Ryan Dismisses Questions About Trump's Character
2:37 PM, May 25, 2016 | By Michael Warren
http://www.weeklystandard.com/ryan-dismisses-questions-about-trumps-character/article/2002544?custom_click=rss?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=TWSAutoTweetsnip
Ryan continued to acknowledge the policy differences with Trump while insisting there are common principles, but the speaker was unwilling to address questions about the Republican candidate's personal character. Asked by THE WEEKLY STANDARD about some of the problematic statements and actions Trump has made on the campaign trail—dismissing the service of American prisoners of war, mocking a physically disabled reporter, and denigrating women for their appearance—Ryan waved away the question.
TWS: Which of these should Donald Trump apologize for, if any of them?
RYAN: I'm not going to get into this now.
TWS: Well, wait, should he apologize for those?
RYAN: I'm not going to litigate this stuff. I'm focusing on what we can control here in the House.
And what Ryan can control, he says, is the agenda House Republicans put forward. He continued to express the hope that Trump, as the nominee, would pick up the ideas developed by Ryan's colleagues.
Ryan said his staff speaks with Trump's "virtually every day" and said the New York billionaire is "familiar" with the House Republican conference's upcoming release of several detailed policy papers on issues like national security, health care, and economic growth. Ryan said House Republicans will likely release its first proposal, on poverty, at the beginning of June.
Another issue about which House Republicans are "animated," Ryan said, is the separation of powers and the reassertion of Congress's power against the expansion of executive power. What about the indications from Trump that he, as president, would continue to expand executive power? "That is one of my big concerns, not just with Donald Trump but with whoever the next president's going to be," Ryan said. "And we who are the guardians of Article One have seen this power slip.
