House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Wednesday seemed confident that he will be able to continue in his role as speaker of the House with Donald Trump as president.
Ryan began a press conference in Wisconsin by offering praise for Donald Trump his ability to pull off “the most incredible political feat I have seen in my lifetime.”
Then when asked about his relationship with Trump now that he’s been elected president, Ryan indicated that the two were off to a good start.
“I think our relationship is fine,” Ryan said when asked about his relationship with Trump and House Republicans after distancing himself from Trump before Election Day.
Ryan said he has spoken to Trump twice in the past 18 hours, as well as with Mike Pence.
“We are already talking about getting our transitions working together,” Ryan then said before declaring that Trump “just earned a mandate” and helped usher in a “unified Republican government.”
Ryan was then asked if Trump assured him that he would support him as speaker.
“We had great conversations about on how we’ll work together,” Ryan replied. “We are trying to get our schedules together to meet to flesh out how we build our transition.”
When a reporter noted that Trump supported Ryan’s primary opponent, the speaker replied, “I don’t worry about things like that.”
Ryan credited Trump with Republicans ability to maintain majorities in the House and Senate.
“Our House majority is bigger than expected. We won more seats than anyone expected. And much of that is thanks to Donald Trump. Donald Trump provided the kinds of coattails that got a lot of people over the finish line so that we could maintain our strong House and Senate majorities,” he said.
