House Speaker Paul Ryan joined Jake Tapper on CNN Thursday to discuss whether or not he’ll endorse Donald Trump in the 2016 election, now that he’s the presumptive GOP nominee. Mitt Romney, who chose Ryan as his running mate in 2012, has already indicated he won’t support Trump, opting to skip this year’s RNC convention.
What about Ryan?
“To be perfectly candid, I’m not ready to support” Trump at this point, Ryan told Tapper.
“I don’t want to underplay what he accomplished,” Ryan continued. But, to unify the party, we need to do more than say it, we need to actually "advance our conservative principles," he insisted.
As of now, he's not sure Trump can do that.
Ryan’s comments perhaps come as no surprise, considering he has repeatedly denounced Trump’s campaign behavior since assuming the speakership. For instance, although he says he didn’t want to weigh in on the primary, Ryan made an exception in March after Trump proposed to ban Muslims from entering the country. That plan, Ryan said, “is not conservatism.”
Ryan noted he didn't think he'd have to make a decision so soon, expecting the race to at least last until June. As the chair of the GOP convention, Ryan hopes Trump will have proved by then he can unify the party.
"I hope to support his candidacy fully," he said.