Several candidates have already entered the race for the next Republican presidential nomination, but one previously mentioned contender has withdrawn from the race.

Fox News reported that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced he will not run for president against his former employer, former President Donald Trump.

“I have made a decision,” he announced on the Fox News program “Special Report.” “[We] have determined through prayer that we will not participate in the contest in 2024. While we care deeply about America and the issues I’ve been discussing for the past year and a half – and candidly, decades – are extremely important, this is not our time.”

He was asked if Trump’s participation in the primary influenced his decision not to run.

“No, not at all. This is a deeply personal decision for Susan and me and our son, Nick and his wife, Rachel,” he said. “It wasn’t about what this would look like. And frankly, this race, I hope, isn’t about people. I hope it’s about these ideas.”

He emphasized that electors should not be swayed by personalities, but rather by the candidates’ policies.

He expressed concern that the United States is losing its military advantage and spending $2 trillion more than it takes in.

“These are things that I care about. We were thinking about, can we impact them? Is this the right time for us to go seek the presidency, to go try and work on this? And we just simply came to the conclusion this wasn’t this wasn’t the moment for us,” he said.

He declined to endorse a candidate but stated that he seeks one who prioritizes national security and working families.

“When I figure out who that person is, I feel like I’ve always done in my life, I’ll get behind them and do everything I can to help them,” he said.

However, he appeared to take a shot at Trump when he stated that Americans are “hungry for arguments, not just tweets.”

“I think they’re looking for someone who can clearly articulate their vision for what parents ought to be doing to help their kids be successful in schools and how we take back crime from our streets and cities,” the former secretary of state said.

“I don’t know if that will end up being President Trump that the American people choose or if that is who our party will choose to be its nominee. But I’m hopeful that it will be those debates about real arguments, things that really matter,” he said. “And if that happens, America will be in a pretty damn good place.”

However, another prospective Republican candidate for 2024 has been making noise.

Friday’s report noted that according to the Q1 2023 expenditure report of the Florida Republican Party, the party is presently paying approximately two dozen campaign employees for the 2022 campaign of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.

The Daily Caller reports that although the governor of Florida has been evasive about his presidential ambitions, his actions tell a different story. The filings of the state GOP with the office of Secretary of State Cord Byrd reveal that the party has paid 24 current or former employees of DeSantis’ campaign, including his former press secretary.

Overall, and despite not explicitly challenging front-runner former President Donald Trump, DeSantis appears to be preparing for a potential presidential run, according to the outlet.

The Florida GOP’s hiring of speechwriter Nate Hochman and former DeSantis congressional aide Dustin Carmack was previously disclosed, but the DeSantis campaign’s broader staffing strategy was not.

The news organization was informed of the additional hires when a Florida Republican staffer using an email address with the rondesantis.com domain claimed to be conducting business for the state GOP.

More on this story via Conservative Brief:

According to campaign documents filed with the Secretary of State’s office, the DeSantis campaign provided almost $9.6 million to the state GOP in 2022. During Q1 2023, the campaign paid the party over $200,000 as a vendor. The state GOP returned $3 million to Friends of Ron DeSantis, the official DeSantis campaign committee, in Q1 2023, said the outlet, citing records. CONTINUE READING…