“Neither Speaker Ryan nor anyone on his team has ever asked for Donald Trump’s endorsement”, said Zack Roday, Ryan’s campaign spokesman.
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Businessman Paul Nehlen, who has never held public office, is making a push to unseat Ryan, despite being outspent 17-to-1, having no local endorsements of note and Ryan’s high favorability ratings in his southeastern Wisconsin district, which includes Kenosha County.
“I’m just not there yet”, Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday. He’s a strong conservative leader.
“First of all, I am told RNC chairman Reince Priebus is furious, that he has had multiple discussions with Trump telling him he needs to drastically change course”, said Karl.
Ryan’s once sleepy race against little-known and underfunded challenger Paul Nehlen, an executive at a water filtration company, got a jolt when Trump refused to back Ryan. In language that mirrored Ryan’s when he withheld his own support from Trump after the billionaire clinched the presidential nomination this spring, Trump also said he wasn’t ready to back embattled Republican Sens.
It is still seen as a long-shot that Nehlen could unseat Ryan next Tuesday, but the nine-term incumbent felt enough pressure even before Trump’s comments to launch a full slate of television and radio ads this last week.
Trump’s comments appeared to represent the most dramatic break yet with a Republican establishment whose support for their presidential nominee has been reluctant at best. Nehlen has tried to court Trump supporters.
Trump’s campaign Wednesday announced the results of his July fundraising ahead of the August 20 deadline to report the numbers to the Federal Election Commission. And I’m just not quite there yet.
Pence says that he spoke with Trump Wednesday morning about his “support for Paul Ryan and our longtime friendship”. The speaker would not have time to meet Trump later this week, when Trump is expected to be campaigning in Wisconsin, Ryan’s home state, an aide to Ryan said.
One of Donald Trump’s top allies – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – says that it’s inappropriate to criticize the parents of an American soldier killed in Iraq.
The New York Times reported that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is actively courting Republicans-she had reached out to Whitman a month prior to her announcement this week.
And bringing up Ayotte: “I don’t know Kelly Ayotte”.
The dispute over Trump’s treatment of the Khans was the latest rift in a party frayed by dissent over the candidate. He said he won’t endorse Arizona’s senior senator because he feels McCain should have done “a better job with vets”.
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With that in place, party officials unleashed a pent-up desire by rank-and-file Republicans to donate to a candidate who has bluntly attacked lobbyists and big donors.
