A day after contentious debate, the speaker of the House tells congressional members ‘you all need to do what’s best for you in your district’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Top Republican Paul Ryan deserted Donald Trump on Monday after an aggressive debate attack against Hillary Clinton failed to quell mounting disgust over his attitude toward women.



The speaker of the House told congressional colleagues on a conference call that he would no longer defend Trump or campaign with him. He urged them “to do what’s best for you” to save the party’s majority and avoid giving Hillary Clinton a blank check in the White House, though stressed he was not yet formally unendorsing the party’s official nominee.

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A CNN poll showed 57% of respondents felt Clinton had won the second debate, as a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey taken over the weekend showed her leading Trump by 11 points among likely voters. She is 5.8 points ahead in polling averages calculated by Real Clear Politics, a position that translates into a base of 260 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, with 165 relatively solid for Trump and 113 to play for.

Trump immediately fired back at Ryan on Twitter. “Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee,” wrote Trump in a blast at the House speaker with whom he has long had a rocky relationship.

Ryan dragged his heels on endorsing Trump after the real estate developer clinched the Republican nomination in May and disinvited him from a joint appearance in Wisconsin on Saturday in the aftermath of the leaked remarks Trump made about women.

As Clinton climbed the steps to board her plane in Westchester, New York, on Monday to depart for a campaign rally in Detroit, a reporter shouted a question about whether she believed Trump would show up for the final debate. Laughing, she replied: “Yes.”

Earlier the Democratic frontrunner accused Trump of stalking her on stage with an “avalanche of falsehoods” after a bullying second presidential debate that nonetheless rallied some hardcore supporters.

As America reeled from the menacing sight of Trump threatening to imprison his political opponent if elected, Democrats admitted they were caught off guard by what their campaign manager called the behavior of a “dictator of a banana republic”.

“I really find it almost unimaginable that someone could stand and just tell falsehood after falsehood,” Clinton told reporters who asked what had surprised her about the brutal night in St Louis.

“He was very … present,” she added, from a plane bound for her next rally in Detroit, after describing how she was aware of him standing close behind her as she fended off repeated attacks over sexual assault allegations against her husband and a private email server kept by the former first family.

But Trump’s glowering presence succeeded is restoring confidence among watching allies, one of whom, Nigel Farage, affectionately described him as a silver-back gorilla.

“I believe in redemption,” running mate Mike Pence, who had been rumored to be dropping out after a groping scandal that had threatened to sink the campaign, told MSNBC on Monday morning.

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“I believe in second chances,” added Pence. “And I think Donald Trump in expressing genuine contrition and remorse, apologizing not only to his family but to the American people for the words that he has used, I think – and saying that he was truly embarrassed about all of it on national television last night merits grace.”

He told CNN it was “absolutely false” that he had considered quitting the ticket.



Ryan’s office was forced to clarify his position after an angry reaction among Trump supporters to his apparent concession of defeat.

“The speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities,” his press secretary AshLee Strong told the Guardian.

Regarding whether he is maintaining his endorsement of Trump, she added: “There is no update in his position at this time.”

According to one person on the call, the speaker told House members, “you all need to do what’s best for you in your district.”

Another source said that most members on the call thought Trump had won a decisive triumph in Sunday’s debate and were upset at the House leadership for distancing themselves from the party’s nominee. The tone wasn’t helped by the fact that both Ryan and House majority leader Kevin McCarthy made several pitches for members to contribute more money to the NRCC during the call.

Ryan said he will not defend Trump or campaign with him for the next 30 days but would “spend his entire energy making sure that Hillary Clinton does not get a blank check with a Democrat-controlled Congress”.