Paul Ryan Done Defending Trump
In
a conference call Monday morning, House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly
told Republican members of the lower chamber that he will no longer
defend Donald Trump or campaign with him before Election Day, and he
urged them to focus their efforts on their own re-elections.
According
to Politico, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy echoed Ryan, who
disinvited Trump from a unity rally in Wisconsin over the weekend after
the GOP nominee came under fire for sexually explicit comments he made
in 2005 that were released Friday. After the comments were published,
many of Ryan’s GOP colleagues in both the House and the Senate revoked their endorsements of Trump, but there is not indication yet that Ryan plans on following suit.
“You
all need to do what’s best for you in your district,” Ryan reportedly
said on the call, essentially giving them the green light to abandon
Trump if they believe he is hurting them.
According to The New York Times, Ryan returned to the call to “clarify to angry members” that he was not revoking his endorsement of Trump.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton responded almost immediately to the news on Twitter, noting: “Ryan is still endorsing Trump.”
Trump
has since responded to the Republican majority leader's statment with a
tweet. Monday afternoon the GOP nominee wrote, "Paul Ryan should spend
more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not
waste his time on fighting Republican nominee."
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