House Speaker Paul Ryan will vote for Donald Trump, he wrote Thursday in an op-ed for the GazetteXtra of Janesville, Wisconsin. The statement of support comes after Ryan initially withheld his endorsement when Trump emerged the GOP nominee.
Trump traveled to Capitol Hill after Ryan announced he wasn’t ready to endorse Trump to meet with Ryan and other GOP leaders.
“Donald Trump and I have talked at great length about things such as the proper role of the executive and fundamental principles such as the protection of life,” Ryan said in the op-ed, before listing a series of policy ideas.
“Through these conversations, I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives. That’s why I’ll be voting for him this fall,” Ryan said.
Ryan’s spokesman Brendan Buck made clear that the op-ed should be considered an endorsement.
We’re not playing word games, feel free to call it an endorsement.
— Brendan Buck (@BrendanBuck) June 2, 2016
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) spokesman Adam Jentleson responded in a statement emailed to reporters.
“As Senator Reid said, the GOP is the party of Trump. Senator McConnell spent years beating back thoughtful policy engagement and stood idly by while hateful rhetoric became routine for Republicans,” Jentleson said. “Speaker Ryan’s abject surrender makes it official: the GOP is Trump’s party now.”
