Donald Trump will announce running mate at GOP convention in July
Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump will not name his running mate until the Republican Convention in Cleveland this July, he said Thursday.
"It is still early--we just won yesterday," he told the Associated Press in an interview. "I will announce it at the convention. A lot of people are interested."
Waiting until July to make an official announcement hasn't stopped Trump from pontificating about his options in recent days: though his status as presumptive nominee is barely days old, he has in various interviews thrown out potential names or noted people he's not vetting (South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, for example).
Former GOP rival Ben Carson will be involved in selecting his running mate, Trump said. He has also repeatedly noted that he'll be looking for someone with political experience--a "political person," he says--to help him navigate Washington.
He also initially said Ohio Gov. John Kasich would not be on his shortlist early Wednesday; once Kasich had suspended his campaign, however, Trump said he was considering Kasich, and by Wednesday night he was saying Kasich was "rising rapidly" on his shortlist.
On Thursday, Carson suggested he himself would not be in the running for Trump's VP slot, but told the Wall Street Journal that Democrats may be among those vetted. The campaign is looking for "people who are Americans and who put America first," Carson said.