US President Donald Trump said Vice President JD Vance is the "most likely" successor to the MAGA movement he championed, but added that there are other potential candidates and it's too early to make that call.

At a White House event on Tuesday (August 5), Trump was asked about Secretary of State Marco Rubio's comments to Fox News, in which Rubio said Vance would be an excellent candidate if he decided to do so.

"I think the most likely candidate is — in all fairness, he's the vice president," Trump said when asked if Vance is the successor to his political movement. "I think Marco would probably work with JD in some form as well."

"I also think we have some very good people, including some of the people who are on the stage right now," Trump added. "So it's obviously too early to talk about that, but he's doing a really good job, and at this point, he's probably the preferred candidate."

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump told CNBC in an interview that he "probably won't" seek a third term. Trump maintains a firm grip on the Republican Party in his second term. Although he has publicly praised Vance and Rubio as potential successors, he has so far refused to name a successor before the 2028 election. Both were once Trump critics but have become his loyalists.

The 79-year-old Trump and his allies have considered exploring the possibility of a third term, but the U.S. Constitution prohibits this.

In February of this year, weeks after returning to power, when asked if he considered Vance as his successor, Trump said "no," saying it was too early to make such a decision.

Vance, a former U.S. senator from Ohio, embraced Trump's economic populism and became his running mate in 2024. Trump fell out with his first vice president, Mike Pence, who refused to block the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.