Donald Trump said Thursday that he signed a pledge to not run as an independent candidate if he did not win the Republican Party's nomination.
"I have signed the pledge," the leading candidate said at a news conference at Trump Tower in New York City. He had just met with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. "I will be totally pledging allegiance to the Republican Party and the conservative principles for which it stands.
"We will fight hard and we will win," Trump said.
The billionaire businessman said commended Priebus for treating him fairly since he announced his candidacy in June.
"He's been extremely fair," Trump said. "The RNC has been absolutely terrific over the last two-month period, and as you know that's what I've wanted. I have wanted fairness.
"I don't have to be treated any differently than anybody else," he added. "I just wanted fairness from the Republican Party."
Trump said that he got "absolutely nothing" for signing the pledge, "other than the assurance I would be treated fairly and I've seen that over the last two months.
"They really have been very fair."
He said he would honor the pledge. "I have no intention of changing my mind."
"I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge," he later added.
Trump had suggested he would consider an independent run if the Republican Party did not treat him well and refused during a Republican debate last month to rule out going it alone in 2016.
In taking questions from reporters, Trump said that the key reason why he had changed his mind on not running an independent campaign was his skyrocketing poll numbers.
"I want to be treated like everybody else. I was always the fair-haired boy. Nobody knows the system. I was on the other side. I was the fair-haired person.
"Once I ran, I was a little bit of an outsider because I was running. I wasn't supposed to run. I'm the businessman — and people have given me great credit for being a great businessman — and I was not supposed to be running for office."
Trump reiterated that he was the best candidate to beat the Democratic nominee, whether it was Hillary Clinton or another candidate, and said again that fellow GOP contender Jeb Bush "is a nice man" who should not be seeking the White House.
"I'll be honest. I think he's a very nice person," he said. "He's a very low-energy person, and I don't think that's what the country needs."
Trump also emphasized his independent campaign and how he would not be beholden to special interest groups.
"He's going to spend lobbyists' money and special-interest money," Trump said of Bush. "They have total control over Jeb and Hillary and everybody else that takes that money.
"Nobody knows the system better than me."
One of Trump's key rivals, Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, told ABC's "Good Morning America" television program he would back Trump if the businessman-turned-politician won the party's nomination and Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee.
Trump, on the same program, also said he would back Bush over Clinton.
Reuters/Ipsos polling shows Trump with support among nearly 31 percent of self-identified Republicans as of Sept. 1, with Bush garnering support among nearly 12 percent, behind former neurosurgeon Ben Carson. The RNC has asked its pool of 17 candidates to sign a loyalty pledge to ensure future party unity.
Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, urged Trump to cut the "pre-Labor Day Weekend drama" surrounding the pledge.
"Every candidate has to make the decision about do you really want the nomination of our party or do you want to have it both ways," he told Fox News Channel's "America's Newsroom" TV show. "This is just a little too much drama. Enough," he said.
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