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ABC News
ABC News
National
By Shiloh Payne with wires

Donald Trump teases 'very big announcement' after midterm elections amid speculation about 2024 White House bid

Former US president Donald Trump says he will make a "big announcement" in Florida next Tuesday.

Mr Trump was speaking in Ohio on the final night before the midterm elections, endorsing author-turned-Senate candidate JD Vance.

So could this finally be the 2024 presidential run Trump has been hinting at?

What exactly did Trump say?

Towards the end of an almost two-hour rally speech, Trump said he would have an announcement to make, but that his supporters would have to wait to find out what it was.

“I'm going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida," he said.

“We want nothing to detract from the importance of tomorrow."

Mr Trump said America had been a "great nation" before the 2020 election — which he lost to Joe Biden — and that it would be again.

What happened after that?

Following the comments, Trump listed all of the candidates he endorsed, including JD Vance in Ohio, Dr Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Kari Lake in Arizona and Herschel Walker in Georgia.

Trump's backing was crucial in helping Vance secure the Republican nomination for the Ohio Senate seat. The Hillbilly Elegy author is up against Democrat Tim Ryan.

“When I think about tomorrow, it is to ensure the American dream survives into the next generation,” Vance told the rally.

Trump's suggestion that he will make a second run for the White House came after a speech in which he said the USA was a "nation in decline" under the leadership of President Joe Biden.

"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."

This isn't the first time Trump has hinted at a 2024 run

Trump has been increasingly explicit about his plans to launch a third presidential campaign, saying in recent days that he would "very, very, very probably" run again and would be formalising his intentions "very, very soon".

"I will probably have to do it again but stay tuned," he said in Miami on Sunday.

Republican officials and some people in Trump's orbit have urged him to wait until after the midterms to launch his campaign, in part to avoid turning the election into a referendum on him, and to shield him from potential blame should Republicans not do as well as the party hopes.

At a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend, he told the crowd that "in the very next very, very, very short period of time, you're going to be so happy, OK?"

"You're going to be surprised at how soon. But first we have to win a historic victory for Republicans on November 8."

The midterms will see voters decide the balance of power in the US Congress, and Trump is not on the ballot.

However the outcome of the elections will define the US political landscape ahead of the presidential election in two years' time. 

Could investigations get in the way of Trump's campaign?

Trump's announcement came as he confronts a series of escalating legal challenges, including several investigations that could lead to indictments.

They include the probe into hundreds of documents with classified markings that were seized by the FBI from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, as well as ongoing state and federal inquiries into his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol has also subpoenaed Trump, and last month issued a letter to his lawyers saying he must testify, either at the Capitol or by videoconference, "beginning on or about" November 14 and continuing for multiple days if necessary.

New York's Attorney-General Letitia James has filed a civil lawsuit against Trump and his company, alleging he "falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars to unjustly enrich himself and cheat the system".

Former FBI counterintelligence agent and federal prosecutor Asha Rangappa said being indicted or even convicted would not necessarily bar a person from running for president.

But she said some potential charges could bar the way to the White House.

Dr Rangappa said the illegal removal, concealment and mutilation of government documents was one of those.

She said one of the penalties in that statute was a prohibition from holding public office.

ABC/wires

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