Trump vows no 3rd-party bid, will back GOP nominee

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Caving to intense Republican lobbying, presidential candidate Donald Trump ruled out the prospect of a third-party White House bid on Thursday and vowed to support whoever wins the party’s nomination – a U-turn made easier by his position at the front of the field.

The decision follows weeks of behind-the-scenes efforts by GOP leaders, who’ve been trying to avert the possibility of an independent campaign by Trump ever since last month’s opening debate, when he refused to promise to back the party’s eventual nominee. A third-party bid by Trump, or any prominent conservative, could doom Republican efforts in 2016.

“I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands,” Trump said in a news conference at Trump Tower, the gold-hued skyscraper in midtown Manhattan where he launched his surging campaign for president.

The 69-year-old billionaire, who announced his decision after meeting with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, insisted he got “absolutely nothing” for pledging his loyalty “other than the assurance that I’ll be treated fairly.”

In a statement Thursday night, Priebus didn’t mention Trump by name but declared his pride in having all major GOP candidates pledging to support the eventual nominee and then took a swipe at the Democratic front-runner. “We have the largest, most-diverse field in the history of either party,” he said. “Any candidate would be a better president than Hillary Clinton and offer the new direction Americans want.”