Donald Trump is reportedly considering holding a massive rally in Florida on the same day as Joe Biden's inauguration.
The President, who has refused to concede the election and continues to claim it was "rigged", is privately discussing a made-for-TV grand finale, where he would depart on Marine One and a final Air Force One flight after refusing to welcome Biden to the White
House or attend his inauguration, Axios reported on Monday.
According to the report, Trump is considering holding a giant "MAGA" rally in his new home state where he would immediately announce he is running in 2024, creating a split-screen moment between his cheering audience and Biden's scaled down, socially distanced inauguration.
"Anonymous sources who claim to know what the President is or is not considering have no idea," White House spokesman Judd Deere told Axios. "When President Trump has an announcement about his plans for January 20 he will let you know."
NBC News first reported last week that "preliminary planning" was underway for a January 20 event for Trump to kick off a 2024 bid.
The President was keen for inauguration day as that was when he filed for re-election in 2017, but he has also recently told advisers he wants to announce a 2024 campaign shortly after the electoral college meets on December 14, according to the report.
The Daily Beast reported last month that Trump had privately bragged that even if he fails to overturn the election results and Biden takes office, he would remain in the spotlight because the media find his rival "boring".
At an Oval Office meeting last month between Trump, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the President reportedly said he planned on running in 2024.
"If you do that – and I think I speak for everybody in the room – we're with you 100 per cent," O'Brien said, according to Bloomberg.
At a rally in Georgia on Saturday to support two Republican Senators facing January 5 run-off elections, Trump continued to rail against the election results. "If I lost, I'd be a very gracious loser," Trump told the crowd in Valdosta.
"If I lost, I would say, 'I lost,' and I would go to Florida and I'd take it easy. But you can't ever accept when they steal and rig and rob. You can't accept it. We're all deeply disturbed and upset by the lying, cheating, robbing, stealing that's gone on with our elections."