Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. said Sunday that House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., needs to get on board with Donald Trump’s campaign. “He needs to do that,” Sessions said when asked by Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo about a potential Ryan endorsement. “We don’t need to continue having the speaker hanging out there, in my opinion.”
Ryan has steadily refused to endorse Trump, despite pressure from friends and allies within the Republican Party, although the two Republicans’ aides talk regularly. But Ryan is clearly trying to influence Trump and protect the House Republican majority. “I feel that I can play a role in unifying,” he said last week. “I don’t want to see our party divided.”
Sessions also suggested that Ryan doesn’t read free trade agreements, despite being their most powerful advocate in the Republican Party.
“I know the speaker believes in trade agreements, any of them,” Sessions said. “I don’t think he feels he has to read them, they’ve just got to be good. But I don’t agree with that and the American people have voted on that — they’ve spoken. Donald Trump has won and he is crystal clear on this issue: We are not going to have any trade agreements unless it protects the American interest.”
Sessions is a forceful opponent of recent free trade deals, most of which he regards as having been negotiated in ways that harmed the American economy. He predicted that President Obama would not convince Congress to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership by the end of the year.
