Former President Donald Trump and his campaign team had been preparing for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to drop out of the race over the past 24 hours.
Trump is expected to release a statement on social media addressing the suspension of DeSantis' campaign, two sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.
"The rumors were hot and heavy throughout the weekend, so we had expected this," a senior Trump campaign adviser told CNN shortly after DeSantis announced he was dropping out of the race.
Trump viciously attacked DeSantis throughout his White House bid, focusing the majority of his attacks on the governor in the lead up to the Iowa caucuses. Many of those attacks stemmed from Trump's personal animosity toward DeSantis for being "disloyal" by running against him after Trump had endorsed DeSantis for governor in 2017, according to multiple Trump campaign advisers and people close to the former president.
A big question now is whether Trump can look beyond his personal grievances and view DeSantis as a potential surrogate, Trump's allies and advisers said.
"It's always been personal with Trump," a person close to Trump told CNN, noting that the former president and his team didn't just want to hurt DeSantis's presidential candidacy, but also his political future beyond 2024.
Immediately after DeSantis suspended his campaign, a Trump adviser maintained that despite DeSantis's endorsement of Trump, it's still unclear whether the former president may ultimately embrace the Florida governor moving forward.