Former President Donald Trump weighed in Sunday on what he’s looking for in a running mate, though he said he will not make an announcement about who that will be “for a little while.”
"What criteria are you using to identify who your running mate is?" Fox News host Maria Bartiromo asked the GOP presidential candidate during a “Sunday Morning Futures” interview.
Trump said his VP needs to be someone who could be a successful president.
"Always, it's got to be who is going to be a good president. Obviously, you always have to think that because in case of emergency. Things happen, right? No matter who you are, things happen. That's got to be No. 1," he replied.
Pressed for a name, Trump said he had “a lot of good people” and that he’s speaking with a wide range of individuals.
"You know, I called Tim Scott and people like Tim Scott, and I said you're a much better candidate for me than you are for yourself," Trump said of the South Carolina senator. "When I watched him, he was fine. He was good, but he was very low-key."
Trump added: "I watched him in the last week, defending me and sticking up for me and fighting for me. I said, 'Man, you're a much better person for me than you are for yourself.'"
He also praised South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whom he said he speaks with frequently.
"Kristi Noem has been incredible fighting for me," Trump told Bartiromo. "She said, 'I'd never run against him because I can't beat him.' That was a very nice thing to say."
Trump claimed, however, that he has never had a conversation with her about being his running mate.
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