House Speaker Paul D. Ryan did not ask presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to “change” during their meeting with GOP leaders last week on Capitol Hill, a top Trump aide said Sunday.
“Donald Trump was not asked by the leadership to change, and there’s no reason for him to change,” said Trump strategist Paul Manafort on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “He’s just won the primary process with a record number of votes, beating 16 candidates. There’s no reason for him to change.”
Mr. Manafort also said the real estate mogul and the Wisconsin Republican found common ground.
“That’s not to say that Paul Ryan didn’t talk about policy. They actually got along very well. The conversations they had focused on the Trump agenda to make America great again and Paul Ryan’s agenda to return prosperity,” Mr. Manafort said.
“There was a lot of overlap on the objectives of both of those programs,” he added.
Mr. Ryan has not yet endorsed the presumptive nominee, saying in remarks earlier this month that he’s “just not ready.”
Mr. Ryan told reporters Saturday at the Wisconsin State GOP Convention that their teams would meet next week to go over “principles we universally share as Republicans.”
“It is no secret that Donald Trump and I have had some disagreements. It’s no secret that we’ve, from time to time, clashed on an issue or two. That happens with people. That happens with Republicans,” Mr. Ryan said in a report on WLUK-TV in Green Bay.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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