Politics- Very few members of Trump's former cabinet have endorsed his 2024 re-election campaign.
- NBC News reached out to over 40 former cabinet members, finding just 4 publicly endorsed Trump.
Of 44 members of former President Donald Trump's cabinet, less than 10% have publicly endorsed him in his 2024 presidential run.
Only four of Trump's former cabinet members openly endorsed his re-election run, according to NBC News. Several didn't respond to the outlet or declined to comment, while some told NBC they were actively working to prevent his nomination.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on Sunday.
The four former cabinet members supportive of Trump 2024 were Matthew Whitaker, former acting attorney general; Mark Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff; Russell Vought, Trump's former budget chief; and Richard Grenell, former acting director of national intelligence, according to NBC.
Requests for comment made to the four men through their websites, nonprofits, and social media were not immediately answered on Sunday.
Meanwhile, other former members of Trump's cabinet have been vocal against his run for re-election, such as former Attorney General Bill Barr, who testified extensively against Trump before the House January 6 committee. In interviews, he's called Trump a "troubled man" who must face justice.
"I have made clear that I strongly oppose Trump for the nomination and will not endorse Trump," Barr told NBC News. Asked if the 2024 race ends up in a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, Barr told NBC he'd "jump off that bridge when I get to it."
Similar comments came from Mick Mulvaney, another one of Trump's former chiefs of staff, according to NBC.
"I am working hard to make sure that someone else is the nominee," Mulvaney told NBC. "I think he's the Republican who is most likely to lose in a general election, of all our leading candidates. If anyone can lose to Joe Biden, it would be him."
Trump wasn't shy about axing members of his administration when he felt they weren't performing or were working against him. The dynamic may be coming back to haunt him.
"They're not friends; they're not hanging on forever," Barbara Perry, the director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia, told NBC. "They're going to skip out, or he's going to push them out in some instances."
Trump said in October he would find it "very disloyal" if former Vice President Mike Pence or other members of his cabinet ran for president in 2024. Pence is running, though he is polling in the single digits – well behind Trump.