of a 2028 presidential bid, keeping the door open for future political ambitions. "I haven't ruled anything out."
