Donald Trump again leaves open door to third-party bid

Washington, April 2:

US presidential candidate and Republican front-runner Donald Trump has again declined to rule out launching an independent bid for the White House.

“I want to run as a Republican. I will beat Hillary Clinton,” he told Fox News’ Chris Wallace in an interview set to air Sunday morning on “Fox News Sunday”. Excerpts of the interview were released on Friday night.

But when pressed to definitively say he would not consider it, Trump added, “I’m going to have to see how I was treated. It’s very simple.”

Trump has waffled throughout the campaign about whether he would actually run a third-party campaign should he be denied the Republican nomination or, as he puts it, be treated “unfairly” by the Republican National Committee, CNN reported.

In September 2015, he signed a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee for president — whoever that may be — but backed off that promise at a CNN town hall event on Tuesday.

Trump’s two remaining challengers, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, also distanced themselves from that promise.

Though he led national polls soon after he announced his bid and has won a majority of the contests so far, it is unknown if Trump will reach the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. (IANS)