Trump furious at Sarah Huckabee Sanders over lack of endorsement: report
Donald Trump is reportedly furious at Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders for withholding her endorsement for his 2024 campaign.
The former president is frustrated that his former White House press secretary's team told his campaign until after her first legislative session in Arkansas, which ended in May, but she still hasn't publicly backed his re-election bid, two sources told Axios.
“You should always dance with the person who brought you," one Trump ally told the website, although they neglected to mention that the person who brought her has been found liable by a jury of sexual abuse.
Sanders is among several Republicans with national political ambitions who have stayed neutral in the GOP primary, but Trump feels she owes an endorsement since he hired her as press secretary and backed her gubernatorial bid on the day she announced her campaign, although Trump denied a report that he had asked for her backing.
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“I never asked Sarah Huckabee Sanders for an endorsement," Trump posted on Truth Social in March. "I give endorsements, I don’t generally ask for them. With that being said, nobody has done more for her than I have, with the possible exception of her great father, Mike!”
The 40-year-old Sanders has developed a relationship with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey, with whom she's bonded over their recent experiences with cancer.
"Sarah reached out to Casey during her treatments and the same thing happened when Sarah had her experience," said one senior Republican close to both GOP presidential candidates.
The Trump and DeSantis campaigns each declined to comment, but Sanders' communications director praised the former president but stopped short of an endorsement.
"Governor Sanders loves President Trump and believes our country would be much better off under his leadership than President Biden, and that President Trump is the dominant frontrunner and our likely Republican nominee in 2024," spokeswoman Alexa Henning told Axios.