More Than 100 Former Trump Officials Now 'Wholeheartedly' Back DeSantis For President

Over 100 former Trump administration officials are backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential elections, according to a report.

The group of former Trump officials, who call themselves "The Eight-Year Alliance," said DeSantis is "a proven winner," a reliable politician with strong conservative credentials through his accomplishments at the state level, and a leader who "does what he says," Fox News exclusively reported, citing multiple unnamed sources within the group.

The insiders told Fox News that the primary motivation of the newly formed coalition is to promote a candidate they feel would win two consecutive presidential terms. This can only be achieved, they think, with DeSantis as the nominee.

They also aim to prevent former President Donald Trump from "becoming a lame-duck president" should he win the White House again, considering how polarizing he is in American politics.

The alliance includes former acting associate attorney general Jesse Panuccio, former special assistant to the secretary of defense Will Bushman, former counselor to the secretary and White House liaison at the Department of Labor Pedro Allende, former senior counsel and senior adviser to the secretary of commerce James Uthmeier and principal deputy general counsel at the Department of Commerce David Dewhirst, according to Fox.

Although the group does not support Trump, the sources clarified that they were not in any way maligning the former president and emphasized that they were "proud" to have served during the Trump administration and its efforts to "shake things up" in Washington, D.C.

However, the sources told the outlet that they were now "wholeheartedly" throwing their support behind DeSantis.

The Florida governor is expected to announce his candidacy this week after months of speculation and build-up to prop DeSantis up as the candidate to defeat Trump in the primary and win the general elections in November 2024.

The battle for the GOP nomination is becoming more crowded after South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott announced that he too is entering the race. The Republican candidates also include former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, conservative radio host Larry Elder and businessman Perry Johnson.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has not yet confirmed whether he will also join the race.

Early polls consistently suggested that Trump will easily clinch the GOP nomination as he has a comfortable double-digit lead against his closest primary challenger.

However, with his legal challenges proving to be a liability for him, Trump's lead could still narrow, paving the way for others in the race to defeat him.