Former President Donald Trump will return to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday for the first time since leaving office.
Trump is set to deliver a keynote speech at the America First Agenda Summit, and advisers told Bloomberg he is not expected to announce plans to run for president in 2024.
However, Bloomberg said the "notoriously mercurial ex-leader could change his mind on the way into town from the airport" about discussing '24.
"He loves that the news is about whether he's ready to announce, when he's going to announce," Barry Bennett, a Republican strategist who worked on Trump's 2016 campaign, told Bloomberg.
"He loves all of the media speculation, and he doesn't mind a fight, but when you actually declare, you have to make FEC filings."
While Democrats in Congress remain focused on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said Tuesday's speech will allow Trump to look forward and explain how a second term as president would benefit the nation.
"[The speech is] an opportunity for President Trump to come to Washington and give a visionary speech about why the future would be better with his leadership — and to the degree he focuses on that it could be a very important speech," Gingrich said, Politico reported.
Before the 2020 election, Trump's team composed a two-page policy agenda document titled "Vision 2025" — which was reviewed by Politico — that outlined what would be accomplished by the end of 2024, under the subhead: "renewed, restored, rebuilt." The election results, however, ended those plans.
Trump's former domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins told Politico that Trump's speech would represent a "State of the Union 5.0."
Bennett told Bloomberg that he believed Trump will refrain from making an announcement to prevent federal election-law requirements and limits on fundraising from kicking in.
Federal Election Commission records showed that Trump raised $137 million, mostly from small-dollar donors, between the start of 2021 and the end of June.
The former president's Save America PAC has $103 million in the bank, though contribution limits would bar him from using more than $5,000 of that total for his presidential campaign, Bloomberg reported.
A Quinnipiac University poll this month showed that 69% of Republican voters would like to see Trump run again, but 54% of Democrats want someone other than Biden to run in 2024.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, also considered a potential contender for the GOP presidential nomination, is scheduled to address the Heritage Foundation on Monday.
Pence's relationship with Trump suffered when the then-vice president refused to intercede during certification of the 2020 Electoral College results.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, considered Trump's top opponent for the GOP nomination should both men run, will not speak at the America First Agenda Summit.
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