By Kit Maher and Steve Contorno | CNN
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he has no intention of serving as vice president and left open the possibility of another White House run in 2028, according to three sources on a private call Wednesday with his supporters and those who volunteered to be delegates for the former presidential candidate.
Audio of the call was first obtained and reported on by the New York Post. The authenticity of the quotes from the New York Post and The New York Times, which also obtained the call, were confirmed to CNN by two sources.
DeSantis dropped out of the Republican presidential primary last month shortly after losing the Iowa caucuses, and endorsed former President Donald Trump, who is now hurtling toward the GOP nomination.
According to one source on the Wednesday call, a person asked DeSantis essentially if he had any advice about the type of person the Republican nominee should choose as a running mate.
After reiterating that he’s not interested in the job, DeSantis said that his criteria for choosing a running mate probably differs from Trump’s, suggesting that identity politics is more of a factor for the former president and his team.
“I’ve heard that they are looking more at identity politics. I think that’s a mistake. I think you should just focus on who you think the best person for the job would be,” DeSantis said.
Despite Trump telling Fox News this week that DeSantis was on his short list of potential ticket mates, DeSantis said definitively Wednesday that he would not serve as vice president, indicating that he would be more effective remaining Florida governor, two sources said.
As a presidential candidate, DeSantis consistently said he would not serve as vice president, whether under Trump or anyone else. One source also acknowledged that what DeSantis said on this call did not differ greatly from what he said as a candidate.
While he ruled out being vice president, he didn’t rule out a 2028 presidential bid, the sources said.
“I haven’t ruled anything out,” DeSantis said, according to the Times.
One source told CNN that this was the most interesting part of the call, in this person’s view, and that it wouldn’t be surprising if DeSantis runs again, pointing to repeat presidential bids by Joe Biden, John McCain and Mitt Romney, for example.
Also on Wednesday’s call, DeSantis made what many on the call viewed as a veiled dig at Susie Wiles, a senior adviser on Trump’s campaign who once served as a top adviser to DeSantis. She was abruptly ousted from the governor’s inner circle in 2019.
“I think [Trump’s] got people in his inner circle who were a part of our orbit years ago that we fired, and I think some of that is they have an ax to grind,” he said.
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Three sources told CNN that DeSantis was probably referring to Wiles with that statement, according to their interpretation, although one source also suggested that he could have been suggesting others in Florida.
Responding to reports of the call, Trump campaign strategist Chris LaCivita posted on X that DeSantis was a “sad little man.”
DeSantis on the call also echoed what he told reporters in January about conservative media outlets, saying they serve as “basically a Praetorian guard” for Trump that doesn’t hold him accountable.
“He said at some point he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose a vote,” DeSantis said, referring to the former president. “Well, I think he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, and the conservative media wouldn’t even report on it.”
About 300 people were on the call, according to two sources who were on it. DeSantis made introductory remarks for about 10 to 15 minutes and then took questions for about 45 minutes.