Authors: Jeanette Torres
Stephen Morton/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Michelle Bachmann is “terrific” and “smart,” Donald Trump said Monday night on a conference call with the Minnesota Congresswoman and her supporters, but don’t expect to see him endorsing her, or applying to be her vice president any time soon.
Bachmann introduced the billionaire in her “tele-town hall” by letting listeners know he was “not on the call this evening because he’s endorsing my candidacy for president.”
Asked if he would consider joining Bachmann on a ticket as her running mate, Trump punted: “I don’t think that’s what we’re here for tonight,” adding that any of the GOP candidates would be a “far cry from what we’ve got in the White House.”
“She’s a terrific person. She’s a terrific woman. She’s a smart woman,” Trump said of Bachmann. “She’s respected by everyone. She’s universally respected by the other candidates.”
Trump, whose support has been sought by several GOP contenders this summer and fall, also noted that ”when Gov. Perry came in [to the race], he stole a lot of her thunder.”
Bachmann said 200,000 people had registered for the call and she used it to instantly fundraise and poll supporters on the issues they were most passionate about.
Trump fielded questions from Bachmann supporters, holding court on some of his most-talked about political issues: Chinese competition, Libyan rebels, and President Obama’s birth certificate.
Bachmann hit many of her favorite talking points, reminding listeners she was the first candidate to sign a pledge to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border, that she wants to repeal “Obamacare,” and that she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other oil-rich areas.
Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio
