While the media continues to speculate about Thursday’s much anticipated meeting between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House doesn’t have “huge expectations” heading into his summit with the presumptive Republican nominee.
“I don’t go into Thursday with huge expectations other than just to have the kind of conversation that we need to start having so that we are getting ourselves on the same page as a party,” Ryan told Wisconsin-based radio host Stan Milam in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
Ryan is one of several GOP leaders who plans to meet with Trump on Capitol Hill later this week to discuss existing questions about the billionaire’s policy proposals and how to unify a party that’s been fractured by his success.
The House speaker said last week that he’s “not ready” to endorse Trump and has since pledged to step down as chairman of the Republican National Convention should the billionaire ask him to do so.
During the interview Tuesday, Ryan emphasized how little interaction he has had with Trump since the businessman’s candidacy took off and claimed he looks forward to getting to know him better.
“I assume that’s what Donald wants as well,” he said. “Again, we don’t know each other, we talked once a few months ago on the phone — a very good conversation.”
Trump seemed to agree on Tuesday, tweeting that he, too, is eager to meet with the Wisconsin Republican later this week.
“I look very much forward to meeting w/Paul Ryan & the GOP Party Leadership on Thurs in DC. Together, we will beat the Dems at all levels!” he wrote.
One of Trump’s high-profile supporters, ex-White House hopeful Ben Carson, has also expected to meet with Ryan ahead of Trump’s arrival in Washington. Carson will assist the Trump campaign with its vice presidential vetting process over the next few months.
