Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Wednesday maintained he’s still not ready to endorse Donald Trump for president, even as the rest of House GOP leadership has gotten behind the presumptive GOP nominee.
Ryan dismissed reports from late Tuesday and early Wednesday that said he was getting closer to endorsing Trump in the coming days.
“I don’t know where all this got from,” Ryan told reporters in his Capitol Hill office. “Look, I don’t have a timeline in my mind. And I have not made a decision.”
{mosads}Asked if he was concerned the Trump campaign was leaking news of an imminent endorsement to pressure Ryan, the Speaker insisted: “I don’t worry about that stuff. … None of that stuff really gets to me.”
Ryan said the reconciliation process is still ongoing, saying his staff and Trump’s “talk virtually every day.”
The Speaker is increasingly isolated in declining to back Trump, as other Republicans have starting coalescing around the presumptive nominee. Ryan’s top two deputies, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), are both supporting Trump.
The fourth-ranking House Republican, GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), said last week that she voted for Trump despite reservations about the real estate mogul’s comments regarding women and people with disabilities.
Ryan’s office arranged the sit-down with reporters to preview the House GOP policy platform, which will be released in six parts over the course of June. The first part of the agenda, regarding poverty, will be unveiled the week after the Memorial Day recess.