House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday denounced as “racist” the remarks made by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump when he questioned the fairness of a U.S. judge of Mexican heritage who is set to rule in a lawsuit against Trump University.
“Claiming a person can’t do the job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” Ryan said. “I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
“I just fundamentally disagree with that,” the Wisconsin Republican told reporters during a press conference that announced the GOP’s first installment of a six-part agenda. “If you say something that is wrong, the mature and responsible thing to admit is it was wrong.”
Ryan called Trump’s comments “indefensible,” and told reporters that Trump’s remarks “undercut” the GOP’s effort to show voters an attractive agenda ahead of the November election.
Ryan told reporters that in conversations with Trump, “I have discussed with him the tone of his campaign and his ideas,” and has had “exhaustive discussions” about the agenda.
Despite Trump’s comments, Ryan insisted that Hillary Clinton is not a better candidate, and said he believes Trump, not Clinton, would sign into law the detailed GOP policy agenda Ryan and House Republican lawmakers plan to roll out in June.
“I believe we have more common ground on the policy issues,” Ryan said, adding later that he believes his job as speaker is “to unite the party.”
