House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) on Tuesday lambasted presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s recent claim that a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University is biased and cannot do his job because of his Mexican heritage.
"I disavow these comments—I regret those comments that he made," Ryan told reporters at an event in Washington, D.C. "Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable."
Ryan still reaffirmed his support for Trump over presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, adding, "But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not."
There is more common ground between Ryan and Trump on policy issues that can lead to constructive accomplishments, Ryan said, including the fight against poverty.
Ryan was speaking to reporters in Anacostia, a primarily black neighborhood in the nation’s capital, to unveil his and House Republicans’ new anti-poverty initiative, which initiates the rollout of a six-part agenda called A Better Way: Our Vision for a Confident America.
The House Speaker, who wrote last week in his hometown newspaper that he will vote for Trump, is trying to keep the Republican Party united going into the general election as many in the GOP are criticizing Trump for his comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a federal district judge in the Southern District of California.
Trump said last week that Curiel, who was born in Indiana and is presiding over two of three lawsuits against Trump and Trump University, cannot be an impartial arbiter because his parents emigrated from Mexico. Curiel is biased and not carrying out his duties fairly, according to Trump, because of Trump’s hard stance on illegal immigration and call for Mexico to pay for a wall on America’s southern border.
Trump told supporters on Monday to defend his attacks against Curiel, rejecting calls from his own campaign to ask surrogates to stop talking about the lawsuit.
"Take that order and throw it the hell out," Trump said, according to Bloomberg.