NYT
Updated, 9:56 a.m. | Donald
J. Trump said he would not rule out an effort to remove Representative
Paul D. Ryan as chairman of the Republican National Convention if he did
not endorse Mr. Trump’s candidacy.
Mr. Trump stopped
short of calling for Mr. Ryan, the speaker of the House, to step down
from his convention role. But in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s
“Meet the Press,” Mr. Trump said there could be consequences in the
event that Mr. Ryan continued withholding his support.
“I will give you a
very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens,
O.K.?” Mr. Trump said. “There’s no reason to give it right now, but
I’ll be very quick with the answer.”
Mr. Trump has shown
little interest over the last few days in placating his critics inside
the party, including Mr. Ryan. Mr. Ryan, a representative from
Wisconsin, said on Thursday that he was not ready to endorse Mr. Trump,
citing reservations about his political style and policy agenda. The
two men are scheduled to meet privately in Washington next week.
But on “Meet the
Press,” Mr. Trump struck a dismissive tone toward Mr. Ryan and responded
with outright hostility to other Republican critics who have refused to
back his campaign.
Jeb Bush,
he said, was “not honorable” for breaking his promise to endorse the
party’s nominee. Mitt Romney, he said, was “ungrateful” for the help Mr.
Trump gave him in the 2012 election. Mr. Trump referred to Lindsey
Graham, the South Carolina senator who said Friday he would never vote
for Mr. Trump, as “this lightweight.”
Of Mr. Ryan, he said:
“I’d like to have his support. But if he doesn’t want to support me,
that’s fine, and we have to go about it.”
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