“I’m not a member of the House Republican conference anymore. I wouldn’t presume upon what the members of the conference choose," Mike Pence says. | AP Photo Pence dodges question of whether Ryan should remain speaker

Mike Pence is refusing to say whether Paul Ryan should be reelected as House speaker, declining three times during an interview to directly answer the question.

While Donald Trump has openly feuded with Ryan over the speaker’s harsh words about Trump’s actions and rhetoric, Pence has been more openly supportive of the Wisconsin Republican.


However, in an interview published Thursday by National Review, Pence dodged the question of whether Ryan should keep his job during the next Congress. “My respect for Paul Ryan is boundless,” he said twice. “I’m not a member of the House Republican conference anymore. I wouldn’t presume upon what the members of the conference choose.”

Pence staffers later moved to clarify the comment, first with the National Review reporter and again after the article was published. "He definitively supports him, 100 percent," Marc Short, a senior Pence aide, said Thursday.

Ryan has come under pressure from the House Freedom Caucus, who played a major role in ousting Ryan’s predecessor, John Boehner. POLITICO reported that members of the group held a secret meeting on Wednesday in which they discussed pursuing a GOP leadership slot in exchange for backing Ryan for another term as speaker.

The House Republican Conference is set to hold secret-ballot internal leadership elections on Nov. 15, while the full House will hold a floor vote in January to elect the next speaker.