'i am supporting our entire republican ticket. i have been all along,' the speaker says on fox news. by rachael bade 11/01/16 09:06 am edt paul ryan has voted for donald trump. the house speaker told fox news on tuesday that he pulled the lever in early voting for the gop nominee, despite their very public, long-running standoff. ryan reluctantly endorsed trump in june but has kept his distance, telling republicans last month that he wouldn't campaign for the nominee. story continued below still, ryan has never said he wouldn't vote for trump. <u+201c>i stand where i<u+2019>ve stood all fall and all summer," the wisconsin republican said on "fox & friends." "in fact, i already voted here in janesville for our nominee last week in early voting." when asked whether he was encouraging all republicans to support trump, he notably answered only from his personal point of view: <u+201c>i am supporting our entire republican ticket. i have been all along.<u+201d> (ryan has a number of moderate republican colleagues who cannot support trump or they will lose their seats, so encouraging everyone to vote trump would put them in political jeopardy.) ryan then made the case that democratic nominee hillary clinton is unfit to lead. <u+201c>the point i keep trying to make to younger voters who did not live through the 1990s is that this is what life with the clintons looks like: it's always a scandal, one after another. then there is an investigation,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>they live beyond the rules, and they live to work the system to help themselves, to help clinton inc.<u+201d> <u+201c>they can win, and she could come in with a democrat congress <u+2014> the worse of all possible things <u+2014> if republicans don<u+2019>t turn out to vote,<u+201d> ryan continued. and if she does, "she will come with all her scandal baggage, and i don<u+2019>t think that<u+2019>s what the american people want to see.<u+201d> it<u+2019>s a stark change in tone from what he told house republicans on a conference call following the revelation of the 2005 <u+201c>access hollywood<u+201d> video in which trump bragged about making unwanted advances on women. ryan made waves when he said he would neither campaign with nor defend trump. republicans in the house and trump supporters around the country blasted ryan for the very public split. and trump called ryan a <u+201c>very weak leader.<u+201d> since then, ryan<u+2019>s office has tried to downplay his comments, noting that he<u+2019>s still technically endorsing trump even as he continued avoiding talking about him on the campaign trail. asked tuesday whether he would campaign with trump and wisconsin gov. scott walker, ryan said he "just heard about it like 10 minutes ago." he said he was focused on protecting his gop majority and making sure minority leader "nancy pelosi doesn't return as speaker of the house." indeed, his political operation on monday announced a busy campaign schedule for the final week of the campaign, including numerous stops for vulnerable house members. <u+201c>i am on my way right now to indiana with one of our members running there. then i<u+2019>m going to michigan, then i<u+2019>m going to new york, then virginia. i<u+2019>m just crisscrossing the country right now fighting for congressional republicans, which is my primary responsibility right now,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>i have a schedule that has been long in place." by bill scher by joshua zeitz by thomas wright by jack shafer
ryan votes for trump - politico
rachael bade jack shafer