Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Trump has said he wants to be president until he is ’90’
President Donald Trump has thanked a radio host for asking him about running for president in 2024.
It came after “Fox & Friends” host Ainsley Earhardt asked Mr Trump during a morning radio interview whether he was going to run in 2024.
“We should tell you – you may take it right back,” Mr Trump told her, and said she should ask a Republican.
“I may be, we will see. I was thinking about doing it, but I won’t be.”
Excerpts of the interview, which will appear on Fox News later, have been released ahead of its airing.
Mr Trump’s explosive suggestion that he may run for President in 2024 has generated comparisons to Barack Obama, who was thought to be thinking about running for the White House before he won in 2008.
Mr Trump’s remarks, made in an appearance with Ms Earhardt in the White House Rose Garden, came in response to Ms Earhardt’s question about whether he would run in 2024.
“We should tell you – you may take it right back,” he said, to laughter and laughter from the crowd.
“I won’t be running, but I won’t be too long – probably another two years.”
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Trump said he loved the presidency so much he may not run for it again
Mr Trump told his hosts, who had questioned him about recent criticism of him, that he thought the job was “so much fun” and that he would “love to be there so much”.
The Republican president had talked about running for President in the last presidential election in 2016, but dropped out at the last minute, leaving his rival Ted Cruz to finish second to Mr Trump in the Republican primary.
In May, Ms Earhardt admitted in an interview that she thought Mr Trump was going to run for president in 2024.
She also gave details of the interview with the president that will air later on Thursday morning.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mr Trump and Ms Earhardt have been regular guests on her Fox News show
Ms Earhardt said she asked Mr Trump about calls by Republicans to resign over his comments about federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, which contributed to his loss in the Republican primaries to Mr Trump.
“When I said, ‘Are you running?’ He said, ‘Well, I am’, and I said, ‘But you’re not going to win,'” Ms Earhardt told reporters after the radio interview.
“He said, ‘Oh no, I’m so strongly, I just want to serve my country. I love this country,’ and he said ‘I’m not going to quit, I’m committed to winning’.”
Mr Trump said he would not quit, according to Ms Earhardt, even though “nobody likes me”.
“I could care less what everybody says about me. What I care about is whether it’s the truth or not.”
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ms Earhardt said she wanted to hear how long Mr Trump planned to serve as President, as opposed to her election question
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Fox News hosts did not appear surprised by her suggestion that Mr Trump would run in 2024
Mr Trump met with nearly a dozen US senators on Wednesday for lunch, reportedly to discuss his plans for the rest of the year and a possible government shutdown.
However, senators said he gave no indication he intended to abandon efforts to secure funding for his proposed wall on the US-Mexico border.
His comments seemed to suggest that a deal to resolve the funding conflict was still a way off.
The funding, which has been in limbo due to a standoff between the White House and Congress, is crucial to keeping Mr Trump’s signature campaign promise of a wall.
Instead, he has demanded that Congress fund the wall and related security measures for about $5bn (£3.6bn) and commit to slashing legal immigration by 50% across all visa categories and congressional protections for young immigrants, known as “Dreamers”.
The agreement, described by Democratic Senator Dick Durbin as coming out of the meeting, was for $1.6bn (£1.3bn) to build 95 miles (£71m) of border walls, plus nearly $1bn (£810m) to increase border security.