GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan and Donald Trump released a joint statement after a meeting to attempt to bridge a divide in the Republican Party. The meeting follows a refusal over the weekend by Ryan to endorse Trump as the party’s nominee.
And no endorsement is yet forthcoming, though the joint statement seems to suggest that it will come.
The United States cannot afford another four years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents. That is why it’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall. With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning. While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground. We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal. We are extremely proud of the fact that many millions of new voters have entered the primary system, far more than ever before in the Republican Party’s history. This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification.
— Paul Ryan (@PRyan) May 12, 2016
Ryan spoke about the meeting in his weekly press briefing:
