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Trump signs pledge to back GOP's 2016 presidential nominee

 
Published Sept. 4, 2015

WASHINGTON — Presidential candidate Donald Trump ruled out the prospect of a third-party White House bid Thursday and vowed to support the Republican Party's nominee — whomever it may be.

The billionaire businessman announced his decision in a raucous news conference at Trump Tower, the gold-hued skyscraper in midtown Manhattan where he launched his surging and front-running campaign for president.

"I have signed the pledge," Trump said, adding that he intends to win the nomination himself and face whomever the Democrats nominate.

"So, I will be totally pledging my allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands, and we will go out and we will fight hard and we will win," he said.

Trump's decision comes weeks after he roiled the race for the GOP nomination when, in response to the first question at the opening debate of the 2016 campaign, he refused to promise to back the party's nominee if he fell short.

He was intensely lobbied by Republican National Committee leaders, who have struggled to rein in the unpredictable former reality television star. Trump announced his decision shortly after meeting privately with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who angrily challenged Trump at the debate, took credit for what he termed Trump's "capitulation."

"I spent the last few weeks making sure people knew it was not acceptable to potentially throw the next election to Hillary," Paul wrote on Twitter, referring to Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The decision puts an end — for now — to the nervousness felt inside the GOP about the prospect of Trump holding firm and keeping his options open. At the debate, he said that gave him "a lot of leverage."

The pledge is not legally binding. Trump could always change his mind, particularly if GOP establishment leaders take aggressive steps to thwart his candidacy in the coming months.

"I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge," Trump said Thursday.