AP: “Donald Trump was calling into yet another friendly radio show when he was asked, as he often is, whether he’s planning a comeback bid for the White House. ‘We need you,’ conservative commentator Dan Bongino told the former president. ‘Well, I’ll tell you what,’ Trump responded. ‘We are going to make you very happy, and we’re going to do what’s right.’ It was a noncommittal answer typical of a former president who spent decades toying with presidential runs. But multiple people who have spoken with Trump and his team in recent weeks say such remarks shouldn’t be viewed as idle chatter. Instead, they sense a shift, with Trump increasingly acting and talking like he plans to mount a run as he embarks on a more public phase of his post-presidency, beginning with a speech on Saturday in North Carolina. The interest in another run, at least for now, comes as Trump has been consumed by efforts to undo last year’s election, advancing baseless falsehoods that it was stolen and obsessing over recounts and audits that he is convinced could overturn the results, even though numerous recounts have validated his loss.

“He’s also facing the most serious legal threat of his career. New York prosecutors have convened a special grand jury to consider evidence in their criminal investigation into his business dealings – seen by many as a sign that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. is moving toward seeking charges in the two-year, wide-ranging investigation that has included scrutiny of hush money payments, property valuations and employee compensation. Trump has slammed the probe as ‘purely political,’ and those around him insist he isn’t concerned about potential legal exposure even as they suggest his political posture is evolving. ‘I have definitely picked up a shift that there’s more of an intentionality to be leaning on the side of it’s going to happen than it’s not,’ said Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, who is close to the former president. ‘I think it’s a very real possibility.'”