Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is pleased that House Speaker Paul Ryan has finally come out in support of Donald Trump as the party’s presumptive nominee.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner at party headquarters Friday afternoon, Priebus said that Ryan, his fellow Wisconsinite, “did the right thing” by coming on board after sitting on the sidelines for nearly a month after Trump beat Sen. Ted Cruz in Indiana and became the presumptive nominee.
“I think what Paul Ryan did was take his time and deliberate and vet and have conversations so that when he did come out and endorse, he did it in a way that was, to him, honest and real [and] not just something you do in reaction to an event, and that’s what Paul did,” Priebus told the Examiner. “I think he did the right thing.”
Priebus also said that Ryan’s support for the nominee will help Trump unify the party, which the chairman believes is the biggest challenge moving forward as they look to win back the White House.
“I think it’s just a continuation of the unification process of our party,” Priebus said of Trump’s challenges looking ahead. “I don’t think it’s a big mountain anymore, especially with Paul Ryan coming on board.”
Ryan made the announcement Thursday in the in a column for the Janesville Gazette, his hometown newspaper. In the column Ryan, said that he believed Trump would be willing to back the House’s policy agenda, so he was willing to support the real estate mogul.
Trump and Ryan initially met at a highly-anticipated sit-down at the Republican National Committee on May 12, which helped set in motion the speaker handing over his endorsement.
