Donald Trump Not Running for President, to Continue Celebrity Apprentice
Donald Trump
"I will not be running for president, as much as I'd like to," Donald Trump told the crowd assembled for NBC's upfront.
NBC Entertainment President Bob Greenblatt prefaced Trump's announcement by saying that he had pushed the star of The Celebrity Apprentice to make a decision in time for Monday's presentation of the network's fall season for potential advertisers.
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"I have decided to continue onward with Celebrity Apprentice," Trump said. "We're going to continue to make lots and lots of money for charity."
Trump began dropping hints in March that he might run for the nation's highest office — and he ranked high among potential Republican candidates in early polls. But he was careful not to use his NBC reality show to further that agenda, citing equal-time laws that prevent the networks from favoring any one candidate with additional airtime. On the flip side, his political talk — and some memorably eccentric celebrity contestants — have helped further his TV agenda, with Apprentice giving NBC some of its highest Sunday night ratings in the advertised-prized 18-to-34 demographic.
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Greenblatt said that a new season of Celebrity Apprentice would air on NBC in 2012, possibly after the football season.
Watch Trump's announcement: