Donald Trump said Wednesday that there "certainly would be a role somewhere" in his presidential administration for Sarah Palin, who
announced her endorsement for him Tuesday, but he hasn't discussed that possibility with her.
"I don't think to start off with, that's something she would want to do," Trump told NBC's Savannah Guthrie on the
"Today" show.
"She's been through that," he continued about Palin, the one-time Alaska governor who came to national attention in the 2008 presidential race as Sen. John McCain's running mate.
But Palin has not even presented the possibility, Trump told Guthrie.
"When she came to see me and she talked to me, I could tell she really liked what I had to say," Trump said. "She never said, 'gee, I'd like to do this, I'd like to do that.' She never made a deal like so many people want to make deals."
"She just said, 'I really like what's going on. It's an amazing thing. I've never seen anything like it in politics.'"
At the same time, Trump said, "she's somebody I really like and respect. She could play a position if she wanted to. "
It's too early in the race, though, to pick a potential running mate, Trump said.
"I don't even think about VP right now," he said. "I just want to win . . . I've always been a closer. I have to get the deal done."
Further, he said there are a "lot of good people in the Republican Party," but Palin hasn't asked him about becoming a running mate, because "she just wanted to support" him.
Palin's formal backing means the highest-profile endorsement Trump has yet received, and she is a popular favorite whose endorsement, coming about two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, could distance him from his main competitor, Ted Cruz.
Ironically, she endorsed Cruz in his Texas Senate race, and he has often credited her support for his win.
"Every candidate wanted Sarah. Everybody. They all respect her a lot," Trump told Guthrie.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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