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Former President Donald Trump will headline the annual Conservative Political Action Conference due to take place in Orlando later this month.

The 45th president made the announcement in a video posted by Matt Schlapp, the head of the American Conservative Union, on his Twitter account.

Ill be attending CPAC again this year in Orlando, Florida, Trump said. I will see you soon. Going to be a fantastic crowd lets have fun.

Trump, who has been a regular at CPAC since his first appearance in 2011, said he urged Schlapp and the organizers to get a bigger ballroom this year.

Last year it was packed and there were thousands of people outside, and they said were going to get a real big one,' he said.

Other scheduled speakers at CPAC include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

The annual gathering could function as an early preview of a potential 2024 Republican presidential primary between DeSantis and Trump.

Neither has announced a formal intention to run, but DeSantis is widely expected to throw his hat in the ring and Trump has teased a political comeback as he holds campaign-style rallies around the country.

The two Florida Republicans have also been indirectly critical of each other in public.

DeSantis became a GOP star during the COVID-19 pandemic by playing up his opposition to lockdowns as well as mask and vaccine mandates, selling the Sunshine State as freedoms vanguard.

In an interview on the Ruthless podcast last month, the Florida governor said he regrets not having been much louder in opposition when then-President Trump called for widespread lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic.

I never thought in February, early March [2020], that [coronavirus] would lead to locking down the country, he said on the podcast. I just didnt. I didnt think that was on the radar.

Trump, meanwhile, recently blasted politicians who refuse to admit whether they got a coronavirus booster shot as gutless, in what many see as a veiled attack against DeSantis, who wont divulge that information.

I watched a couple politicians be interviewed and one of the questions was, Did you get a booster? Because they had the vaccine, and theyre answering like in other words, the answer is yes but they dont want to say it, because theyre gutless, Trump told One America News Network.

A recent poll of Florida voters by Suffolk University/USA Today shows that Trump would defeat DeSantis by 47 percent to 40 percent in a 2024 primary race in the Sunshine state.

The 2022 edition of CPAC is scheduled to take place Feb. 24-27.

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Trump, DeSantis confirmed to speak at CPAC in Orlando later this month - New York Post

Governor Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., appears on "Meet the Press" in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019.William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Trump dropped the biggest hint yet that he'll run for president again in 2024.

NGA Chairman Asa Hutchinson, the Republican governor of Arkansas, is against that idea.

He told Insider Trump shouldn't lead Republicans or the country again.

The Republican chairman of the National Governors Association said on Saturday that Donald Trump should not lead Republicans or the country again.

"I do not believe Trump is the one to lead our party and our country again, as president," Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told Insider on the sidelines of the NGA Winter Meeting in Washington, DC.

Insider asked Hutchinson whether he wants Trump to run following a video that recently surfaced in which Trump declares on the golf course that he is "the 45th and the 47th" president.

Asked who should lead instead, Hutchinson said "that's what the election is all about."

There's many choices out there, he added.

"And, you know, the Republican Party has many different voices," Hutchinson said. "And it's important in this time to have those voices and they should be concentrating on this election cycle."

Several Republican governors at the conference either said they were focusing on their state or the next election when asked about Trump's statement and whether they support him running.

"Any thought on 2024 is wasted energy at this time," said Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who leads the Republican Governors Association. "The elections that are in front of us are 2022, and that's what I'm focused on as the chairman of RGA."

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill last year that would name a stretch of highway in his state after the former president. When asked about Trump's future in presidential politics, Stitt said, "whatever the former president wants to do. I'm focused on Oklahoma right now, not all the national DC stuff."

Hutchinson, a two-term governor, was one of the first Republican governors to publicly push Trump to start a transition process with President Joe Biden after the 2020 election. He has said that Trump's continued attempts to discredit the 2020 election results could be a "disaster" for Republican candidates running for office this year.

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"I've made it clear: This is about the future," he told Insider. "It's not about the past elections."

Earlier, he told reporters, "I don't believe the election was stolen. I respect the results."

Trump's golf course comments are the latest, and perhaps most pointed, in a series of hints that he plans to run for president in 2024.

To become an official candidate, Trump would have to raise or spend more than $5,000 specifically in support of a presidential campaign effort to officially register as a presidential candidate, according to Federal Election Commission guidelines.

John L. Dorman contributed to this story.

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Donald Trump should not lead the country again, says the Republican leader of the National Governors Association - Yahoo News

A conservative group called out Donald Trump for suggesting hed pardon Jan. 6 rioters if hes elected president again in 2024.

The new video from the Republican Accountability Project juxtaposes Trumps pardon comments with video footage of his supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol, assaulting police officers and attempting to stop the certification of the 2020 election.

The organization, run by Republicans opposed to Trump, said the spot will air nationally on Fox & Friends, a show the former president is known to watch:

Trumps pardon promise has been panned by both the left and the right.

My view is I would not be in favor of shortening any of the sentences to any of the people who pled guilty to crimes, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week.

If you do the crime, you do the time. You shouldnt be pardoned for that, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said at a separate event.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Trumps remark was pretty revealing.

They go to his intent, Schiff said on MSNBC this week. If this violence against the Capitol wasnt part of the plan, or wasnt something he condoned, then why would he consider pardoning them?

For the past year, the Republican Accountability Project has been calling out the lawmakers who enabled Trump and supported the Jan. 6 insurrection, including 13 members of Congress who are featured in the groups online Hall of Shame. The organization is also looking to support primary challengers to ensure that as few of them as possible return to Congress in 2022.

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Conservative Group Exposes Trump's Latest Threat In Damning Fox News Ad - HuffPost

FILE Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the National Press Club in Washington, Nov. 30, 2021. Pence said Friday in a speech in Florida that the former president is simply wrong when he says Pence had the right to unilaterally overturn the election. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday directly rebutted Donald Trumps false claims that Pence somehow could have overturned the results of the 2020 election, saying that the former president was simply wrong.

In a speech to the conservative Federalist Society in Florida, Pence addressed Trumps intensifying efforts this week to advance the false narrative that he could have done something to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.

President Trump is wrong, Pence said. I had no right to overturn the election.

While Pence in the past has defended his actions on Jan. 6 and said that he and Trump willlikely never see eye to eyeon what happened that day, the remarks Friday marked his most forceful rebuttal of Trump to date. And they come as Pence has been laying the groundwork for a potential run for president in 2024, which could put him in direct competition with his former boss, who has also been teasing a comeback run.

In a statement Tuesday, Trump said the committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol should instead probe why Mike Pence did not send back the votes for recertification or approval. And on Sunday, he blasted Pence, falsely declaring that he could have overturned the Election!

Vice presidents play only a ceremonial role in the the counting of Electoral College votes, and any attempt to interfere in the count would have represented a profound break from precedent and democratic norms.

Pence, in his remarks Friday, described Jan. 6, 2021, as a dark day in the history of the United States Capitol.

Pence was inside the building, presiding over the joint session of Congress to certify the presidential election, when a mob of Trumps supporters violently smashed inside, assaulting police officers and hunting down lawmakers. Pence, who had released a statement earlier that day to make clear he had no authority to overturn the will of the voters, was rushed to safety as some rioters chanted Hang Mike Pence!

Pence framed his actions that day as in line with his duty as a constitutional conservative.

The American people must know that we will always keep our oath to the Constitution, even when it would be politically expedient to do otherwise, he told the group Friday. He noted that, under Article II Section One of the Constitution, elections are conducted at the state level, not by Congress and that the only role of Congress with respect to the Electoral College is to open and count votes submitted and certified by the states. No more, no less.

Frankly there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president, he added. Under the Constitution, I had no right to change the outcome of our election. And Kamala Harris will have no right to overturn the election when we beat them in 2024.

Pence also acknowledged the lingering anger among many in Trumps base. But, he said: The truth is, theres more at stake than our party or political fortunes. Men and women, if we lose faith in the Constitution, we wont just lose elections well lose our country.

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Trump is wrong: Pence says he had no right to overturn 2020 election - FOX31 Denver

GRAND RAPIDS, MI Ben Carson is the featured speaker Monday at a campaign rally for John Gibbs, a Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump who wants to unseat Rep. Peter Meijer in the August GOP primary for Michigans 3rd Congressional District.

Doors open for the rally, being held at the Deltaplex in Walker, at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 7.

Gibbs served during the Trump administration as acting assistant secretary for community planning and development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Carson was Secretary of HUD during Trumps presidency.

Free tickets for Mondays rally are available at votejohngibbs.com.

Dr. Carson is a very unique individual whose story serves as an inspiration to all of us as to what is possible with hard work and dedication, Gibbs, who worked at HUD from 2017 to 2021, said in a statement. I am honored to call him a friend, and humbled that he is willing to support my campaign.

Carson was appointed chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital at the age of 33, making him the youngest major division director in the hospitals history, according to Carsons bio on the Carson Scholars Fund website.

While at HUD, Gibbs oversaw an annual budget of $8 billion to help fight homelessness and expand economic opportunity, according to his campaign website. He was also nominated by Trump to serve as the director of the Office of Personnel Management. However, the Senate did not confirm his appointment, according to Scott Hagerstrom, a strategist whos advising Gibbs and ran Trumps Michigan campaign in 2016.

In July 2020, after Trump nominated Gibbs to serve as director of the Office of Personal Management, CNN reported that Gibbs, on the social media platform Twitter, spread a false conspiracy theory that claimed Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign chairman took part in a satanic ritual.

The network also reported that Gibbs defended an anti-Semitic Twitter user who had been banned from the platform, and made derogatory comments about Islam and the Democratic Party.

Prior to serving in the Trump administration, worked as a software developer in Silicon Valley on cybersecurity products at Symantec, and on the first version of the iPhone at Apple. He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he earned a bachelors degree in computer science, and a masters degree in public administration from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, his website shows.

Gibbs grew up in Eaton County and moved to Byron Center in October 2021, Hagerstrom said.

Several Republicans are seeking to challenge Meijer in the August primary for Michigans 3rd Congressional District seat, which includes Grand Rapids. Meijer angered Trumps base when he voted to impeach the former president following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

The 3rd Congressional District, as its drawn now, includes Grand Rapids, a large portion of Kent County, part of Montcalm County, as well as Ionia, Barry and Calhoun counties. However, the once a decade redistricting process has changed the shape of the district.

The newly drawn district, in effect for this years election, includes Grand Rapids as well as the surrounding suburbs as far north as Rockford and as far south as Byron Center. It also includes the northern half of Ottawa County, including Grand Haven, Spring Lake, Allendale and Coopersville. The southern portion of Muskegon County, including the cities of Muskegon and Muskegon Heights, is included too.

Political observers say the newly drawn district is a toss up between Democrats and Republicans.

Federal Election Commission records shows Gibbs has $83,246 on hand as of Dec. 31, 2021. Meijer, on the other hand, had $1.2 million on hand. Two other Republicans, Audra Johnson and Gabriella Manolache, also are seeking Meijers seat, FEC records show.

Democrat Hillary Scholten, who was defeated by Meijer in the 2020 election, says shes again seeking the Democrat nomination to run against the winner of the Republican primary in the November election.

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Ben Carson to speak at rally for Trump-backed candidate seeking to replace Peter Meijer in Congress - MLive.com