Reince Priebus, the mediator in Thursday’s meeting between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan, said both men “left the room feeling pretty good” and ready to work together as the leaders of two contrasting sides of the Republican Party.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee had said Wednesday he would like to share at least 70 percent of the same principles with the House speaker.But according to the Republican National Committee chairman, the two have exceeded Trump’s goal.”In the meeting they agreed with 80, 90 percent of what was discussed in the room and they understood that they agreed with a heck of a lot more than they disagreed and there really wasn’t a lot of disagreement, but there were some areas that they discussed that I can’t get into — but I will tell you it was a good, honest conversation and a commitment on both parties to continue working together to get to a good place and I think Paul Ryan wants to get to that good place soon,” Priebus told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren Thursday night.
Ryan did not endorse Trump afterward, but Priebus said he believes their relationship was headed in a good direction as a result of their first talk.”I don’t think either Donald Trump or Paul Ryan came into this morning’s meeting and were prepared to, you know, just have a big endorsement party in 45 minutes,” Preibus said. “But I think they both left much more positive and more happy than when they came in.”
Priebus also spoke optimistically about Trump’s complicated relationship with former presidential candidate Lindsey Graham. The party chairman said despite a butting of heads over foreign policy, the New York businessman and the South Carolina senator may call a truce over the next few weeks as primary season winds down and former candidates try to influence the likely nominee on certain policies.
“We don’t agree with each other on everything but we do we agree that we are the party of freedom, opportunity and equality and the party of the open door and if you’re the party of the open door, that means that there is going to be a lot of people in the room that might not agree with each other on everything but they agree on a better future for our country, and Hillary Clinton doesn’t fit that description. And so I think that’s what you are going to be seeing over the next several weeks,” Priebus finished.
