Speaker Ryan: Trump 'obviously' had a 'bad 2 weeks'

ByBENJAMIN SIEGEL ABCNews logo
Friday, May 19, 2017

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan offered a blunt assessment of President Donald Trump's recent setbacks, saying in a radio interview Friday that he's had "a bad two weeks."

Appearing on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, Ryan dismissed speculation that Trump's setbacks and turmoil in the White House would hurt the GOP majority and Republicans' agenda.

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah is what I say about that stuff," said Ryan. "This is what I call the white noise of Washington-Beltway media. We're busy doing our work."

He later added: "If we keep our promises and do our work, I think people will reward us."

Asked about Trump's performance, Ryan said, "Obviously he clearly did have a bad two weeks."

"It's clearly my hope that he does ... right the ship, that he improves so that we can just get going," said the speaker.

Ryan said that he hopes the Senate passes health care by the August recess and added that he is concerned by the leak of a GOP leadership recording to The Washington Post in which House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, joked about Russian President Vladimir Putin paying Trump.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said. "That's a pretty bizarre thing to happen, so obviously that's a cause of concern of ours."

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