Trump affirmed that DeSantis IS on his short list to Laura Ingram in the 2/20/24 townhall interview.
From the interview transcript:
Laura Ingraham (44:41):
The audience has been asked who they think would be a good choice, and various names came up. One of them was of course, Vivek Ramaswamy. He’s made a big splash. Ron DeSantis, who’s making an appearance today in South Carolina, we just found out. Obviously Tim Scott. Byron Donalds. And a big presence here for Tulsi Gabbard. Very interesting. And Kristi Noem as well, I should say. Are they all on your short list?
Donald J. Trump (45:12):
They are.
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/trump-town-hall-on-the-ingraham-angle-2-20-24-transcript
Thank you. I tend to think he replied as he did because, at the end of this interview, he didn’t want to get into specifics of each person on the list (”Yes, this one, but not this one because...”). But, taking his answer as he gave it, he could reasonably be understood as not ruling out any of them.