This story has been updated.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty told CNN that he is running for President.
Pawlenty made the straight-forward proclamation during an appearance on CNN's 'Piers Morgan Tonight' set to air Tuesday. Morgan asked Pawlenty if he would ever consider being Donald Trump's running-mate on a hypothetical ticket. The former governor responded, "I'm running for president." He then continued, "I'm not putting my hat in the ring rhetorically or ultimately for vice president. So I'm focused on running for president."
The statement follows Pawlenty's March announcement in which he formed a presidential exploratory committee.
UPDATE (8:40 p.m. ET) -- CNN reports on comments from a Pawlenty spokesman:
"As the governor has said many times, he is not running to be anybody's vice president," Pawlenty spokesman Alex Conant told CNN. "He will have a formal announcement about running for president later this spring."
The Pawlenty campaign told The Huffington Post on Tuesday evening that it was very unhappy with how CNN framed the former governor's comments.
UPDATE (11:35 p.m. ET) -- The Pawlenty campaign released the full transcript of the interview the former governor conducted with CNN later on Tuesday night. The campaign said it took the step after the network put out only an excerpt of the exchange and refused to release complete text of the remarks. Pawlenty can be expected to "have a final or full announcement in the coming weeks" on his plans for the next election cycle. Below the video is the transcript of the interview released by the potential presidential candidate's camp.
Transcript:
Morgan: In a hypothetical scenario governor, if someone like Donald Trump was to emerge as the Republican nominee and asked you to be vice president, would you accept that honor?
Pawlenty: I'm running for president. I'm not putting my hat in the ring rhetorically or ultimately for vice president so I'm focused on running for president. And as to Donald Trump, I don't even know if he's going to run, but like I said, I hope he does in one sense. I think he's funny, he brings a lot to the debate, but I just hope that the country will take the full measure of all the candidates and make an informed decision. I believe they will.
Morgan: And governor, unless I was mistaken you just said you were running for president. Can we take that as a formal announcement?
Pawlenty: Well I've got an exploratory committee up and running and we'll have a final or full announcement in the coming weeks here, it won't be too much longer, but everything is headed in that direction Piers.