Hot! Donald Trump Says He D Absolutely Run For President As Independent If Gop Fields Poor Candidate

BY Samuel Goldsmith DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

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Donald Trump jumped back into the spotlight Wednesday, saying he will "absolutely" run for president as an Independent if the Fox 's "Good Day New York ." "I'd like to see what happens with the Republicans. If they get the right person. So far, I don't see it."

"Sarah Palin wants me to run, a lot of people want me to run, and I actually think I'd be better off running perhaps as an independent," he said.

The early-morning phone interview came less than 24 hours after Trump shared a slice of pizza in Celebrity Apprentice ," not politics.

"The fact is I was offered a tremendous amount of money by NBC ," he said on "Good Day New York." "I have a top show on NBC, and it's very hard to say, 'Gee wiz, I'm gonna turn that down.'"

Trump's pseudo-step into politics this spring included vitriolic accusations that President Obama was born outside the Obama later released a copy of his birth certificate and gave Trump a public smackdown at the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner last month.

sgoldsmith@nydailynews.com