David French is not launching an independent bid for president

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last updated 6 June 2016

Conservative lawyer and writer David French announced Sunday he will not run for president as an independent candidate, but said it's not too late for someone else to enter the fray.

French was the candidate that The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol and the #NeverTrump movement had put forward to go up against Donald Trump in the general election. In a piece at National Review, French wrote that he's "not the right person to challenge Trump and Hillary [Clinton], but the path remains open for others." French said he spent days meeting with "some of the best minds in politics," and determined that the "best chance for success goes to a person who either is extraordinarily wealthy (or has immediate access to extraordinary wealth) or is a transformational political talent."

His piece was highly critical of both Trump and Clinton, arguing that this is the first time in history that "both parties failed so spectacularly, producing two dishonest, deceitful candidates who should be disqualified from running for town council, much less leader of the free world." Read his entire justification for not entering the race, as well as his praise for those who want an independent candidate, at National Review.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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