Speaker Paul Ryan said he will no longer "defend Trump" or campaign with him. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Ryan abandons Trump The House speaker all but conceded that Clinton will win and said he plans to campaign only for a GOP Congress.

Speaker Paul Ryan told House Republicans on a conference call Monday morning that he’s done defending Donald Trump and will focus on maintaining his party’s increasingly imperiled House majority, according to sources on the call.

The message amounted to a concession by the highest-ranking elected Republican that his nominee for president can’t win — and lawmakers should save themselves and the Republican-controlled Congress to act as a check on Hillary Clinton.


Ryan stopped short of formally rescinding his endorsement of Trump — but just short. His move carries immense risk, and Ryan faced blowback from all sides: Trump and his surrogates warned Republican leaders they would pay a price for breaking from the nominee; some rank-and-file Republicans warned the strategy was a mistake; and immediately after the call, Clinton tweeted to her nearly 10 million followers that “Ryan is still endorsing Trump.”

Trump tweeted after the call that "Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee." And a Trump supporter in the House, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, sharply criticized Republican leaders on the call for not doing enough to support Trump, sources said.

The continued fallout set off alarms among Republicans about a potential down-ballot wave that imperils not only the Senate, which Democrats are already in a strong position to win, but the until-now seemingly impenetrable House majority. At this point, the imperative for vulnerable Republicans on the ballot is simply political survival.





Ryan told his members that “you all need to do what’s best for you in your district," said a source on the call, giving rank-and-file lawmakers political cover to disavow Trump. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California urged the lawmakers to take a deep breath and focus on their own races.

It was the biggest and most dramatic split between the highest-ranking Republican lawmaker on Capitol Hill and the party's presidential nominee. Ryan has pushed back repeatedly on Trump's most outrageous comments or positions, but until now, he has refused to openly break with the nominee.

Ryan and House Republicans are cognizant they could face a backlash from Trump supporters. With less than a month to go in the campaign, an open rupture between the presidential nominee and down-ballot Republicans could turn off independent voters and depress turnout among base voters, compounding their problems from the top of the ticket.

"The speaker is going to spend the next month focused entirely on protecting our congressional majorities," said AshLee Strong, Ryan's spokeswoman.

Ryan will be campaigning in 17 states and 42 cities this month, with additional events planned, said GOP sources.

The conference call came as GOP congressional leaders and rank-and-file members have grown increasingly tired of Trump's rhetoric, uneven public appearances and lewd language. On Friday, a 2005 videotape was released showing Trump making vulgar comments about women, including suggesting he could grab them against their will because he was a celebrity. The video spurred dozens of House and Senate GOP lawmakers to revoke their endorsements of Trump or say they will vote for vice presidential nominee Mike Pence.

Trump apologized for his 2005 comments, but then tried to go on the offensive during Sunday's presidential debate by repeatedly invoking accusations from women of improper sexual advances by former President Bill Clinton. Trump accused Hillary Clinton of trying to destroy the credibility of these women.

The move delighted some of the most hard-core conservatives but further alienated other Republicans, who see it as having nothing to do with beating Hillary Clinton.

Other Trump supporters on the conference call said they wouldn't or couldn't concede the presidential race to Clinton. They included Reps. Billy Long of Missouri, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Trent Franks of Arizona and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, among others.

"A lot of these guys feel like there is a moral imperative to beating Hillary Clinton," said a source on the call.

"Having [Clinton] as commander in chief is something they just can't accept," added a GOP lawmaker. "It just strikes them as appalling."

Yet National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon and GOP strategists are warning that Trump's poll numbers are tanking, and he could drag the House and Senate Republcian majorities down with him. To Ryan, McCarthy and other party leaders, acting as a check on Clinton if she wins is a more viable option — and a far more likely outcome — than a Trump victory.

"We're in a terrible place," said a separate GOP lawmaker. "We're damned if we do [stick with Trump] and damned if we don't."

