House speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump uttered a “textbook definition of a racist comment” about the fitness of the federal judge in the Trump University case. But the Wisconsin Republican said he remained committed to supporting Trump because the likely Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, would be less likely to pass the House GOP agenda.
Speaking at an event in Washington to unveil the House Republicans’ poverty plan, Ryan was asked about Trump’s recent statements that Gonzalo Curiel, a U.S. district judge, would not be able to be impartial in the Trump U case because of his Mexican heritage.
At a rally last week, Trump said the judge was “very hostile” and a “hater” of Trump. “The judge, who happens to be, we believe, Mexican, which is great, I think that’s fine,” he said as he called into question Curiel’s impartiality. Curiel’s parents were born in Mexico but immigrated to the United States, and the judge himself was born in Indiana. “I’m building a wall. It’s an inherent conflict of interest,” Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” Ryan, who endorsed Trump for president last week, said today in Washington. But, the speaker added, “Do I believe Hillary Clinton isn’t the answer? No, I do not.”
“I believe that we are far better off … with his candidacy than Hillary Clinton’s candidacy,” said Ryan, who was visibly annoyed at questions about Trump rather than the policy agenda he had just released.
Ryan repeatedly said he “disavows” the comments from Trump about Judge Curiel, which he called “unacceptable,” and he has spoken out often about Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and specific comments. But Ryan has said he will “not litigate” every statement made by Trump and will instead be “focusing on what we can control here in the House.”
A source close to Ryan told THE WEEKLY STANDARD after Ryan’s endorsement last week that the speaker believes “that the nominee will be supporting the agenda.”
“Based on the meetings that they’ve had…we have a pretty good comfort level that the nominee will support our agenda in the fall and leading up to the fall,” said the source.
“Who do we have a better shot with it getting enacted at all period? Certainly not Hillary Clinton,” the source added.
