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Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman join LIV Golf Series, report, Cameron Percy, video

Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman join LIV Golf Series, report, Cameron Percy, video

Cameron Percy has lifted the lid on Cameron Smith’s intentions, revealing the Open champion is “gone” and will join the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series.

Smith, 28, was irate when he was asked about his future in the moments following his extraordinary one-shot victory at St Andrew’s last month.

“I just won the British Open and you’re asking about that? I think that’s pretty- not that good,” Smith said.

Pressed on the matter, the Australian was coy.

“I don’t know, mate. My team around me worries about all that stuff, I’m here to win golf tournaments,” he said.

Watch LIVE coverage from The USPGA Tour with Fox Sports on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Donald Trump backs LIV Golf Series | 00:46

But Percy, a top-10 finisher at the Wyndham Championship, said his Australian compatriots Smith and Marc Leishman were “gone” and had signed with the financially lucrative LIV Golf Series.

“Unfortunate, year, they’re gone,” Percy told RSN radio.

The extraordinary revelation comes ahead of this week’s FedEx Cup playoff opener, which is expected to see Smith take to the tee amid a court’s hearing into whether three LIV golfers should be permitted to play after defecting to the rebel league.

Percy said the PGA Tour had known for years that a rebel tour was being formed.

“I had a long conversation with (2013 Masters champion) Adam Scott and he was very interesting talking to about it, just where it is,” he said.

“He said he met with these guys (LIV) in 2017 (and) they were ready (to) do all this. So, the tour has known for a long time that this stuff’s in the works.”

Scott has previously been on the record speaking about LIV Golf, saying in April “the schedule that they’re proposing is very appealing to probably most golfers” and he would “consider” making a move too.

Cameron Percy has revealed his Australian compatriots Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman have signed with LIV Golf Series. Photo: Getty Images
Cameron Percy has revealed his Australian compatriots Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman have signed with LIV Golf Series. Photo: Getty ImagesSource: AFP

Percy, meanwhile, delivered a not-so-subtle dig at those taking the money and defecting, raising the ethical questions around where the money is coming from.

“The more and more you look into it, some people don’t care, some people have got a conscience and do care,’ he said.

“It really comes down to, you know, ‘they just executed 80 people this week, just chopped their heads off’. They’re not the nicest people in the world.

“Do you just look past that and go, ‘Oh well, I’m rich I don’t really care’. It’s a tough one, it really is.”

Smith, the world No.2, was reportedly offered more than $100 million to join the LIV Golf Series.

Should he indeed accept the offer, he will be the highest ranked player to defect.

MORE COVERAGE

‘S***ting their pants’: LIV Golf texts between Greg Norman and ex-Masters champ revealed

Aussie golf’s ‘special’ $3.4m move earns big boost … but Smith wait goes on amid LIV link

‘I found three brothers’: Golf legend reduced to blubbering mess in stirring live TV farewell

Smith reflects on Open celebrations | 08:18

Former major winner Ian Baker-Finch last month to ignore the offers and create a legacy in the game by staying in the PGA Tour – something currently he would struggle to achieve in LIV Golf, where tournaments are 54 holes and don’t contain the player strength nor history.

“I know that they are talking to him and many others,” Baker-Finch, who won the Claret Jug in 1991, told SEN radio.

“I hope he doesn’t because I think he can leave a great legacy by winning major championships and becoming the best player in the world.

“I don’t think I need the money. I don’t think it is going to be something that he should do.

“He will be a $100m guy or more now. Does he want to win more majors or does he want the money? I am hoping he stays and leaves a great legacy like a Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy … which he could do. I think Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy and a lot of those guys that still compete and play well in majors, and want to leave a legacy, they’re the guys I would be following.”

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US

New Yorker: Milley was set to excoriate Trump in unreleased resignation letter drafted after Lafayette Square photo-op



CNN
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In the wake of then-President Donald Trump’s infamous photo-op at the height of the George Floyd protests, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley penned a lengthy and vociferous critique of Trump in a resignation letter he ultimately never sent, The New Yorker reported on Monday.

On June 1, 2020, Milley accompanied Trump on a walk from the White House to St. John’s Church, where he was photographed wearing his combat uniform and moving with the President’s entourage through Lafayette Square. Protesters had been forcibly cleared out of the area minutes before.

The images provoked a swift wave of criticism from lawmakers and several senior former military officials who said they risked dragging the traditionally apolitical military into a contentious domestic political situation.

Milley’s letter was dated June 8, a week after the incident, according to The New Yorker. The article was based on “The Divider: Trump in the White House 2017-2021,” a forthcoming book by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.

“The events of the last couple weeks have caused me to do deep soul-searching, and I can no longer faithfully support and execute your orders as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” Milley wrote, according to The New Yorker. “It is my belief that you were doing great and irreparable harm to my country. I believe that you have made a concerted effort over time to politicize the United States military.”

In this June 1, 2020 file photo, President Donald Trump departs the White House to visit outside St. John's Church, in Washington. Walking behind Trump from left are, Attorney General William Barr, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The report said Milley sought advice regarding the resignation letter, including from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford, retired Army Gen. James Dubik, an expert on military ethics, as well as members of Congress and former officials from the Bush and Obama administrations.

Milley ultimately decided not to quit.

“F*** that s***,” Milley told his staff, according to The New Yorker. “I’ll just fight him.”

“If they want to court-martial me, or put me in prison, have at it,” Milley added. “But I will fight from the inside.”

A spokesman for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs declined to comment to CNN about the report.

Milley would later publicly apologize for his involvement in the incident in a pre-recorded speech at the National Defense University.

“I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics. As a commissioned uniformed officer, it was a mistake that I have learned from, and I sincerely hope we all can learn from it,” Milley said during the address.

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Trump says FBI raiding his Mar-a-Lago home

Trump says FBI raiding his Mar-a-Lago home

The FBI is raiding Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s resort home in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said Monday evening.

In a lengthy statement, Trump said his residence is “currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”

The raid was “unannounced,” Trump said.

The FBI did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Trump’s statement.

These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. Nothing like this has ever happened to a President of the United States before. After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate. It is prosecutorial misconduct, the weaponization of the Justice System, and an attack by Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024, especially based on recent polls, and who will likewise do anything to stop Republicans and Conservatives in the upcoming Midterm Elections. Such an assault could only take place in broken, Third-World Countries. Sadly, America has now become one of those Countries, corrupt at a level not seen before. They even broke into my safe! What is the difference between this and Watergate, where operatives broke into the Democratic National Committee? Here, in reverse, Democrats broke into the home of the 45th President of the United States.

The political persecution of President Donald J. Trump has been going on for years, with the now fully debunked Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, Impeachment Hoax #1, Impeachment Hoax #2, and so much more, it just never ends. It is political targeting at the highest level!

Hillary Clinton was allowed to delete and acid wash 33,000 E-mails AFTER they were subpoenaed by Congress. Absolutely nothing has happened to hold her accountable. She even took antique furniture, and other items from the White House.

I stood up to America’s bureaucratic corruption, I restored power to the people, and truly delivered for our Country, like we have never seen before. The establishment hated it. Now, as they watch my endorsed candidates win big victories, and see my dominance in all polls, they are trying to stop me, and the Republican Party, once more. The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt must be exposed and stopped.

I will continue to fight for the Great American People!

The raid came hours after Politico reported that attorney John Rowley, a former federal prosecutor, is now representing Trump in talks with the Department of Justice about executive privilege issues related to the department’s investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

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US

Lawyer: Giuliani won’t testify Tuesday in Ga. election test

Lawyer: Giuliani won't testify Tuesday in Ga. election test

ATLANTA (AP) — Rudy Giuliani will not appear as scheduled Tuesday before a special grand jury in Atlanta that’s investigating whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia, his lawyer said.

A judge last month had ordered Giuliani, a Trump lawyer and former New York City mayor, to appear before the special grand jury Tuesday.

But Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, told The Associated Press on Monday that Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury, had excused Giuliani for the day.

Nothing in publicly available court documents indicates that Giuliani is excused from appearing, but McBurney has scheduled a hearing for 12:30 pm Tuesday to hear arguments on a court filing from Giuliani seeking to delay his appearance. In a court filing Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis asked the judge to deny Giuliani’s request for a delay and to instruct him to appear before the special grand jury as ordered.

Willis opened an investigation early last year, and a special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request.

Last month she filed petitions seeking to compel testimony from seven Trump advisers and associates, including Giuliani. Because they don’t live in Georgia, she had to use a process that involves getting a judge in the state where they live to order them to appear.

New York Supreme Court Justice Thomas Farber on July 13 issued an order directing Giuliani to appear before the special grand jury on Aug. 9 and on any other dates ordered by the court in Atlanta.

Giuliani’s legal team last week asked Willis’ office to delay his appearance, saying he was unable to travel because of a medical procedure. That request was rejected after Willis’ team found evidence on social media that he had traveled since his medical procedure.

A Giuliani attorney then clarified to Willis’s team that Giuliani is not cleared for air travel, but Willis still refused to postpone his appearance, the motion says.

In her Monday court filing, Willis wrote that her team had obtained records indicating that between July 19 and July 21, Giuliani bought multiple airline tickets, including tickets to Rome, Italy, and Zurich, Switzerland, for travel dates between July 22 and July 29 Willis said her team offered to provide alternative transportation — including bus or train fare — if Giuliani wasn’t cleared for air travel.

Giuliani had also offered to appear virtually, for example by Zoom, his motion says.

“It is important to note here that Mr. Giuliani is no way seeking to inappropriately delay, or obstruct these proceedings or avoid giving evidence or testimony that is not subject to some claim of privilege in this matter,” the motion says, noting that Giuliani had appeared virtually before the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and testified for more than nine hours.

“Mr. Giuliani is willing to do the same here under conditions that replicate a grand jury proceeding,” the motion says.

In the petition for Giuliani’s testimony, Willis identified him as both a personal attorney for Trump and a lead attorney for his campaign.

She wrote that he and others presented a Georgia state Senate subcommittee with a video recording of election workers that Giuliani allegedly showed them producing “suitcases” of unlawful ballots from unknown sources, outside the view of election poll watchers.

Within 24 hours of that hearing on Dec. 3, 2020, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office had debunked the video and said that it had found that no voter fraud had taken place at the site. Nevertheless, Giuliani continued to make statements to the public and in subsequent legislative hearings claiming widespread voter fraud using that debunked video, Willis wrote.

Evidence shows that Giuliani’s appearance and testimony at the hearing “was part of a multi-state, coordinated plan by the Trump Campaign to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere,” the petition says.

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Tucker reported from Washington.

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US

What to watch in Wis., 3 other states in Tuesday’s primaries

What to watch in Wis., 3 other states in Tuesday's primaries

The Republican matchup in the Wisconsin governor’s race on Tuesday features competing candidates endorsed by former President Donald Trump and his estranged vice president, Mike Pence. Democrats are picking a candidate to face two-term GOP Sen. Ron Johnson for control of the closely divided chamber.

Meanwhile, voters in Vermont are choosing a replacement for US Sen. patrick leahy as the chamber’s longest-serving member retires. In Minnesota, US Rep. Ilhan Omar faces a Democratic primary challenger who helped defeat a voter referendum to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new Department of Public Safety.

What to watch in Tuesday’s primary elections in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont and Connecticut:

WISCONSIN

Construction company co-owner Tim Michels has Trump’s endorsement in the governor’s race and has been spending millions of his own money, touting both the former president’s backing and his years working to build his family’s business into Wisconsin’s largest construction company. Michels casts himself as an outsider, although he previously lost a campaign to oust then-US Sen. Russ Feingold in 2004 and has long been a prominent GOP donor.

Establishment Republicans including Pence and former Gov. Scott Walker have endorsed former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefischwho along with Walker, survived a 2012 recall effort. She argues she has the experience and knowledge to pursue conservative priorities, including dismantling the bipartisan commission that runs elections.

With Senate control at stake, Democrats will also make their pick to take on Johnson. Democratic support coalesced around Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes beats in the race, when his three top rivals dropped out and threw their support to him. He would become the state’s first Black senator if elected.

Several lesser-known candidates remain in the primary, but Johnson and Republicans have treated Barnes as the nominee, casting him as too liberal for Wisconsin, a state Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020.

Four Democrats are also running in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, a seat that opened up with the retirement of veteran Democratic US Rep. Ron Kind. The district has been trending Republican, and Derrick Van Orden — who narrowly lost to Kind in 2020 and has Trump’s endorsement — is running unopposed.

MINNESOTA

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz faces a little-known opponent as he seeks a second term. His likely challenger is Republican Scott Jensena physician and former state lawmaker who has made vaccine skepticism a centerpiece of his campaign and faces token opposition.

Both men have been waging a virtual campaign for months, with Jensen attacking Walz for his management of the pandemic and hammering the governor for rising crime around Minneapolis. Walz has highlighted his own support of abortion rights and suggested that Jensen would be a threat to chip away at the procedure’s legality in Minnesota.

Crime has emerged as the biggest issue in Rep. Omar’s Democratic primary. She faces a challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, who opposes the movement to defund the police and last year helped defeat efforts to replace the city’s police department. Omar, who supported the referendum, has a substantial money advantage and is expected to benefit from a strong grassroots operation.

The most confusing part of Tuesday’s ballot was for the 1st Congressional District seat that was held by US Rep. Jim Hagedorn, who died earlier this year from cancer. Republican former state Rep. Brad Finstad and Democrat Jeff Ettinger, a former Hormel CEO, are simultaneously competing in primaries to determine the November matchup for the next two-year term representing the southern Minnesota district, as well as a special election to finish the last few months of Hagedorn’s term.

CONNECTICUT

It’s been roughly three decades since Connecticut had a Republican in the US Senate, but the party isn’t giving up.

In the GOP primary to take on Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthalthe party has endorsed former state House Minority Leader Themis Klarides. She’s a social moderate who supports abortion rights and certain gun control measures and says she did not vote for Trump in 2020. Klarides contends her experience and positions can persuade voters to oppose Blumenthal, a two-term senator who in May registered a 45% job approval rating, his lowest in a Quinnipiac poll since taking office.

Klarides is being challenged by conservative attorney Peter Lumaj and Republican National Committee member Leora Levy, whom Trump endorsed last week. Both candidates oppose abortion rights and further gun restrictions, and they back Trump’s policies from him.

VERMONT

Leahy’s upcoming retirement has opened up two seats in Vermont’s tiny three-person congressional delegation — and the opportunity for the state to send a woman to represent it in Washington for the first time.

Democratic US Rep. Peter Welch, the state’s at-large congressman, quickly launched his Senate bid after Leahy revealed he was stepping down. Leahy, who is president pro tempore of the Senate, has been hospitalized a couple of times over the last two years, including after breaking his hip this summer.

Welch has been endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and is the odds-on favorite to win the seat in November. He faces two other Democrats in the primary: Isaac Evans-Frantz, an activist, and Dr. Niki Thran, an emergency physician.

On the Republican side, former US Attorney Christina Nolan, retired US Army officer Gerald Malloy and investment banker Myers Mermel are competing for the nomination.

The race to replace Welch has yielded Vermont’s first wide-open US House campaign since 2006.

Two women, including Lt. Gov. Molly Gray and state Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, are the top Democratic candidates in the race. Gray, elected in 2020 in her first political bid, is a lawyer and a former assistant state attorney general.

The winner of the Democratic primary will be the heavy favorite to win the general election in the liberal state. In 2018, Vermont became the last state without female representation in Congress when Mississippi Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to the Senate.

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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Doug Glass in Minneapolis; Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn.; and Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vermont, contributed to this report.

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Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP

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US

Trump-endorsed Michigan attorney general candidate named in state election probe

Trump-endorsed Michigan attorney general candidate named in state election probe

Michigan’s attorney general is requesting a special prosecutor to investigate alleged election breaches concerning her Trump-endorsed challenger, Matthew DePerno, Reuters first reported Sunday.

Why it matters: DePerno was previously accused of profiting off 2020 election conspiracies by Republican state senators, by Axios Detroit’s Samuel Robinson.

Driving the news: The request is part of a joint investigation by Attorney General Dana Nessel and Michigan State Police into “a conspiracy to unlawfully obtain access to voting machines used in the 2020 General Election,” according to a petition for the appointment of a special prosecutor, obtained by Political.

  • “When this investigation began there was not a conflict of interest. However, during the course of the investigation, facts were developed that DePerno was one of the prime instigators of the conspiracy,” the petition states.
  • The request was made to the Michigan Prosecuting Attorneys Coordinating Council, an autonomous entity within the state Department of Attorney General.

What they’re saying: DePerno’s campaign tweeted late Sunday that the investigation was a “Political Witch Hunt.”

  • His campaign manager Tyson Shepard said in to statement on Sunday night that Nessel has a “history of targeting and persecuting her political enemies.”

Read the petition, via DocumentCloud:

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comment from DePerno’s campaign and further context.

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Donald Trump hints at 2024 White House comeback bid

Donald Trump hints at 2024 White House comeback bid

Former President Donald Trump strongly indicated he is preparing to run for president and suggested an announcement will come soon.

Trump, who has repeatedly said that he’s made a decision on the 2024 race, was asked by Fox News Digital at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas when Republicans could expect a formal announcement.

“It’s certainly not a very long period, the time is coming,” said the former president. “I think people are going to be very happy, our country has never been in a position like this, we’ve lost everything.”

Trump said that America was facing both domestic and foreign policy crises. In particular, I have argued the country’s “prestige” had been damaged by President Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“Our country has never been at a worse point,” said Trump. “They gave away $85 billion worth of equipment, dead soldiers, you still have Americans over there probably as hostages, eventually will be hostages, there has never been a time like this.

“We’ll be making an announcement in the not too distant future,” Trump added.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, US, on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022.
Trump has repeatedly said that he’s made a decision on the 2024 race.
Yuki Iwamura for NYPost

The remarks came shortly after CPAC unveiled its straw poll showing Trump as the overwhelming favorite for the 2024 GOP nomination among the conservative grassroots. Trump captured nearly 70% of the ballots cast at the conference, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis coming in at a distant second at 23.7%.

Since leaving the White House in January 2021, Trump has maintained an active presence within the Republican Party.

The former president has endorsed an expansive list of candidates running for everything from local and state offices to the United States Senate.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, US, on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. Yuki Iwamura for NYPost
Trump said that America was facing both domestic and foreign policy crises.
Yuki Iwamura for NYPost

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Trump outlines preferred policies if GOP retakes Congress in CPAC speech

Trump outlines preferred policies if GOP retakes Congress in CPAC speech

Former President Trump outlined steps for the GOP to take if they win back control of Congress in November during his speech Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) convention.

Trump said the midterms need to be a “national referendum” on President Biden and Democratic control of Congress, and Republicans must ensure Democrats have a “crippling” defeat. His speech by him at the convention in Dallas, Texas concluded its third day.

Trump pointed to candidates he backed in primaries on multiple occasions like Tudor Dixon, the Republican nominee for governor of Michigan, and Kari Lake, who won the GOP nomination for governor of Arizona.

He said GOP candidates should campaign on holding the Biden administration accountable and working to “shut down” the southern border, reduce crime and beat inflation. He said restoring “public safety” is the first job for the next Congress, and he knows the Republicans who are running are “not going to play games.”

Trump reiterated his call for instituting a death penalty for drug dealers. He said China does not have any drug issues because it executes drug dealers following swift trials.

He said the process “sounds horrible” but would be effective in bringing down drug dealing.

Trump said congressional Republicans should make clear that no money will be provided to fund Biden’s “open border agenda.”

Republicans have sharply criticized the Biden administration for increases in the number of undocumented immigrants since he took office. Biden lifted several Trump-era policies after becoming president, most recently Title 42, a pandemic-era policy that allowed the federal government to quickly expel undocumented immigrants and prevent them from seeking asylum.

Trump said the country needs a “record” increase in the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to deport undocumented immigrants, and the government should implement tougher penalties for repeat offenders.

Trump said teaching any inappropriate “racial, sexual and political material” to schoolchildren “in any form whatsoever” should be banned, and if federal officials push this “radicalism,” the Department of Education should be abolished.

He backed several other cultural issues that have become key parts of many Republicans’ platforms, like banning transgender individuals from playing a sport with the gender they identify with and ending a “censorship regime” to protect free speech.

He said the next Congress has many urgent tasks to address, and there is no time to wait.

Trump also hinted at a potential third run for the presidency in 2024, saying that he won millions more votes in 2020 than in 2016 and that “we may have to do it again.”

Trump told New York Magazine last month that he has already decided about whether to run again, but the big decision will be whether he announces before or after the midterm elections

He said the country’s comeback will begin in November with the midterms, but 2024 will be the “big one.”

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Trump speaks at 2022 CPAC

Trump speaks at 2022 CPAC

Former President Trump addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday.

“The proud patriots here today are the beating heart of the conservative movement,” Trump said after taking the stage to the stirrings of The Village People’s hit “YMCA”

“You are the loyal defenders of our heritage, culture, our Constitution and our God-given rights. You never stop fighting for America, and I will never ever stop fighting for you.”

Trump was frequently interrupted by raucous applause from the GOP activists who gathered for the CPAC conference in the Hilton Anatole’s Trinity Ballroom in Dallas.

In a nearly two hour address, the former president threw out hefty chunks of red meat, coming out in favor of stop-and-frisk policing and the death penalty for drug dealers — a punishment he said was used in China for such offenses.

donald trump
The CPAC straw poll reveals Trump remains the main choice for 2024.
Shelby Tauber/REUTERS
TRUMP CPAC
Trump was frequently interrupted by raucous applause from the crowd.
REUTERS

The speech also came with the standard denunciations of old foes like Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell — who he branded an “old broken crow” — and, of course, President Joe Biden.

“You could take the five worst presidents in American history and put them together and they would not have done the damage Joe Biden has done to our country in two years,” he said.

Trump, however, was mum on whether he would seek a rematch with Biden in 2024.

A woman wears a "MAGA King" jacket at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas.
A woman wears a “MAGA King” jacket at CPAC in Dallas.
Brian Snyder/REUTERS

“I ran twice and won twice and I did much better the second time than I did the first. And now we may have to do it again,” was all he offered.

The question of whether or not Trump will seek to reclaim the White House in 2024 has dominated GOP political circles in recent months. The former president — now 76 years old — has publicly teased the possibility with little subtlety.

“I’ve already made that decision,” he told New York Magazine last month, adding that the only decision left for him was whether he would announce something before or after the midterm elections.

Audience at CPAC
Attendees of CPAC fill the room, some in MAGA gear to support the former president.
Yuki Iwamura for NYPost

Party grandees privately hope he holds off until after November so as not to jeopardize GOP candidates in the midterm elections, but generally accept they have no power to influence his timing.

Trump handily won the CPAC straw poll suggesting enthusiasm among base Republican voters has not wanted despite his social media ban, two impeachments, and an ongoing probe about his actions during the Jan. 6 riots.

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Trump wins CPAC straw poll with more than two-thirds of the vote

Trump wins CPAC straw poll with more than two-thirds of the vote

Former President Trump won a comfortable majority of the vote in the Conservative Political Action Conference’s (CPAC) straw poll, maintaining his position as the favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Organizers announced at CPAC’s convention in Texas that Trump won 69 percent of the vote, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with 24 percent. Trump expanded his lead from the last CPAC straw poll in February, when he received the support of 59 percent of voting attendees to DeSantis’ 28 percent.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) came in third place with 2 percent, while other choices received 1 percent support or less.

In a hypothetical poll without Trump in the race, DeSantis held the lead with 65 percent. Donald Trump Jr. came in second place with 8 percent, Cruz came in third with 6 percent and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came in fourth with 5 percent.

Despite DeSantis gaining attention as a possible alternative to Trump as the 2024 GOP nominee, Trump has consistently dominated CPAC’s informal straw polls since he left office last year.

Trump won the straw poll taken at CPAC in February 2021, about a month after his term ended, with 55 percent of the vote, followed by DeSantis with 21 percent. He received 70 percent support in the straw poll taken at a second CPAC convention last July.

DeSantis has meanwhile remained the consistent second-place finisher but has been unable to top 30 percent support.

DeSantis led among potential choices to be the vice-presidential nominee with 43 percent, followed by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) with 9 percent and Pompeo at 7 percent.

Trump’s approval rating among CPAC attendees ticked up to 99 percent, up two points from February. Nine out of 10 said they strongly approve of Trump’s performance as president.

More than 60 percent of voters listed election integrity as the most important issue, a sign of Trump’s influence on the party as he continues to claim without evidence that voter fraud cost him reelection in the 2020 presidential election.

More than half of listed voters building a border wall and immigration as one of the most important issues, while about 30 percent listed energy independence and constitutional rights, respectively.

The results also showed that CPAC attendees largely do not expect President Biden or Vice President Harris to be the Democratic nominee in 2024.

A 37 percent plurality believe California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) will be the Democratic nominee, while 16 percent expect former first lady Michelle Obama. Biden was chosen by 8 percent, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Harris was chosen by 4 percent.

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