Roger Stone, former President Donald Trump‘s longtime confidant, said he believes his friend has decided to run for the White House again in 2024.
“Based on my communications with him, I now believe that he will be a candidate,” Mr. Stone said about Mr. Trump in a video uploaded Thursday. “I believe that he‘s crossed that Rubicon in his mind.”
Mr. Stone, a friend of Mr. Trump’s of more than 30 years, made the remark during an interview conducted by another close acquaintance of his, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the publisher of the Infowars website.
Appearing on camera from the passenger seat of an occasionally moving car, Mr. Stone said in the video that he only recently determined that Mr. Trump is best suited to be the Republican Party’s nominee again.
“He‘s our best candidate. I’ve come to that conclusion. If you’d asked me that three weeks ago, I would have put a bunch of caveats on it, but not anymore. There is no one else,” Mr. Stone said about Mr. Trump.
“He is the leader. He remade the Republican Party in his image, and that’s not going to change anytime soon,” he said. “We’re never going back to being the country club party of the Bushes. You can forget that.”
Mr. Trump has repeatedly hinted at running for the White House since his presidency ended in January, and a number of his allies have suggested a 2024 campaign is in his cards.
If elected in 2024, Mr. Trump, the only president in U.S history to be twice impeached, would become the second to serve two non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th president.
Mr. Stone, 69, briefly served on the Trump presidential campaign. He was later found guilty of multiple felony charges brought as a result of the government’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2020 election and was ordered to serve 40 months in prison. Mr. Trump granted him a presidential pardon and commuted his sentence, however. Several other Trump allies were similarly convicted but later cleared.
Shortly before saying he believes Mr. Trump will run in 2024, Mr. Stone all but admitted the former president told him as much.
“Roger, let’s get down to brass tacks. Trump told you he‘s going to run,” Mr. Jones said.
“I would never say that on the air,” Mr. Stone responded with a smirk as Mr. Jones started laughing. “But if you said it, I wouldn’t contradict you.”
