Donald Trump put it to rest – sort of – Monday night when asked by Fox News Channel's
Sean Hannity whether he was planning to run as a third-party candidate if he doesn't get the Republican nomination for president.
"Absolutely not," Trump said.
But when Hannity asked whether Trump had any issues with the Republican National Committee, Trump pointed out that
he currently leads in most of the polls.
"I will say so many people want me to run as an independent. I don't want to do that," he said. "Why would I do that? I'm leading by a big margin."
His preference is to run as a Republican and win. A third-party effort would be difficult, he said.
Early in his run, Trump said he had no intention of running third-party because it would split the GOP vote and hand the presidency to Democrat Hillary Clinton. But he brought up
the possibility after RNC Chairman Reince Priebus reportedly told him in a phone call to tone down his rhetoric on illegal immigration and he was publicly rebuked by the RNC over his comments on Sen. John McCain's war hero status.
But he told Hannity the RNC has "treated us with great respect over the last week or so. We're getting along with them great."
But Trump also sounded like things could change if that respect doesn't continue.
"If I'm treated fairly and I get a good fair shot at this and I'm not, you know, being sabotaged with all sorts of nonsense and a lot of phony ads and they throw a lot of money into it," he said. "If I get a good, fair shot I would have no interest in doing that."
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