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Former acting chief of staff for President Donald Trump Mick Mulvaney said he hopes Trump does not run in 2024 in a Monday evening appearance on NewsNation's "Banfield."
"I don't think we should be offering Donald Trump," Mulvaney told anchor Ashleigh Banfield. "I also think it’s also a time actually for the next generation to take over anyway."
Mulvaney, who resigned from his White House position in January 2021, citing the Jan. 6 riots, said he would have a "hard time" voting for the former president if Trump were the 2024 Republican candidate.
"It’s time for Donald Trump to sort of go to the sidelines, continue to push the policies that made him so popular and redefined my party, but we can have all the policies without the baggage," Mulvaney said.
The former White House official also said that Trump could be the only candidate with the potential to lose to President Joe Biden or any other Democrat candidate come 2024. Despite the current economic state of the country, Mulvaney said Trump could be the "only person who could lose that election."
"I hope he doesn’t run, and if he runs, I hope he doesn’t win the nomination for the Republicans," Mulvaney said.
Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney speaks in the White House briefing room on Oct. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Mulvaney's comments come a little more than a week after Trump's Mar-a-Lago home was raided by FBI agents conducting a search warrant on Aug. 8. The unprecedented raid was in connection with materials the former president allegedly took with him to his Florida home after his presidency concluded. Trump has been disputing the classification of the records seized, stating they have been declassified.
"I’ve been critical of the president where I thought he deserved it, but I think right now the former president of the United States wins on the benefit of the doubt, and it’s up to the DOJ to prove that there was a legitimate purpose to this invasion of the president’s home," Mulvaney told Banfield.
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In his first interview since the raid, Trump told Fox News Digital he "will do whatever" he can "to help the country." He said his representatives reached out to the Department of Justice offering help following the raid.
Trump recently took to social media to call for the immediate release of the affidavit used by the FBI to conduct the search. The post came after the Justice Department filed a motion opposing the affidavit's release.
Donald Trump leaves New York City after the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago resort. (Felipe Ramales/Fox News Digital)
"There is no way to justify the unannounced RAID of Mar-a-Lago, the home of the 45th President of the United States (who got more votes, by far, than any sitting President in the history of our Country!), by a very large number of gun toting FBI Agents, and the Department of 'Justice,'" Trump wrote on Truth Social. "But, in the interest of TRANSPARENCY, I call for the immediate release of the completely Unredacted Affidavit pertaining to this horrible and shocking BREAK-IN."
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Mulvaney said the affidavit could prove useful in settling left- and right-wing narratives surrounding the unprecedented FBI raid, emphasizing transparency on the DOJ's end.
Trump currently remains a Republican favorite, alongside Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as 2024 contenders. Despite not yet formally announcing his campaign, Trump has hinted at a presidential run for months.
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Trump was recently asked at Texas CPAC when Republicans could expect a formal announcement.
"It’s certainly not a very long period, the time is coming," the former president responded.
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