Washington (CNN)
Real estate mogul and billionaire Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is forming a presidential exploratory committee.
The announcement comes weeks after Trump hired political operatives in key early primary states and marks the most concrete step yet that Trump in seriously considering a presidential run, something he's hinted at doing for years.
Trump has repeatedly flirted with the idea of running for president, most recently in the leadup to the 2012 election when he said he was seriously considering jumping into the Republican fray. Trump previously launched an exploratory committee in 1999 as he considered running for president then.
After garnering media attention and leading in some early polls, Trump ultimately backed out and endorsed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for president.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/18/politics/donald-trump-2016-elections-exploratory-committee/index.html
But who knows if events are connected