Former President Donald Trump picks Waco TX for his first rally as 2024 candidate

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 election, will hold his first rally as a declared candidate in Waco on March 25.

He will speak at 5 p.m. at Waco Regional Airport, about 90 minutes south of Fort Worth, his campaign said Friday.

The 45th president could be under indictment by the time he lands in central Texas. News reports Friday cited law enforcement sources saying Trump could be charged in New York as early as next week on alleged hush money paid to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has denied the allegations.

So far, the only other widely known declared candidate for the GOP nomination is Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as ambassador to the United Nations under Trump. But the list of Republican politicians expected to enter the race include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

President Joe Biden is expected to seek a second term.

For Trump’s rally, undisclosed guest speakers begin at 2 p.m. ahead of his 5 p.m. remarks.

Last May while speaking at the NRA convention in Houston, Trump called to the stage Jack Wilson, a volunteer security team member who shot and killed a shooter at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement in 2019. The gunman killed two people during service at the church, just west of Fort Worth, before Wilson stopped him within six seconds.

“I took out evil,” Wilson told the audience, adding that Trump was still his president. “We have to deal with evil at all levels. You have to be prepared to stand up and do what you have to do to stop evil in this country.”

On the eve of last fall’s election, Trump staged a “Save America” rally near Corpus Christi. In January 2022, Trump spoke to thousands in Conroe ahead of the March primaries. The summer before, Trump appeared with Gov. Greg Abbott at the Mexican border to criticize Biden’s immigration policies.