WH: Speaker Ryan’s Status ‘Not Something That The White House Has Waded Into’

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on May 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mandel Ngan / AFP)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The White House on Tuesday declined to weigh in on whether Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) should step down from his leadership position before his actual retirement takes effect at the end of this term. 

“At this point, that’s something for Speaker Ryan and members of Congress to make that determination, not something that the White House has waded into at this point,” Sanders told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday.

Yet the White House’s own budget director, Mick Mulvaney, has reportedly weighed in on that question.

The Weekly Standard reported Monday that Mulvaney wondered aloud at a conference sponsored by the magazine the previous day: “Wouldn’t it be great to force a Democrat running in a tight race to have to put up or shut up about voting for Nancy Pelosi eight weeks before an election? That’s a really, really good vote for us to force if we can figure out how to do it.”

Pelosi has said she’ll run for the speakership should Democrats win control of the House in November.

A spokesperson for Mulvaney told the Washington Post his comments were “purely hypothetical.”

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. A spokesperson for Mulvaney told the Washington Post his comments were “purely hypothetical.”

    Purely hypothetical. Just not connected to any tangible thing here on the planet. A joke, if you will.

  2. Mulvaney is a turd.

  3. “At this point, that’s something for Speaker Ryan and members of Congress to make that determination, not something a swamp that the White House has waded into at this point,” Sanders told reporters at a press briefing Tuesday.

    FIFY!

  4. A spokesperson for Mulvaney told the Washington Post his comments were “purely hypothetical hypocritical.”

    FIFY, again!

  5. “Can’t you take a joke? You need to get a sense of humor.”

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

20 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for txvoodoo Avatar for silvrfox Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for squirreltown Avatar for sandyh Avatar for inversion Avatar for ralph_vonholst Avatar for lastroth Avatar for tao Avatar for benthere Avatar for blogamator Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for jacksonhts Avatar for dannydorko Avatar for erik_t Avatar for rascal_crone

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: