Trump officially announces 2024 presidential bid

Former President Donald Trump is running to reclaim his old job, the Republican announced after months of openly flirting with another run. 

“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said during an event at Mar-a-Lago, his club in Florida. 

Trump will challenge President Joe Biden for a second time, after losing to the Democrat in 2020. For nearly two years, Trump and his supporters have baselessly claimed the election was rigged. There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Trump and associates of his are under state and federal investigation over efforts to overturn the presidential election result. Trump himself has refused to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify about his role regarding the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The former president also faces an investigation into the alleged mishandling of highly sensitive classified documents, which federal law enforcement found at the same club where he announced his latest presidential bid. 

The former president will likely begin a Republican primary as the de facto frontrunner, though an increasing number of elected Republicans have called for the party to move on after an underwhelming midterm outcome for the party. Candidates who tied themselves particularly closely to Trump and his stolen election falsehood especially underperformed.

“I think he had a significant impact on the underperformance of the Republican Party,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told reporters on Monday. “I would say this: in my opinion the current leader of the Republican Party is Ron DeSantis.”

It is not clear what a second Trump term could mean for the crypto industry. Trump said he was “not a fan” of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in 2019, and has more recently called the tech a “scam.” But since leaving government at the end of the administration, former senior financial regulators appointed by Trump have gone on to work for digital asset companies, including former Acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks and former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger. 

Mainstream conservative groups have also become more active in the crypto world since Trump left office. The conservative Club for Growth recently launched two crypto-branded super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited funds. The group endorsed Trump in 2016 and 2020.

TrumpCoin, a memecoin that uses the ex-president’s name, was up 10% over the last week, as news reports suggested he was close to entering the 2024 presidential race. The Trump family threatened legal action against the coin earlier this year.

With additional reporting from Kollen Post.

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