Trump announces 2016 presidential run

Billionaire Donald Trump has announced he will be a Republican candidate for the White House in 2016.

Donald Trump gives a speech as he announces his candidacy for the U.S. presidency at Trump Tower (Christopher Gregory/Getty Images)

"I am officially running for President of the United States and we are going to make America," Trump, 69, told a cheering crowd at his Trump Tower in Manhattan. He added, "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created."

Trump says one of the first things he would do as president would be to "repeal and replace the big lie, Obamacare." He would also build a wall on the southern United States that he would have Mexico pay for and "stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons."

The Queens native also promised to restore the American dream "bigger and better, and stronger than ever before."

He'll give up hosting NBC's "The Apprentice" and will hand over the day-to-day management of The Trump Organization to his children Ivanka, Donald Jr. and Eric according to ABC News.

Trump is the 12th announced candidate for the 2016 campaign. Prior to his announcement he was tied for 10th place in the polls for CNN, Fox News and the Washington Post/ABC News with 3%.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has yet to officially declare his intentions for the 2016 presidential race, said during an interview on ABC's "This Week' that Trump is someone to be taken seriously as a candidate. The Democratic National Committee said that Trump's candidacy offered "some much-needed seriousness that has been previously lacking from the GOP field."

Trump who called himself "really rich" during his announcement, released details about his personal finances that reveal a net worth of $9 billion.The financial disclosure, required of all candidates for president, was thought to be the final obstacle blocking Trump from launching a 2016 campaign.