Donald Trump, who has mounted relentless attacks on the integrity of U.S. voting since his 2020 election defeat, on Tuesday (November 15) launched a bid to regain the presidency in 2024, aiming to pre-empt potential Republican rivals, Reuters reports.
In a speech broadcast live on U.S. television and taking the stage with his wife Melania, Trump spoke to hundreds of supporters in a ballroom decorated with several chandeliers and lined with dozens of American flags.
"In order to make America great again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States," Trump said to a cheering phone-waving crowd of donors and longtime supporters.
Trump, seeking a potential rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden, made his announcement at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida a week after midterm elections in which Republicans failed to win as many seats in Congress as they had hoped.
Earlier in the day, aides filed paperwork with the U.S. Federal Election Commission setting up a committee called "Donald J. Trump for President 2024."
For much of the speech Trump steered clear of the name-calling that marked his recent public appearances, opting instead for a critique of Biden's presidency and a review of what Trump said were the policy achievements of his own time in office.
Trump, 76, is seeking to become only the second U.S. president in history to serve non-consecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland, whose second stint ended in 1897. Biden, 79, said last week he intends to run for re-election and will likely make a final decision by early next year.
