“While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground”, the pair said in their statement. Trump and Ryan are sitting down face-to-face for the first time, a week after Ryan stunned Republicans by refusing to back the mercurial billionaire for president. Afterward, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the RNC and a Ryan friend, wrote on Twitter that the meeting was “great” and “a positive step toward party unity”.
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The joint statement from Trump and Ryan highlighted one of those common values and echoed talking points sent earlier in the day to Trump surrogates emphasizing the need to defeat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of NY, a Trump supporter, said it will help both the candidate and the speaker if they can work through their differences.
While Donald Trump met with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill Thursday, a Senate hearing provided a forum for critics in his party to take aim at his foreign policy proposals.
“Look what Donald Trump got”.
It was the kind of statement that is hard to walk back, but Ryan, the highest-ranking Republican in the country, is willing to give it a shot – albeit very, very slowly.
“When they get together, they can talk about their policies about being anti-woman”, Reid said.
Charlie Dent, a centrist House Republican who did not attend Thursday’s meetings, told reporters Trump’s Washington pilgrimage was “an opportunity to clear the air”.
Cruz and the other Republican candidate Ohio Governor John Kasich dropped out of the race soon after.
Trump’s campaign, however, has suggested Ryan’s support is not essential, pointing to the more than 10 million votes Trump has received in party nominating contests. Jeff Sessions, the first senator to endorse Trump who has served as a liaison between the campaign and his Senate colleagues. “Period. End of story”, Ryan said in April. “I think they had very good chemistry between the two of them”.
Ryan characterized Trump personally in positive terms, telling reporters that the nominee-in-waiting is “a very warm and genuine person”, and they had “a very pleasant exchange”.
Ryan did say that they agreed on abortion, separation of powers and “The Constitution”.
Turner’s office said the congressman’s remark about Trump was made in the context of Turner’s response to a CNN interviewer’s question about Trump’s call then to impose a ban on Muslim travel to the United States “until our representatives can figure out what the hell is going on”.
“I don’t think it’s do or die, any endorsement in particular”, he said outside the building. “Plenty of Republicans disagree with one another on policy disputes”.
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Anti-Trump protesters, meanwhile, chanted in Spanish and English and held signs calling the Republican candidate “dangerous”, “divisive” and “deceitful”. “I said I’d be glad to share with you my experience and observations because that’s an important part of the voters in 2016”, Cornyn said.
