Justice predicts Trump will be Republican nominee for president

Sep. 20—West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice predicted Tuesday that former President Donald Trump will be the 2024 Republican nominee.

"I stand strongly with President Trump," Justice said. "I think he will be our nominee."

Justice went over a laundry list of what he called "crazinesss" by the Biden administration during his weekly virtual administration briefing Tuesday.

"Do you really believe we would be having this discussion if President Trump was our president?" Justice asked. "Do you really honestly believe we would be having a discussion about Ukraine if President Trump had been the president, or if we had a real leader."

One of the concerns Justice emphasized Wednesday was the open southern border, adding that he will do everything he can as governor to protect West Virginia.

"If we believe that folks coming across the border are not affecting West Virginia then you aren't thinking right," the Republican governor said. "We've got all kinds of people coming across that border that impact West Virginia. That is why we tried to step up and do our part. But this problem is not really a problem in Texas. It's not a problem in West Virginia. It's a problem in the Biden administration for allowing craziness to go on. Craziness. And that is all there is to it."

Justice, who is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democrat Joe Manchin in 2024 for the state's high-profile U.S. Senate seat, said his concerns include the Biden administration's war on fossil fuels, rampant inflation and the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"I'm a governor for West Virginia. You know I'm not sitting in the U.S. Senate today," Justice said. "I'm a governor in West Virginia. And you've got a Democrat administration. And God forbid you know it's one crazy thing right after another, right after another. Pick a winner. I mean are you going to pick the embarrassment in Afghanistan or are you going to pick what we are doing with regards to crime and what we are doing in our schools."

Justice said it is foolish to think that America can keep the lights on without the use of fossil fuels.

"Are we doing the right thing in destroying women's sports?" Justice continued. "You know pick a winner. Is it inflation? Is it the energy policy across this country and everything? Is it where we are just hell bent beyond belief to ignore fossil fuels and think we can do in this country and this world without fossil fuels?"

Wednesday's briefing was the first time in several weeks that Justice has openly endorsed Trump. He didn't mention the multiple federal indictment charges the former president is facing, or the state indictment charges returned against Trump in Georgia.

U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., who is also seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Manchin in 2024, has been critical of Justice in recent days for not defending Trump, or endorsing the U.S. House of Representative's impeachment inquiry into Biden.

"Liberal Jim Justice played follow the leader on Biden impeachment and supporting Donald Trump, only speaking out when he got tired of Mooney attacking him," John Findlay, Mooney's campaign manager, said in a statement.

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com

— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com. Follow him @BDTOwens