WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on campaign 2016 (all times Eastern):
8:45 a.m.
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says Britain is “better off without” the European Union.
That’s in contrast with President Barack Obama, who has cautioned British voters against leaving the EU. Britain will vote June 23 on whether to remain in the 28-nation bloc.
“I would say that they’re better off without it, personally,” Trump told Fox News on Wednesday.
“But I’m not making that as a recommendation, just my feeling. I know Great Britain very well. I know, you know, the country very well. I have a lot of investments there. I would say that they’re better off without it. But I want them to make their own decisions.”
Trump said the migration crisis “has been a horrible thing for Europe; a lot of that was pushed by the EU.”
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8:20 a.m.
Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson says he was “personally very disappointed” to hear House Speaker Paul Ryan withhold his support for Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee.
Carson tells MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show that “if we divide the party, we ensure the victory of the opposite party. And we’ve got to be more mature than that.”
Carson, who is helping Trump decide on a vice presidential running mate, said Friday: “I hope Speaker Ryan and many others, as time goes on, realizes that.”
On the vice presidential selection, Carson told an interviewer that if there’s a Democrat who subscribes to the Republican Party’s beliefs, “let me know.”
“This is such an important position,” Carson added. “You don’t want to exclude anybody just on the basis of one characteristic.”
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7:35 a.m.
Donald Trump says he was surprised by House Speaker Paul Ryan’s declaration that he wasn’t ready to support Trump as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Trump tells the Fox & Friends news show the rejection doesn’t bother him. Still, Trump says, Ryan’s refusal to swing behind him is “not a good thing” and “something the party should get solved quickly.”
Trump says he’s meeting with Ryan next week, possibly on Wednesday. As for whom he wants to be his running mate, Trump would only say that the person will have to be a Republican, not a Democrat.