Mary Spicuzza and Craig Gilbert

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

JANESVILLE, Wis. — House Speaker Paul Ryan said Monday that if Donald Trump wants him to step down as chairman of the GOP convention, he will respect his wishes.

"He's the nominee. I'll do whatever he wants with respect to the convention," Ryan said when asked about that scenario in an interview with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Ryan said he hopes he and Trump can begin to get to know each other when they meet later this week.

"I just want to get to know the guy ... we just don't know each other," said Ryan, who delivered a political bombshell last Thursday when he said he wasn't ready yet to support his party's presumptive nominee.

"I never said never. I just said (not) at this point. I wish I had more time to get to know him before this happened. We just didn't," he said.

Ryan said his comments last week were him simply speaking his mind. He dismissed the criticism from Trump supporter Sarah Palin that he has his eye on the White House in 2020.

Palin says she'll back Ryan's GOP challenger in House race

"I would not have become speaker of the House if I had 2020 aspirations. If I really wanted to run for president, I could have run in 2012 and 2016. The speaker is not exactly a good stepping stone for president. I think people who know me know that is not my aspiration," said Ryan.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who picked Ryan as his running mate, is being courted to reconsider jumping into this year's presidential race as an independent candidate, according to some media reports.

But Ryan said Monday that a third-party or independent bid by conservatives in 2016 "would be a disaster for our party. I have communicated that to plenty of people."

The speaker said that in taking his stance on Trump his goal is to work toward real unity, and not "fake" unity.

"We have right now a disunified Republican Party. We shouldn't sweep it under the rug without addressing it. That would be to our detriment in the fall," said Ryan, speaking in an interview that had been scheduled before Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee.

Ryan declined to elaborate in greater detail about his concerns about Trump, saying, "I don't want to have a conversation with Donald Trump through the media. I want to have a straight conversation with Donald Trump on behalf of the party (and) myself, too. Let me say this, the man deserves a ton of credit for an amazing achievement, which is to bring millions of people into this party and to have a very impressive victory ... At the same time we want to make sure we don't pretend we're unified and then go into the fall at half-strength."

Ryan says he would step down as convention chair if Trump asks

"I want to help unify our party so that we're at full strength so that we can defeat Hillary Clinton," Ryan said "I believe between now and July we will be able to figure out how to unify our party."

Ryan's declaration last week that he isn't ready to endorse Trump underscores an historic schism in the party over its presumptive nominee, with past GOP presidents and nominees distancing themselves from Trump and Republican lawmakers up for re-election struggling to adopt a stance that won't alienate either their own base or general election voters. One GOP Senator in a hot re-election race, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey, wrote an op-ed Sunday criticizing Trump and indicating he isn't ready to support him.

Trump says he's not worried by opposition to him within GOP

Trump says he was "blindsided" by Ryan's stance. Asked on NBC's Meet The Press Sunday if he would seek to have Ryan removed as chair of the GOP convention if he refuses to endorse him, Trump said he'd answer that question at a later time.

"I will give you a very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens, OK? But there's no reason to give it right now," he said.

Palin said on CNN Sunday that Ryan had "disrespected the will of the people" by withholding his support from Trump. And she vowed to work to defeat Ryan in Ryan's GOP congressional primary this August, where he faces a businessman and first-time candidate, Paul Nehlen. If she does, it would pit the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee directly against its 2012 nominee.

Trump distanced himself from Palin's comments on Monday.

"I have nothing to do with that. Sarah is very much a free agent. She's a terrific person ... I didn't know about this until yesterday. I guess she's ... endorsing somebody who's running against Paul," Trump said on CNN.

Offering a defense of Ryan Monday was his friend and fellow Wisconsinite, Reince Priebus, who as chair of the Republican National Committee is trying to bring his party together behind its nominee.

But Priebus said the best way to do that is not by "jamming people" who are trying to work through how they feel about Trump.

"In Paul's defense ... a lot of people thought, and I got to tell you, I was very surprised that (Ted) Cruz dropped out so quickly. I think a lot of people thought they were going to be able to kick the tires for another 30 days and kind of work through this," Priebus told radio talk show host Mike Gallagher Monday. "Then all of sudden the microphones are in everybody's face saying, 'Are you on board?'"

Priebus said he put Ryan in the category of someone who is "in the constructive position, I believe, of saying, 'How do I get to yes?'"

The RNC chair added: "It would be great if everything was instantaneous. But this hasn't been the kind of primary season that would allow instantaneous cohesion."

Priebus also said he thought Trump could help bring Republicans together by offering assurances he doesn't want to rewrite the GOP platform and even publicizing a list of potential Supreme Court nominees he would choose from if elected.

Spicuzza reported from Janesville, Wis., and Gilbert from Washington, D.C.