Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday night that the role of the free press is critical to the functioning of the United States’ system of government, following weeks of complaints from President Trump that much of the news reported out of Washington is “fake news.”
“This relationship, it’s crucial,” Ryan reassured reporters at the Congressional Radio and TV Correspondents’ dinner in Washington. “This relationship will endure. The institutions will endure.”
“We have a very messy system. But this very messy system of government is the best possible system, and this messy system of government completely relies on a free and open press,” Ryan added to applause.
Ryan said the press and Congress have always butted heads, but said that’s the way the Founding Fathers designed the system.
“Our Republic does not work without what you do,” Ryan said.
Still, Ryan said both the press and lawmakers could do a better job respecting each others’ roles, and said differences between the two camps need to be “emphasized but not exploited.”
“The invitation that I want to give to you … put the pen down and let’s just stop spinning, and let’s … stop playing gotcha, and let’s just get to know each other just a little bit more,” Ryan said.
Ryan opened up his remarks with jokes about various reporters, just a week after he delivered a similar comedy routine at the Al Smith dinner in New York. Ryan joked about President Trump in New York, and said the two spoke by phone afterwards.
“He actually really liked the speech,” Ryan said of Trump. “He actually told me that he watched it on TV and thought it was great, which I thought was really weird. The president watches TV?”
