REPORT: Trump Reveals His 2028 Pick To Donors

President Donald Trump may finally be tipping his hand in the race to succeed him, privately telling donors that Vice President JD Vance is the Republican he wants to see in the White House after his presidency.

“At the end of the day, we need to elect JD,” Trump reportedly said during an Oval Office meeting with donors about two weeks ago, according to a source familiar with the conversation. The Washington Post first reported the remarks.

While Trump has publicly praised both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the private comment is his clearest indication yet that he’s looking at his vice president as the party’s standard-bearer for 2028.

Vance already sits atop most early Republican presidential polling, while Rubio has repeatedly insisted he would support the vice president if Vance enters the race. Even so, Trump’s praise of Rubio has kept his name in the conversation.

During a donor event in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Trump again applauded his vice president, praising “the war on fraud led by our great Vice President JD Vance: He’s doing a great job.”

Asked about working inside the administration despite constant speculation over 2028, Vance stressed that Trump’s agenda comes first.

“The president runs this administration: He is the very top of the administration; he makes orders,” Vance said during an interview Wednesday on “The Ingraham Angle.” “We, of course, have debates and conversations about what exactly we should do, but when the president of the United States makes a decision, we’re unified in this administration in carrying out that mission.”

Trump has also repeatedly celebrated Rubio’s performance as America’s top diplomat, crediting him with helping lead negotiations involving Venezuela, Cuba and the Middle East while juggling additional responsibilities inside the administration.

Earlier this year, the president predicted Rubio would become “the greatest secretary of state in history.”

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Trump has even floated the prospect of a Vance-Rubio ticket, describing it as “unstoppable,” though he has never explicitly specified who would lead it.

He also remarked last year that Vance was “most likely” his successor because “in all fairness, he’s the vice president.”

Trump fueled more 2028 chatter at last month’s rescheduled White House Correspondents Dinner by joking about seeking a fourth term while displaying Trump 2028 merchandise.

Although Vance has declined to discuss his own presidential ambitions, he has assembled advisers widely expected to form the foundation of a national campaign if he decides to run after the midterms.

Rubio has not put together a comparable political organization and has publicly said he would support a Vance candidacy.

Vance’s standing inside the party has also grown through his role overseeing Republican fundraising. As finance chairman for the Republican National Committee, he has helped guide a war chest that exceeded $128 million in the committee’s June filing with the Federal Election Commission.

“Vice President Vance has been a fundraising powerhouse for the RNC, supercharging our war chest as we head into the midterms,” RNC Chair Joe Gruters told Fox News Digital in a statement. “He’s held record-breaking events across the country and brought new and longtime donors together with his ability to connect every corner of the America First movement.