Tech tycoon may fund Trump campaign if he picks Scott as his VP
A TECHNOLOGY billionaire who funded Tim Scott’s presidential campaign is reportedly pushing Donald Trump to choose the senator as his 2024 running mate.
Larry Ellison, the co-founder of the cloud computing giant Oracle, has urged Mr Trump’s team to select Mr Scott as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, and may back his campaign in exchange.
Mr Ellison, the world’s eighth-richest man, was a key backer of Mr Scott’s presidential bid last year, injecting tens of millions of dollars into a political action committee (PAC) supporting his campaign.
The South Carolina senator, who withdrew from the race in November, has since become one of Mr Trump’s most vocal supporters. The pair have appeared at rallies together since the New Hampshire primary in January.
Mr Ellison, who owns a property near Mr Trump’s Mar-a-lago resort in Florida, has met the former president and his team several times, and is persuading them to adopt Mr Scott as a running mate, Puck News reported. The outlet said the billionaire was in talks to donate to the Trump campaign, which is facing a cash crunch amid a series of legal battles over the former president’s criminal indictments.
Mr Trump has remained tight-lipped about his choice of running mate, pre- ferring to suggest a series of names before making a decision.
So far, the contenders include Kristi Noem and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the respective governors of South Dakota and Arkansas, the former presidential candidate Doug Burgum and the New
York Republican representative Elise Stefanik.
A cash injection from Mr Ellison could solve Mr Trump’s financial problems, which have been compounded by high-profile donors’ concerns about bad press and mounting legal bills. In January, the campaign spent more money than it raised, although it has claimed to have received a funding boost after Mr Trump became the party’s presumptive nominee on March 12.
Mr Trump is attempting to push back the dates of criminal trials beyond the November election by launching appeals, including an application for the Supreme Court to rule on his argument he should be immune from prosecution for actions taken while he was in office. It came as it was disclosed that Mr Trump’s wife Melania will be the star attraction at a fundraiser this month as part of Republican efforts to turn her into their “secret weapon” to win back the White House.
The former First Lady, 53, has made fleeting appearances on the campaign trail ahead of the election, but strategists working for Donald Trump expect that workload to increase.
“The Trump campaign recognises that Melania is their secret weapon,” a source close to the campaign told the
“Her appeal is critical to win battleground states and undecided voters.”