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Weld, 73, who served two terms as governor, from 1991-1997,
enters as a long-shot candidate against an incumbent president
who has remained popular within his party. Weld in February had
said that he planned to challenge Trump.
"I really think if we have six more years of the same stuff
we’ve had out of the White House the last two years that would
be a political tragedy," he said on CNN. "So I would be ashamed
of myself if I didn’t raise my hand and run.”
Weld's challenge marks the first against Trump by a member of
his own party. Other Republicans have publicly flirted with
their own challenges, including former Ohio Governor John
Kasich, one of the many Republican candidates whom Trump
defeated for the party's presidential nomination in 2016.
But Republican leaders have signaled little tolerance for
intra-party fights as Trump gears up for a potentially
challenging bid for a second term.
"Any effort to challenge the president’s nomination is bound to
go absolutely nowhere," the Republican National Committee said
in statement responding to Weld's announcement, noting that its
operation and the Republican Party are firmly behind Trump.
Weld, a former prosecutor and the vice presidential candidate in
2016 on the Libertarian ticket, has been a consistent critic of
Trump. He told CNN that he does not plan to mount an independent
bid if unsuccessful.
Weld planned to kick off his campaign in New Hampshire, which
holds an influential early nominating contest. He said the
state's voters would be receptive to his message and familiar
with his record in neighboring Massachusetts.
"Right now, all there really is coming out of Washington is
divisiveness," he said on CNN, calling both parties responsible
but pointedly adding, "the grand master of that is the president
himself."
Trump's campaign raised more than $30 million in the first
quarter of 2019, it said on Sunday, far outpacing the sums
raised by individual Democratic candidates during that period.
The fundraising underscores the willingness of Republican donors
to invest in Trump's re-election bid.
(Additional reporting by Eric Beech, James Oliphant, Steve
Holland and Doina Chiacu; editing by Leslie Adler and Cynthia
Osterman)
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