“I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan’s agenda”, Trump wrote in a statement Thursday.
Advertisement
He also said he will not attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
The meeting will take place against a backdrop of stark division in the party over Trump’s impending nomination, with many high-profile Republicans keeping mum or declining to endorse Trump.
“And I think the bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee”, Ryan told Jake Tapper of CNN. “It is important that their votes be honored and it is time that we support the party’s presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump”. The vote was supposed to be on Tuesday, but now I can say: Stay home but get twice as many people in November, right?
Graham did, however, say he would offer help to the victor after the election, and he promised to support other Republicans running for office.
“He has a long record that needs to be examined”, Obama said of Trump.
Bush said on Facebook that Trump has not demonstrated the temperament or strength of character needed to be president.
Graham and Bush, who both ran for president, clashed harshly with Trump while they were on the campaign trail. “If I got beaten as badly as I beat him, and all the other candidates he endorsed, I would not be able to give my support either. Wrong, I didn’t inherit it, I won it with millions of voters!” Trump expects to meet with Ryan on Wednesday, he said on the Fox News Channel on Friday.
While Bush, who was maligned repeatedly by Trump during his own unsuccessful presidential bid, congratulated his former rival on his presumed accomplishment, he shared several contributing factors behind his decision not to vote for the real estate mogul. Meantime, Trump is wasting no time after pushing out Texas Sen.
“It depends on how well Trump wins people’s hearts and minds in the next three or four months”, said Groover, who supported Bush for president and is planning to run for state attorney general. “The last two presidential cycles we were told John McCain was a conservative”.
Advertisement
He continued, saying that Republican officials and voters-particularly Republican women-need to decide: “is that the guy who I feel comfortable with in representing me and what I care about?”
