Donald Trump claims Mike Pence's primary endorsement of Ted Cruz 'was more of an endorsement for me'

Donald Trump said Saturday that his running mate's original endorsement of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz during the GOP primaries was actually, in fact, more of an endorsement for him.

Trump's remarks came during a rambling New York City speech in which he officially introduced Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his pick for vice president.

"Gov. Pence, under tremendous pressure from establishment people, endorsed somebody else," Trump said, referencing the Indiana Republican primary. "But it was more of an endorsement for me, if you remember."

Trump continued: "He talked about Trump, then he talked about Ted — who's a good guy by the way, who is going to be speaking at the convention. Ted Cruz. Good guy. But he talked about Trump, Ted, then he went back to Trump. I said, 'Who did he endorse?'"

The Manhattan billionaire concluded that "it was the single greatest non-endorsement" of his life.

"OK? I will take it," he said.

Trump's comments on Pence's Cruz endorsement constituted only a snippet of the ad-libbed remarks the presumptive Republican presidential nominee made during his Saturday speech. Several times, he veered off topic, discussing a number of issues unrelated to his introduction of Pence as his running mate.

Trump even appeared self-aware that he had drifted far from what he wanted to discuss at one point, telling the audience, "All right, back to Mike Pence."

The real-estate mogul is set to officially accept the Republican nomination for president next week in Cleveland.