Ryan: 'Not my plan' to rescind Trump endorsement 'I do believe the last thing we want is a Democrat in the White House, like Hillary Clinton,' he says.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, swatting away the latest queries about his strained relationship with Donald Trump, said Thursday he has no intention of rescinding his endorsement of the presumptive nominee.

“That’s not my plan,” the Wisconsin Republican said at his weekly Q-and-A with reporters in the Capitol. “I don’t have a plan to do that.” He repeated that he and Trump have many differences, but he said they also share “common ground on a lot of things,” and “I do believe the last thing we want is a Democrat in the White House, like Hillary Clinton.”


Ryan was asked how many more times he can repudiate Trump while continuing to back him for president. “I don’t know the answer to that, either,” the speaker responded.

Ryan's comments came two days after he again denounced Trump's call to bar Muslims from entering the country, a proposal the candidate reiterated and broadened after the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, last weekend.

Ryan also weighed in on negotiations in the Senate to prevent firearm sales to people on terrorism watch lists.

“We don’t want to take away citizens’ rights without due process,” he said, noting the FBI’s earlier concerns that some versions of the legislation could compromise anti-terrorism efforts.

“We want to get this right so we don’t undermine terrorist investigations,” Ryan said.

The news conference then veered back to the familiar topic of Trump. Ryan was asked what he thought of Trump’s decision to pull credentials for The Washington Post because of what he's deemed as unfair coverage of his campaign.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a” presidential campaign doing that before, Ryan said, adding that he hopes “it gets resolved.”

As for Trump’s comment Wednesday that Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell need to get “tougher” and “sharper” or “be quiet,” Ryan's only response was, “You can’t make this up sometimes.”

