WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Paul Ryan reaffirmed his support for Donald Trump Thursday in his first comments since the GOP presidential nominee declined to endorse the speaker in an upcoming Republican primary.
“He won the delegates. He won the thing fair and square. It’s just that simple,” Ryan said in an interview on the “Jerry Bader Show” on WTAQ radio in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Ryan brushed off Trump’s non-endorsement, adding: “The only endorsements I want are those of my own employers here in the First Congressional District, and that’s really what my focus is.”
Ryan faces a longshot conservative challenger, Paul Nehlen, next Tuesday. Trump shocked Republican leaders yet again this week when he refused to declare support for Ryan, instead stating that “I’m just not there yet.” The phrase echoed Ryan’s own words in May, when he demurred on Trump, saying “I’m not there right now,” before eventually going on to support him.
Ryan has been highly critical of Trump’s attacks on a bereaved couple whose son died in Iraq and who took the stage at the Democratic National Convention to criticize Trump.