Ryan: Trump ‘met expectations’ at the debate

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday said Donald Trump “met expectations” at Monday’s presidential debate but declined to comment on the Republican nominee’s new attacks on a former Miss Universe winner who he said was “the worst” because she “gained a massive amount of weight.”

The Speaker’s advice for Trump over the weekend had been this: overprepare.

{mosads}Based on what Ryan observed, Trump had passed the test.

“I think people met their expectations. And I think Hillary gave a very polished, well-rehearsed defense of the status quo, and I think Donald Trump gave a unique Donald Trump response to the status quo,” Ryan said.

“I think he gave a spirited argument and I think he passed a number of thresholds — that for 90 minutes he can go toe-to-toe with Hillary Clinton.”

Ryan, a fitness fanatic, said he was too busy Tuesday morning exercising and working to have caught Trump’s interview on Fox News about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.

Toward the end of Monday night’s debate, Democrat Hillary Clinton reminded voters that Trump has often criticized the appearance of women, once calling Machado “Miss Piggy.”

Trump doubled down in a Fox News interview early Tuesday morning, continuing to insist that Machado had “gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem.”

“I’m not going to get into the ‘who said what’ this morning on some talk show because I didn’t see it,” Ryan told reporters in the Capitol.