Back in March, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan declared that he would speak out against Donald Trump when he saw “episodes where conservatism is being disfigured” or “comments that mislead the people as to who we are as Republicans.” True to his word, last week Ryan strongly condemned Trump’s racial attack on a federal judge as “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
But so far, the speaker has had nothing to say about Donald Trump’s comments Tuesday night in which the presumptive GOP nominee suggested U.S. soldiers in Iraq overseeing the distribution of reconstruction funds commonly engaged in theft.
“How about bringing baskets of money, millions and millions of dollars, and handing it out?” Trump said while discussing the Iraq war. “I want to know, who are the soldiers who had that job? Because I think they’re living very well right now, whoever they may be.” The Trump campaign later claimed Trump was speaking about Iraqi soldiers, but that claim was nonsensical spin: American soldiers, not Iraqis, were the ones “bringing baskets of money” and handing it out.
At Paul Ryan’s Thursday morning press conference, I asked him if he had any response to Trump’s comments this week about the Iraq war. “Wait, sorry, I was–you jumped ahead of him,” Ryan replied, indicating that he was pointing at a reporter sitting in front of me. Ryan took four more questions, but didn’t circle back to address Trump’s Iraq war comments.
“I haven’t talked to the speaker about this, but I’m not sure he’s even familiar with this comment,” Ryan spokesman AshLee Strong told me in response to an email asking if Ryan would comment on the matter. “Of course the speaker doesn’t doubt the patriotism or honesty of our soldiers overseas.”
During the course of his 11-minute press conference, Ryan did field a few questions about Trump. A Washington Post reporter asked: “This morning, Mr. Speaker, you rolled out your plan to rein in executive power. Mr. Trump yesterday said this, addressing congressional leaders like yourself: ‘Be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don’t talk.’ What is your reaction to that? How do you have any confidence that this is a guy who is going to have respect separation of powers?”
“You know, you can’t make this stuff up sometimes. I’ll just say we represent a separate yet equal branch of government,” Ryan replied. “We will lose our freedoms in this country, including all of the Bill of Rights, if we don’t robustly defend the separation of powers.”
Citing Trump’s response to the Orlando attacks, a CNN reporter asked Ryan if there was anything Trump could do that would make Ryan withdraw his endorsement. “That’s not my plan. I don’t have a plan to do that. We’re going to agree to disagree on some things,” Ryan replied. “Mitt Romney and I didn’t agree on everything. What we do agree on is we don’t want another Democrat in the White House, I’ll tell you that. We do have a lot of common ground on a lot of things.”
“We don’t agree on that,” Ryan said of Trump’s Muslim ban. “You also know if I’m asked a question, I’m going to answer it honestly.”
A Fox News reporter then asked Ryan if he was bothered by the constant need to distance himself from Trump. “I’m going to be myself and speak up in defense of our principles, in defense of not just our party’s principles, but our country’s principles,” Ryan replied. “No matter what, we’re going to defend those principles. I do though believe that the last thing we want is a Democrat in the White House like Hillary Clinton.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Speaker Ryan will speak out in defense of the American veterans outraged by Trump’s remarks.
