The media and likely tens of millions of American voters have been anxiously awaiting word from former President Donald Trump about who he will pick to be his running mate for the 2024 election in November.

They will all have to wait about another month for the revelation of who Trump's vice presidential pick will be, as he has said that he plans to announce his choice at the Republican National Convention in mid-July, The Hill reported.

Speculation over that eventual decision has ramped up substantially over the past week amid reports that Trump's campaign has begun the vetting process for a few of the top contenders on the potential VP shortlist.

VP nominee will be announced at GOP convention

Former President Trump recently sat for an hour-long interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, who asked at the very end, "Are you gonna tell me who your vice presidential choice is?"

"I can’t yet, but we have some very good people. I’m going to do it in the convention," Trump replied.

The presumptive GOP nominee gave a similar response last week when asked who his running mate might be during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

"I think I'll announce who that person's going to be during the convention," Trump said. "I think that's pretty normal -- during the convention, it will be an interesting period of time."

He went on to praise the effectiveness of some of the top VP contenders as surrogates for his campaign and added that they have "done a fantastic job in communicating the ills and the assets and the advantages and the disadvantages of what we're doing as a country and where we are as a country."

Vetting process has reportedly begun for top VP contenders

Just a couple of days before that Fox News interview, ABC News and other outlets reported that former President Trump's campaign had begun the formal vetting process on some of the top vice presidential candidates under consideration with requests for them to turn over certain information and paperwork.

Per unnamed sources, those top candidates include Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and J.D. Vance (R-OH) along with Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

The anonymous sources also claimed that the campaign had similarly requested vetting formation from Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and former Housing Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, possibly among others.

RNC's contingency plans for nominating convention

In a separate report from The Hill last week, it was noted that the Republican National Committee was making alternative plans to address the possibility that former President Trump might not be able to attend the nominating convention set to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between July 15-18, given the fact that his sentencing hearing following conviction in Trump's New York criminal trial is scheduled for July 11.

"We expect that Donald Trump is going to be in Milwaukee and he’s going to be able to accept that nomination and if not, we will make whatever contingency planning we need to make for it," RNC Chair Michael Whatley told Newsmax. "But the fact is, he’s going to be our nominee, and he’s going to be the 47th president of the United States."

Likewise, RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump noted during a CNN interview the "irony" of the rush to trial followed by the delay in sentencing until just before the convention, and said, "Yes, we have to make plans as they happen, and we’re going to have several contingency plans. The truth is, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s from Trump Tower in Manhattan, whether it’s from Mar-a-Lago, whether it’s from our convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We will nominate Donald Trump as our Republican nominee, and that’s what ultimately matters."