- Trump wants DeSantis to publicly say he won't launch a rival 2024 presidential bid, Politico reported.
- He is said to have complained to people at Mar-a-Lago that DeSantis hasn't done so.
Former President
Politico's Playbook newsletter reported on Friday that Trump had been complaining to members and guests at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida that DeSantis hasn't joined other potential rivals in making a public declaration that he won't run for president in 2024 if Trump decides to.
Politico wrote that Trump told advisors that DeSantis had privately told him that he wouldn't run if Trump does, "but that's not enough for the former president - he wants DeSantis to say it in public."
The report went on to say that Trump had been talking up the chances of Charlie Crist, the Democrat challenging DeSantis in the 2022 race for Florida governor.
When asked to comment on the Politico report, Liz Harrington, a spokesperson for Trump, told Insider: "It's all fake news."
Trump has long stirred rumors that he will make another bid for office in 2024, and has raised millions of dollars from fundraising efforts.
The former president's hopes for another White House term places allies such as DeSantis, who are said to have presidential ambitions of their own, in a tough position. Some allies, such as the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, have said they won't run for the presidency if Trump stands.
DeSantis has long cast himself as an inheritor of Trump's economic agenda, and like Trump, has opposed some public health mandates to slow the COVID pandemic.
DeSantis previously dismissed rumors of a 2024 run as "purely manufactured." In an April interview, Trump suggested that he could pick DeSantis to run with him as vice president.