Trump launches 2024 presidential bid
Donald Trump, who has mounted relentless attacks on the integrity of US voting since his 2020 election defeat, on Tuesday launched a bid to regain the presidency in 2024, aiming to pre-empt potential Republican rivals. 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. In a speech broadcast live on US television, 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. Earlier in the day, aides filed paperwork with the US 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. "Two years ago we were a great nation and soon we will be a great nation again," he said. There is a long road ahead before the Republican nominee is formally selected in the summer of 2024, with the first state-level contests more than a year away. Trump's announcement comes earlier than usual even in a country known for protracted presidential campaigns and signals his interest in discouraging other possible contenders such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis or his own former vice president, Mike Pence, from making a bid for the Republican Party's 2024 presidential nomination. Trump will seek his party's nomination even as he faces trouble on several fronts, including a criminal investigation into his possession of government documents taken when he left office as well as a congressional subpoena related to his role in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack by his supporters.  Trump has called the various investigations he faces politically motivated and has denied wrongdoing. Trump, 76, is seeking to become only the second US president in history to serve non-consecutive terms, after Grover Cleveland, whose second stint ended in 1897.  Biden responded to Trump's announcement by saying the Republican "failed" his country while in office. "Donald Trump failed America," Biden said in a tweet from Bali, where he was attending the last day of the G20 summit. This accompanied a video compilation saying Trump presided over "rigging economy for rich", "attacking health care", "coddling extremists", "attacking women's rights", and "inciting a violent mob" to try and overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden.  Biden, 79, said last week he intends to run for re-election and will likely make a final decision by early next year. (Reuters/AFP)