House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday he opposes consideration of a censure resolution against President Trump for his comments about the violence in Charlottesville, Va., and said that bill would only drive the country further apart.
“I will not support that,” Ryan said at a televised town hall in Wisconsin. “I think that would be so counterproductive.”
“If we descend this issue into some partisan hack-fest, into some bickering against each other, and demean it down to some political food fight, what good does that do to unify the country?” he asked.
Democrats say Trump needs to be censured for failing to immediately condemn white supremacist groups. But Ryan said Trump made himself more clear in a speech in Virginia Monday night and stressed that a House debate on censuring Trump would only rip the wound open again.
“I think that would be the absolutely worst thing we should do,” he said.
Ryan’s opposition makes it clear that Democrats pushing for a vote on censure face an uphill climb in the House, where Republicans set the agenda and the schedule.
