Speaker of the House Paul Ryan appears open to stepping down as co-chairman of the Republican party convention in Cleveland Ohio this summer.
“He’s the nominee. I’ll do whatever he wants with respect to the convention,” Ryan said when asked by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel if he would step down from his convention position if asked by Trump to do so.
In the interview with the Sentinel, Ryan reminded Trump supporters that he hadn’t officially ruled out supporting Trump for president.
“I never said never,” he said. “I just said (not) at this point.”
Ryan received criticism from Trump supporters as he blindsided Trump by revealing on live television that he hadn’t decided whether or not to support Trump for president. The news disrupted conversations about Republican unity, leading former Alaska governor Sarah Palin to announce that she would campaign for Ryan’s primary challenger.
But Ryan said he was looking forward to the meeting he had scheduled with Trump later this week.
“I just want to get to know the guy … we just don’t know each other,” he said, adding that “I wish I had more time to get to know him before this happened.”
He again specified that he had no interest in running for president and advised against a third party challenger to Trump.
“[That] would be a disaster for our party,” he said. “I have communicated that to plenty of people.”