Trump says he will make a ‘big announcement’ on Nov. 15

Nov 7 (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Donald Trump
suggested on Monday he would mount a 2024 presidential run as
soon as next week, saying at a political rally in Ohio on Monday
he would make a “big announcement” on Nov. 15.

“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday,
Nov. 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump told
supporters at a rally for Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D.
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.”

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 Senate.

The suggestion from Trump that he would make a second run
for the White House came after a speech in which he blasted
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. We are a nation that in many ways has
become a joke.”

Earlier on Monday, Biden warned that a Republican victory
could weaken the country’s democratic institutions.

“Today we face an inflection point. We know in our bones
that our democracy’s at risk and we know that this is your
moment to defend it,” Biden told a crowd at Bowie State
University, a historically Black college outside Washington.
(Reporting by Eric Beech and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Christian
Schmollinger and Tom Hogue)