Trump names four finalists for running mate as he compares vice presidential race to The Apprentice

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Donald Trump says he has narrowed his list of potential running mates to four men, a process he compared to his former reality television series The Apprentice.

He wants to announce the man who could be the next vice president of the United States at the beginning of next week’s Republican National Convention, when he is expected to receive the party’s formal nomination for the presidency.

“I’d love to do it at the convention, or just slightly before the convention, which would be — or just slightly before the convention, like Monday,” he told the The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show on Friday.

The convention begins on Monday.

“I’d love to do it Tuesday or Wednesday, actually, but for a lot of complex reasons you people understand, pretty much you don’t do that,” Trump added.

“I have some really, really good candidates. I may be leaning one way, and that changes some times,” he said. “All of sudden you see something that you like or don’t like and you lean a little differently. But we have a good bench. We have a very good bench.”

That bench includes senators Tim Scott, Marco Rubio and JD Vance, as well as North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.

“It’s like a highly sophisticated version of The Apprentice,” Trump said of his selection process.

“They’re great people,” he added. “I got to know them very well. I’d say four people. Four of five people. But I got to know them very well. Some dropped out over the course of— they didn’t drop out. There were reasons why they wouldn’t have done as well.”

But he still hasn’t made a final decision, which he said will ultimately rely on “instinct.”

“I like to know all the facts before the instinct comes in,” he said.