Romney campaign: Trump will endorse former governor

By Daniel Strauss - 02/02/12 10:08 AM ET

Donald Trump will endorse Mitt Romney for president, according to a source close to the former Massachusetts governor's campaign.
Trump, who has been teasing an endorsement in the presidential race for some months now, will make his announcement in Las Vegas.

“I will be making a major announcement tomorrow (Thursday, February 2) at 12:30 pm at Trump International Hotel & Tower, Las Vegas, Nevada,” Trump tweeted on Wednesday. “I will be arriving this evening at approximately 11:30 pm. The announcement will pertain to the Presidential race. All media welcome.”
The confirmation caps a dizzying morning in which a number of news outlets reported that the real estate mogul — who himself has toyed with a presidential run — was going to endorse former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.). Those reports conflicted with other ones that said Trump would back Romney.
According to The Associated Press, Gingrich told his campaign advisers on Wednesday that he expected to get Trump's endorsement.
Trump met one-on-one with a number of GOP presidential candidates in 2011. In discussing whom he might endorse, Trump said that he had a “good, good sight on everybody.”
“We have some good people,” Trump said in November.
Trump had also spoken about launching a possible independent bid himself.
On Sunday, Trump said that he expected to endorse a GOP candidate, but that if his selection failed to win the nomination, he would consider entering the race as an independent. “I actually think the right independent could win, Trump said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Romney and Trump did not appear to have had the best of relationships earlier in the GOP race. In early December, Romney was one of a number of candidates who ended up boycotting a debate that Trump was scheduled to moderate.
Earlier last year Trump had also criticized Romney, saying that he was a "small-business guy."
"I’m much bigger than this man and have a much, much bigger net worth. I mean my net worth is many, many, many times Mitt Romney," Trump said in response to a question about who was the more successful businessman.