Speaker of the House Paul Ryan struggled on Tuesday to justify his endorsement of Donald Trump just five days ago, telling reporters that the Republican presidential candidate's recent criticism of a Hispanic judge 'is sort of like a textbook definition of a racist comment.'

Ryan said he would 'not attempt to try and defend the indefensible,' but insisted that sending Hillary Clinton to the White House is not 'the answer' to a growing divide between the Trump campaign and centrist lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Minutes later, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Trump, whom he also has endorsed, is not prejudiced.

'Donald Trump is not a racist. The allegations that he is are absolutely contrary to any experience I’ve had with him,' Christie told a gaggle of journalists in the Garden State hamlet of Mendham Township.

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Paul Ryan, the U.S. house speaker, clobbered Donald Trump on Tuesday over his 'racist' complaints about a Hispanic federal judge but insisted Republicans would be better off casting their lot with Trump than with Hillary Clinton

Ryan spoke outside a poverty charity with a gaggle of reporters gathered to pounce

'Congressman Ryan is entitled to his opinion,' Christie added, telling reporters after he voted in New Jersey's Republican primary that the Trump-Curiel 'judge kerfuffle' shouldn't distract the GOP.

'What matters here is winning or losing,' he said.

Ryan said in Washington that the 'mature and responsible thing' would be for Trump to disavow comments he has made about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing a fraud lawsuit related to a defunct series of real estate seminars the billionaire owns.

The House speaker spoke outside a DC-based charity called 'House of Help City of Hope' where he unveiled a Republican initiative to combat poverty.

Beginning on May 27 during a speech in San Diego, California – the city where Curiel hears cases in federal court – Trump has accused the him of being incapable of judging him fairly because he is of Mexican descent and Trump plans to wall off Mexico from the U.S. if he's president.

'I disavow these comments. I regret those comments that he made,' Ryan said Tuesday.

'I don't think – claiming someone cannot do their job because of their race is sort of like a textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable.'

'But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not,' he added, explaining that Republicans in Congress 'have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her.'

'But I do absolutely disavow those comments. I think they're wrong, I don't think they're right-headed, and the thinking behind them is something I don't even personally relate to.'

Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who was among Trump's earliest high-profile endorsers, rushed to his aid shortly after Ryan made his brief comments

Ryan said he wouldn't 'defend the indefensible' but pledged to help the GOP solidify its congressional majority in spite of Trump's 'racist' comments

Asked how he could continue to support a presidential candidate whom he had just accused of racism, Ryan threaded a rhetorical needle.

'I don't know what's in his heart,' he declared. 'But I think the comment itself is defined that way.'

'So I am not going to defend these kinds of comments, because they're indefensible. I'm going to defend our ideas. I'm going to defend our majority.'

'I see it as my job as Speaker of the House to help keep our party unified,' Ryan said, forecasting that 'if we go into the fall as a divided party, we are doomed to lose.'

Later in the day on Fox News Radio's 'Kilmeade & Friends,' Ryan told host Brian Kilmeade that he wasn't judging Trump personally – only the words he chose.

'No, I’m not,' he replied when Kilmeade asked if he was saying Trump is racist. 'I’m saying that the comment was.'

'I don’t know what’s in his heart. I can’t speak to that whatsoever. What I’m saying is to suggest that a person’s race disqualifies them to do their job is "textbook." That’s what I’m saying.'