Washington (CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan suggests in a new interview that a success of his tenure as House speaker has been to avoid unnamed "tragedies" during the Trump administration.

Speaking with The New York Times , Ryan discussed at length his relationship with the former business mogul ahead of his retirement from Congress at the end of this year. He told the Times that he privately appeals to the President and feels that he has managed to influence Trump's thinking and behavior so as to avoid "tragedy."

"I can look myself in the mirror at the end of the day and say I avoided that tragedy, I avoided that tragedy, I avoided that tragedy. I advanced this goal, I advanced this goal, I advanced this goal," Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, told the Times over a series of interviews that were published in a Tuesday report.

Ryan would not provide the Times with an example of a "tragedy" he thinks he thwarted.

"No, I don't want to do that," Ryan said. "That's more than I usually say."

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