Donald Trump is still considering running as an independent candidate for president, and reports that he won’t are “totally false,” Trump said on Tuesday.
In an appearance by phone on Fox and Friends, the Republican front-runner pushed back on a Monday report from ABC News that said Trump may promise not to run as a third-party candidate. Trump is currently the only Republican candidate for president who has said he wouldn’t rule out running as an independent if he doesn’t secure the Republican nomination.
On Tuesday, Trump said he was still considering a third-party run if he’s not “treated fairly” by Republican Party leaders.
“It’s a totally false report put out by ABC,” he said. “I’m gonna keep the door open and I’m gonna see. .. I do want to keep that door open in case I don’t get treated fairly [by the Republican National Committee].”
The ABC story was based on comments from a “senior Trump adviser,” something Trump seemed particularly amused by.
“It’s amazing how many so-called senior advisers I have,” he said, adding a dig at his ex-senior adviser Roger Stone, who abruptly left the campaign a few days ago. Stone insists he quit — Trump insists he was fired.
“Roger Stone’s a nice guy, because I let him go because I wasn’t really using him,” Trump said. “He wanted a lot of publicity.”