Trump is said to be trying hard to recruit politicians and journalists to back the baseless theory he will be reinstated as president

• Donald Trump is said to "believe quite genuinely" that he will again be president this year.
• The baseless idea has circulated among Trump supporters and some fringe media outlets for months.
• Sources told National Review that Trump was trying to get influential figures to spread the theory.

Former President Donald Trump is said to be "trying hard" to recruit politicians and journalists to promote his baseless theory that he will be reinstated as president this year, National Review reported.

Charles C.W. Cooke, a senior reporter for National Review, said he had confirmed the New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman's reporting on the subject.

"Haberman's reporting was correct," he wrote. "I can attest, from speaking to an array of different sources, that Donald Trump does indeed believe quite genuinely that he - along with former senators David Perdue and Martha McSally - will be 'reinstated' to office this summer."

He added: "Trump is trying hard to recruit journalists, politicians, and other influential figures to promulgate this belief - not as a fundraising tool or an infantile bit of trolling or a trial balloon, but as a fact."

Haberman tweeted Tuesday that Trump had told others he believed he'd reenter the White House by August.

"Trump has been telling a number of people he's in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn't how it works but simply sharing the information)," Haberman tweeted.

The baseless theory has been circulating among Trump supporters and fringe conservative media outlets for months, Insider's Jake Lahut reported.

It is based on the belief that President Joe Biden's victory will be overturned following "audits" of last year's presidential election in states including Georgia and Arizona. Trump and his allies filed more than 40 legal challenges to last year's election result, all of which failed.

Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, has been a vocal proponent of the theory that Trump will be reinstalled to the White House in August. He told Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon that the theory was "100% real."

Lindell also took credit for Trump's reported belief in the August deadline, telling The Daily Beast: "If Trump is saying August, that is probably because he heard me say it."

Sidney Powell, a former attorney for Trump, also pushed the theory at a conference over the weekend.