Story highlights "I wish that I could be fully enthusiastic. I can't be," Kasich said.

Kasich also praised prominent Republicans whom Donald Trump has declined to endorse

Washington (CNN) John Kasich says he's no closer to endorsing Donald Trump for president, cementing his place as one of the most prominent holdouts in the Republican Party.

Kasich, the governor of Ohio, a state that Trump almost certainly must win to take the White House, said he didn't know how he would vote in November.

"I wish that I could be fully enthusiastic. I can't be," he told CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead." "So I don't know what's going to happen at the end."

Kasich has long withheld his support of Trump following a bitter primary fight. In June, he told Fox News , "Why would I feel compelled to support someone whose positions I kind of fundamentally disagree with?"

The Ohio governor also said he watched the Democratic convention speech delivered by the grieving father of a fallen Muslim US soldier, who attacked Trump from the dais, prompting Trump to engage in a multi-day feud with the Khan family. Kasich recalled his time spent comforting those killed overseas, saying he meets frequently with Ohio families who lose a child in combat and that is his job to comfort them.

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