Paul Ryan: Donald Trump Doesn’t Have His Endorsement Yet, Even After Closed-Door Meeting
Paul Ryan has not endorsed Donald Trump following a meeting with presumptive GOP presidential nominee and RNC chairman Reince Priebus.
After the much-publicized meeting, Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was asked in a press conference if he endorses Trump, and if not, what was the holdup.
“The process of unifying the Republican Party,” Ryan responded, “which just finished a primary about a week ago, perhaps one of the most divisive primaries in memory, takes some time.”
“Look, there are people who were for Donald Trump, or for Ted Cruz, or for John Kasich, or who were for Marco Rubio and everybody else. And it’s very important that we don’t fake unifying, that we don’t pretend unification, that we truly and actually unify, so that we are at full strength in the fall….I want to make sure that we really, truly understand each other, and that we are committed to the conservative principles that make the Republican Party, that built this country.”
.@SpeakerRyan was just asked if he's endorsing Donald Trump. This is how he responded: https://t.co/RwIhE3fcJR
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 12, 2016
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Ryan “Encouraged” by Meeting With Trump, Priebus
Ryan hastened to add that he was encouraged by his meeting with Trump and Priebus, saying that he “heard a lot of good things from the presumptive nominee.”
Following their meeting, Ryan and Trump released a joint statement, which stressed that while they have their differences, they are few and that today was a good start in moving towards party unity.
JUST IN: Hinting at a positive meeting this morning, Paul Ryan and Donald Trump put out a joint statement. pic.twitter.com/KgK4ZHzWb4
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 12, 2016
“We will be having additional discussions,” the statement read in part, “but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal.”
The Hill noted that Ryan and Trump will be having many more meetings in the future, where they hope to get into the “policy weeds” and settle remaining differences.
The meeting comes just a week after Ryan told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he was not yet ready to endorse Trump for president.
Trump responded by criticizing Ryan with a Tweet.
Paul Ryan said that I inherited something very special, the Republican Party. Wrong, I didn't inherit it, I won it with millions of voters!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 6, 2016
Sarah Palin, the former 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and now a Trump surrogate, attacked Ryan as well and announced that she would work to defeat the Speaker in his upcoming primary. She said that Ryan’s non-endorsement of Trump was “not a wise decision,” according to Fox News.
“His political career is over, but for a miracle, because he has so disrespected the will of the people,” she said, adding that Ryan should be “Cantor-ed,” a reference to former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor who was surprisingly defeated in his 2014 primary.
#SarahPalin says she'll work to unseat #PaulRyan over #DonaldTrump snub. https://t.co/brpZX70Iz2 pic.twitter.com/f8RCS41PkR
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 8, 2016
Trump stated that Palin was a “free agent” in terms of going after Ryan in his primary and that he had nothing to do with her decision.
Donald Trump tells @NewDay he has "nothing to do" with Sarah Palin's comments on Paul Ryan https://t.co/uJUxnp5ZxW https://t.co/UUKqiBrpaK
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 9, 2016
The WisPolitics blog noted, however, that Paul Ryan has a huge lead over his challenger, Paul Nehlen, 78-14 percent.
What do you think? Should Paul Ryan endorse Donald Trump? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
