John Kasich Not Endorsing Trump, Not Running as Third Party
CUOMO: Former presidential candidate Ohio governor John Kasich breaking his silence in a CNN exclusive. This is his first interview since suspending his 2016 campaign, and the governor tells our AC, Anderson Cooper, he's not yet ready to endorse Donald Trump. He also says he won't serve as VP. And you can pretty much forget about him entering the race as a third-party candidate. And guess what? I didn't even give away a headline. Take a look.</s>ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: There's a story in "The Washington Post" this weekend, has got a lot of pick up that a number of Republicans, conservatives, Mitt Romney among them, has been looking at the possibility of a third party candidate or an independent candidate, or conservative candidate. Your name is mentioned. Has Mitt Romney reached out to you? Have you --</s>GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't want -- I don't want to get into who. I've had a phone call with somebody that wanted me to run, consider running as third party candidate.</s>COOPER: Are you considering that?</s>KASICH: No, I'm not going to do that.</s>COOPER: Why?</s>KASICH: Well, I think that I gave it my best where I am. And I just think running third party doesn't feel right. I think it's not constructive. You know, one of the things that's interesting is it's really hard to be thoughtful when you deal with the media, because many of them think that everything is sort of a political ploy or a political play. It's been a little bit of a disappointment for me. In fact, I've talked to somebody in the media to say, you know, you have a responsibility. You know, it's really been interesting. You can have depth to something, and people think -- well, that's just politics. No. When I talk about two paths, you know, the path of rebuilding the country or pushing people down into the ditch, that's not some political ploy that somebody calculated for me. That's my -- that's my insides, that's my soul. And so, a third party candidacy would be viewed as kind of a silly thing. I don't think it's appropriate. I just don't think it would be the right thing to do.</s>COOPER: In terms of what happens now, would you -- I mean, I'm guess the obvious question is will you endorse Donald Trump?</s>KASICH: I don't know. Unless -- I told you about these two paths. You know, If I feel, you know, I read some stuff recently. While I'm not glued to this, I've read some other stuff that to me is too negative. I don't like when he is attacking, putting people down, or, you know, learn to take it a little bit. You know, the idea -- you know, at least initially of maybe Paul Ryan shouldn't be at the convention. I mean, come on, man, you won. You know, be magnanimous in victory. So, Anderson, what I'm saying is I'm for uniting and I have to see him move to uniting. If he doesn't, I'm undecided here at this point. So, we'll see what happens.</s>COOPER: So, just for the record, you're undecided about whether or not you would endorse Donald Trump for president?</s>KASICH: Yes, I am. Right. I'm undecided.</s>COOPER: Are you undecided about whether you'd actually vote for him?</s>KASICH: You know, at the end of the day, endorsing is going to mean a lot. And frankly my wife and my daughters have watched this, and if I were to turn around today and endorse him, they would be like, "Why, Dad?" And that matters to me. We'll see what he does. He has a chance to move to the positive side and unify this country.</s>COOPER: Is it a question of tone or policies?</s>KASICH: I think it's both, I think it's both. And, you know, have some consistent policy and be positive.</s>COOPER: Obviously, your name has also been talked about as vice presidential candidate, vice presidential pick. Is that something you would consider? During the campaign, you said, absolutely not.</s>KASICH: No, I have not changed my mind on that. Look, I said all along, I have the second best job in America.</s>COOPER: So, if Donald Trump called you and said, "Look, you've got to do this, you've got to do this for the country."</s>KASICH: No, I'm not inclined to do that, I'm not, no. And I'm really actually excited about getting back here with my team for the state of Ohio. And I gave it my best.</s>COOPER: Because Trump said he wants somebody with, you know, experience on the Hill.</s>KASICH: Well, look, here's the situation. You know, we've had two different messages. His message was, you know, the elites are bad, and everybody is giving you the shaft, and kind of gotten people angry. But my message is: let's stand against the wind. Don't cave in to the negative. Let's figure out how as people we can rebuild our country. Those are two very inconsistent messages. So, it would be very hard for me unless he were to change all his views and become a uniter for me to get in the middle of this thing.</s>CAMEROTA: I mean, look, in some ways John Kasich was going to be the logical person to have a third-party run, because he stuck it out the longest. He always said he would stay and present an alternative for voters But he is quite clear, and unequivocal, that that doesn't interest him now.</s>CUOMO: Right. I mean, anybody who had asked about it earlier, it wasn't practical.</s>CAMEROTA: Sure.</s>CUOMO: Would know he would never do that. He really is a very authentic person and in an inauthentic game. And I think that he highlights something for all of us here. We're living through a time that you and I have never seen, certainly in our professional lives.</s>CAMEROTA: True.</s>CUOMO: To think that a presumptive nominee has big shots in their own party saying not only am I not sure if I endorse this person -- right? He's the presumptive nominee -- but I don't know if I'm going to vote for him yet, and referencing their families. This is uncharted territory in politics in this day and age. That's what makes it interesting to watch.</s>CAMEROTA: yes. Many things make it interesting including this. Donald Trump says the media is on a witch-hunt against him and he called our control room yesterday to make sure we saw that. Is he right? We'll debate it.</s>CUOMO: He said, "Hello. Witchhunter?"