House Speaker Paul Ryan hailed progress after meeting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on Thursday, but stopped short of offering an endorsement.
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The split between Mr Ryan and Mr Trump, which crystallised last week when the House Speaker said he was not ready to endorse the businessman, had become a major headache for the party and the candidate as it laid bare the deep divisions Mr Trump’s candidacy had created.
“The United States can not afford another 4 years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents”, they wrote in a statement issued Thursday. With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning.
But the two men insist they took a “positive first step” towards unifying the fractured Republican party and merging Trump’s populist appeal with establishment conservatives who vowed never to support the Republican nominee.
Republican Representative Lee Zeldin, of NY, a Trump supporter, said it will help both the candidate and the speaker if they can work through their differences. “But again in 45 minutes you don’t litigate all of the processes and all the issues and the principles that we are talking about”.
“I’m going to support the Republican nominee absolutely”, Capito said, “for the major reason that I believe party unity is really important”.
“It’s very important that we don’t fake unifying, we don’t pretend unification, that we truly and actually unify so we are full strength in the fall”, he said.
Donald Trump and a senior Republican figure have agreed to work together to unite the party after a heated and divisive campaign for the party’s presidential nominee.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas walked by and remarked that Trump is “tearing people apart”.
Mr Trump, a property developer, told the Associated Press on Tuesday he does not plan to release the records, which is common practice for candidates for elected office, because he was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. “The question is, can we unify on the common core principles that make our party”, Ryan said.
Even South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s most vocal and harshest critics, seems to be softening his stance as the GOP seeks to come together.
Trump started his day on Capitol Hill at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, where he met with Speaker Ryan and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. Khan refused Trump’s offer, saying the NY businessman’s views were “ignorant” and would make the United Kingdom and the U.S. “less safe”.
Asked on Fox News who leads the party in his view, he said Mr Ryan. “And if we don’t, we will trudge forward like I’ve been doing and winning all the time”. “To help unify the party and broaden his appeal, I hope Donald will listen to policymakers and carefully consider his approach to issues like worldwide trade, religious liberty, and entitlement reform”.
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“I thought he has a very good personality”.
