MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump said he plans to announce his vice presidential pick Monday, the first day of the Republican National Convention.
It’s unclear whether the assassination attempt Saturday at his Pennsylvania rally has changed the former president’s view of his possible runner-up. But he told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in a phone call that he plans to make his choice Monday.
A roll-call vote on the nominee is scheduled for Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the schedule who spoke on condition of anonymity. The person cautioned that Trump could always change his mind.
After Saturday’s shooting, Trump’s choice takes on a much greater significance. If a bullet had struck just slightly to the right, Trump likely would have been killed or seriously injured.
The close call underscores the importance of a job that sits on the brink of the presidency. Trump has repeatedly said that choosing a qualified person to take over as commander in chief is his top concern for the role.
“You need somebody who can be good just in case, or horrible just in case,” he said in an interview on the “Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” in May.
In an interview with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner, recorded hours before the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, Trump was asked how close he was to his vice presidential pick and whether his decision-making would change if President Joe Biden stepped down.
“It’s a very important position, especially if something bad were to happen,” Trump said. “It’s the most important, if something bad were to happen.”
Trump’s nominees have varying levels of experience in governing. Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, for example, has been in office for less than two years, while North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum leads a state with a population (780,000) smaller than Columbus, Ohio’s (908,000). Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has been in politics for decades and is serving his third term in the Senate.
He talked about “The Apprentice” — but for VP
Before the shooting, Trump had made clear that he wanted to dramatically reveal his choice at the convention, which he said would make it more “interesting” and “exciting.”
“It’s like a really sophisticated version of ‘The Apprentice,'” he joked during a radio interview last week, referring to the show he once hosted in which he fired contestants on camera.
Trump and convention organizers have said the RNC schedule will go ahead as planned despite the shooting, with Trump writing on his social media site that he could not “allow a ‘shooter,’ or a potential assassin, to force a change of schedule, or anything else.”
“Right now, it is more important than ever that we stand united and show our true character as Americans by remaining strong and determined, and not allowing evil to win,” he wrote.
He held meetings with the leading candidates in the days before the shooting. All submitted materials, including biographies and photos, to convention organizers that could be used to prepare content if they are selected, according to several people familiar with the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the secretive process.
The private meetings with Vance, Rubio and Burgum were first reported by ABC News.
Nothing was proposed at the meetings, one of the people interviewed said.
There is historical precedent for waiting for the convention
Trump’s waiting until the convention to choose a running mate is later than usual in recent cycles, but not unprecedented.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan negotiated for hours with former President Gerald Ford at the Republican convention in Detroit, but opted for his former primary rival George H. W. Bush when those talks broke down. Reagan was so close that his decision came less than 24 hours before he was to officially accept the Republican Party’s nomination.
Bush himself waited until the 1988 Republican convention in New Orleans to shock many attendees — as well as some of the vice president’s top advisers at the time — by choosing little-known Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle as his No. 2, rather than a more established running mate.
Since then, tradition has dictated that a running mate is chosen shortly before the opening of the candidate’s party convention.
In 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain, looking for a way to boost his campaign against Democrat Barack Obama, picked little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin shortly before the Republican convention opened in Minnesota. He got a boost in the polls that didn’t last.
Biden, a Democrat, picked California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate six days before the opening of his party’s convention, which was held largely virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. And Trump picked Indiana Gov. Mike Pence in the days before the opening of the 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland.
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