House Speaker Paul Ryan told Trump intermediary Ben Carson this week that he and other Republicans were caught by surprise when Donald Trump became the presumptive GOP presidential nominee last week.
Carson, a retired neurosurgeon who abandoned his own White House bid, called Ryan late Tuesday to provide him “with a good sense of who Donald Trump is as a person” ahead of a Thursday meeting between Ryan and Trump.
The two men agreed that Trump appeared to have won the nomination sooner than anyone predicted.
“They both agreed this process accelerated much faster than anticipated with Donald Trump winning Indiana and Senator Cruz exiting the race soon after,” a GOP aide said.
Ryan has yet to endorse Trump’s candidacy and has been a regular critic of Trump’s campaign tactics, including his proposal to ban new Muslim entrants into the United States.
In the 10-minute call, Carson “provided some insight and guidance into what Donald Trump would like to talk to Speaker Ryan about on Thursday,” the aide said.
Ryan met privately with GOP lawmakers Wednesday morning to discuss the upcoming meeting, and told reporters later that he wants the party to unify in order to defeat Hillary Clinton in the fall but that the process “is going to take some work.”
