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Ready to Meet The Donald, Not Ready to Endorse

Ryan and House GOP leaders will meet Trump on Thursday

A day after saying he was "not ready" to endorse Donald Trump for president, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan is set to meet with Trump next week to discuss efforts to unify the party. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
A day after saying he was "not ready" to endorse Donald Trump for president, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan is set to meet with Trump next week to discuss efforts to unify the party. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan is planning to meet with Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday, just a week after he refused to endorse him.  

The Wisconsin Republican invited Trump to meet with him and House GOP leaders to discuss how to unify the party following a contentious primary season so far. Ryan said on Thursday that he was “not ready” to support Trump  because the real estate mogul needed to do more to bring the various factions of the GOP together.  

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee responded in kind, saying he was “not ready” to support Ryan’s agenda .  

Trump was referring to a set of policy plans, dubbed “Confident America ,” that Ryan and House Republicans are crafting to highlight their ideas on rewriting the tax code, replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law, overhauling welfare programs, boosting national security and restoring the constitutional powers of the legislative branch.  

[Related: Ryan’s 2016 Agenda Likely to Be Sidelined Until 2017] Thursday’s meeting between Trump and the House Republican leadership is meant “to begin a discussion about the kind of Republican principles and ideas that can win the support of the American people this November,” according to a statement issued by Ryan’s political office.  

A Party Divided: GOP Leaders Split on Supporting Trump

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Ryan will also separately meet with Trump and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.  

[Related: Trump’s Shotgun Marriage to the RNC] Trump called the RNC chairman within minutes of Ryan’s CNN appearance, Priebus said at a Politico breakfast on Friday.  

“My view is just relax and be gracious,” Priebus said he told Trump. “I’ll talk to Paul and we’ll try to work on this.”  

Niels Lesniewski contributed to this report. Contact McPherson at lindseymcpherson@rollcall.com and follow her on Twitter @lindsemcpherson. Get breaking news alerts and more from Roll Call on your iPhone or your Android.

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