Former President Donald Trump revealed Wednesday that he’s already settled on a running mate for his 2024 general election campaign if he were to win the Republican nomination for president. 

Trump, however, refused to say who it is when asked during a televised town hall in Des Moines, Iowa. 

“Well, I can’t tell you that, really,” Trump, 77, told Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, the event moderators. 

“I mean, I know who it’s going to be,” he added. 

The GOP presidential primary front-runner also bragged that he’s been fielding numerous calls from people eager to work in his potential new administration — while blasting the “stiffs” in his last one. 

“I have a lot of people that want to work with me,” he said. “I have people calling — just as I’m getting on the stage, I had a call from two of the very most important people in the military wanting to come work for me.”

“Everybody wants to come to work for us. We’re gonna have no trouble. We had great people [in his first term], we had a couple that were not great, stiffs, as I would call them, but that’s true with anybody,” he added. 

Trump also took aim at President Biden over his policies toward Iran, accusing the incumbent of enriching the US adversary by paying for the release of American hostages and rolling back sanctions. 

“Iran was broke,” Trump said of the state of the Islamic Republic’s finances when he lost to Biden, 81, in 2020, claiming that he convinced China and several other nations to stop purchasing Iranian oil during his administration. 

“They had no money. There was no money for Hamas, for Hezbollah. There was no money for anybody,” he added. 

Trump specifically called out the Biden administration’s move to extend a sanctions waiver last November that granted Iran access to roughly $10 billion from Iraq in exchange for electricity purchases. 

“They get $10 billion for supplying some electricity to Iraq, which, by the way, they own,” Trump said, calling Iraq “a subsidiary of Iran.” 

The former president went on to argue that the US should’ve taken control of Iraq’s oil production when it invaded in 2003.

“If you’re going to do it, keep the oil, remember, keep the oil,” Trump said, reflecting on his position on the Iraq war before he entered politics. “They didn’t keep the oil … and we have nothing. We have nothing. You know, they used to say about wars, to the victor belong the spoils. We go into someplace, we obliterate it and then we leave. We are run by fools. We’re run by stupid people.”

Donald Trump said he has already decided on his 2024 running mate. Getty Images

Trump described his vision for foreign policy in a second term as “peace through strength.”

He also refused to rule out withdrawing from NATO. 

“It depends if they treat us properly,” he said of his commitment to the trans-Atlantic alliance. “The European countries took advantage [of the US].” 

“The reason they have money right now to prosecute what they’re doing with helping Ukraine is because of the money I got them,” Trump continued, referencing the pressure he applied to NATO members to commit to more defense spending.


Donald Trump during an Iowa town hall
“I mean, I know who it’s going to be,” Trump added.  AFP via Getty Images

When asked how focused he’d be on “retribution” — a central theme of his 2024 campaign — in a second term, Trump downplayed the notion that he wants to get back at his antagonists, but suggested that his supporters would back him, if he chose that route.  

“Well, first of all, a lot of people would say that that’s not so bad,” Trump said of going after his adversaries. “Look what they did — Russia Russia Russia hoax, the FBI-Twitter hoax, the 51 intelligence agents hoax, all of these different hoaxes that they did. I mean, you know, a lot of people would say, that’s probably quite normal.”

“I’m not going to have time for retribution,” he added. “We’re going to make this country so successful again, I’m not gonna have time for retribution.” 

“Our ultimate retribution is success.”

Trump leads his competitors in the Hawkeye State by a 35-point margin, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls. 

His closest rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, are polling at about 16.5% compared to Trump’s 52.2% support. 

The Iowa caucuses will be held on Jan. 15.