PALM BEACH, Fla. Nov. 15 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump announced his third presidential run on Tuesday night from his Mar-a-Lago residence, after hinting at it for months, saying he is officially a Republican presidential candidate for 2024.
“In order to make America great again, I am announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump announced Tuesday to a crowded ballroom.
“This will not be my campaign. This will be our campaign,” Trump said. “This is a task for a great movement. This is not for any one individual. This is a job for tens of thousands of people working together.”
Trump kicked off his early campaign Tuesday night, claiming his administration’s strong economy, energy independence and global stability were handed to President Joe Biden, whom he blamed for current inflation, high energy prices, a southern border that has been “erased” and “disasters” overseas.
“I am running because I believe the world has not yet seen the true glory of what this nation can be. We have not reached that pinnacle, believe it or not,” Trump said.
“In fact, we can go very far. We’re going to have to go far first. We have to get out of this ditch. And once we’re out, you’ll see things that nobody imagined for any country,” he said. “It’s called the United States of America. And it’s an incredible place.”
“But just as I promised in 2016, I am your voice. I am your voice,” Trump continued. “The Washington establishment wants to silence us, but we will not let them do that. What we have built together over the past six years is the greatest movement in history because it is not about politics. It’s about our love for this great country, America, and we’re not going to let it fail.”
In a sign that the 2024 campaign wars have already begun, Biden tweeted during Trump’s speech, “Donald Trump failed America.”
As Trump announced his candidacy Tuesday, his daughter Ivanka Trump posted that she and her family will not be involved in his 2024 campaign.
“I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena,” Ivanka Trump said on Instagram. “This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family.”
Earlier Tuesday, Trump posted a message on Truth Social, saying “Hopefully TODAY will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country!” He also told a rally in Ohio last week that he had a big announcement to make on Tuesday.
Trump’s presidential announcement comes one week after the midterm elections where the anticipated Republican “red wave” failed to materialize. It also comes after many in the Republican Party urged the former president to postpone his campaign announcement until after next month’s Georgia Senate runoff.
Trump announced his third White House run as he faces a host of criminal and civil investigations. The former president is being investigated by the Manhattan district attorney and the state of New York for allegations of fraud related to his business and asset valuations.
He is also being probed by the Department of Justice and prosecutors in Georgia for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors are also looking into classified documents that he took with him to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Fla., after he left office.
On Oct. 21, he was subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack.
Trump, 76, has also been sued by a former Elle columnist, E. Jean Carroll, who claimed he raped her in a department store in the 1990s, for defamation after he questioned the credibility of her claims.
Some aides have suggested the former president believes that declaring his candidacy would shield him from the probes, according to ABC News. Many legal experts, however, say a run would not result in any special protections for the former president.
Trump also may have to contend with the possibility of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis challenging him for the nomination. DeSantis, 44, easily won re-election last week, as the victory could well become a springboard to a 2024 White House bid for the Florida conservative.
DeSantis has already begun to gain support among some Republican politicians, who were disappointed with the poor showing of many Trump-endorsed candidates in the midterm elections.
