House Speaker Paul Ryan says Republican lawmakers should follow their conscience in deciding whether or not to support Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee for president.
The Wisconsin Republican told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “the last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that’s contrary to their conscience. Of course I wouldn’t do that.”
Mr. Ryan, who has given a tepid endorsement to Mr. Trump, said he understands he is in a “very strange situation” to be supporting the party’s presumptive nominee while not urging his fellow lawmakers to follow suit. But he said Mr. Trump is “a very unique nominee.”
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Mr. Ryan is the highest elected Republican official and the official chairman of the Republican convention next month. He stunned the political world in May when he held back his endorsement of Mr. Trump before grudgingly offering his support earlier this month.
Since then, Mr. Ryan has been critical of Mr. Trump, calling the candidate’s complaints about the impartiality of a judge of Mexican heritage a “textbook definition of a racist comment” and reiterating his opposition to Mr. Trump’s proposal to temporarily ban all foreign Muslims from entering the United States.
As speaker of the House, Mr. Ryan said he feels a responsibility not to lead “some chasm in the middle of our party” that would hurt GOP chances to win the White House. His reluctance to embrace the party’s nominee wholeheartedly is remarkable for a Republican who was the GOP’s vice presidential candidate in 2012.
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Mr. Ryan was interviewed on Thursday for Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” An excerpt was released on Friday.
Mr. Trump, speaking on Friday at a packed convention center in The Woodlands, Texas, not far from Houston, tried to play down the rift in the party and bragged about the money he’s raised in fundraisers across the state over the last two days, including an event on Friday in San Antonio.
“The party is doing very well,” he said, insisting that reports of a party revolt were overblown. “The party is actually liking me. You know, ... I’m an outsider and historically they don’t love the outsiders. But I think they’re starting to like me.”
Mr. Trump added: “You don’t hear about the tremendous numbers of people and I’m even talking about the politicians that are totally supportive. If one person raises a little question, it’s like, ‘Oh, did you hear?’ Let me tell you folks, we have tremendous support. Tremendous. But the biggest support of all by far: right here. I’m the messenger.”