The leader of the U.S. House of Representatives distanced himself from Donald Trump on Monday as the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign sank deeper into crisis over his sexually aggressive remarks about women.
House Speaker Paul Ryan told an emergency meeting of fellow Republican lawmakers that he would neither defend Trump or campaign with him in the coming 30 days, the time remaining to the Nov. 8 presidential and congressional elections, but would focus on protecting Republican majorities in Congress.
His comments were made during a conference call by Republicans in the U.S. Congress, a source familiar with the call said. The call was arranged to work out how to handle the fallout from a video that surfaced on Friday showing the Republican nominee making lewd comments about women in 2005.
Ryan said that he would spend the remainder of the election campaign making sure that if Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wins in November she does not get a “blank check” in the form of Democrat-controlled Congress, the source said. Republicans currently control both the House and Senate.
On a conference call with fellow Republicans on Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan said that he would stop defending Donald Trump and would instead work on preserving his party’s congressional majority.
Not only that, but Ryan also apparently told Republicans that they should do whatever they could to save their seats — even if it meant rescinding their support for Trump’s candidacy.
As you might expect, a wounded Donald Trump wasn’t happy about it — and he wasted no time lashing out at Ryan on Twitter.
“Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee,” Trump wrote shortly after news broke that Ryan gave his troops permission to run for the hills.
“Has Paul Ryan ever defended Trump?” Hughes scoffed moments after the news broke, pointing to the fact that Ryan retracted Trump’s invitation to a weekend event after a video tape surfaced showing the billionaire bragging about sexually assaulting women.
“There’s been a large disconnect between Washington, D.C. and the people,” Hughes continued. “These campaigns this year are all about being the anti-establishment, anti-status quo, something that Paul Ryan represents. This does no damage. If anything, the actually helps.”
“Thank you, Paul Ryan,” the Trump surrogate said, turning to the camera. “If you’re not going to help us, good luck.”
According to Hughes, Trump could not be blamed if Republicans lose their seats.
