House Speaker Paul Ryan Says He Would Consider Suing Any President Who Overreaches

— -- House Speaker Paul Ryan, who unveiled a Republican proposal on Thursday to re-assert the power of the legislative branch, said he'd be willing to sue any president -- Republican or Democrat -- who "exceeds his or her powers."

The comments come days after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested in a national security speech that he would unilaterally be able to implement a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States without consulting Congress.

"We are in a separate but equal branch of government," Ryan told the Huffington Post in an interview released today. "I would sue any president that exceeds his or her powers."

Ryan, R-Wisconsin, has repeatedly criticized Trump's proposed Muslim ban, but it's not clear if Ryan thinks Trump’s ban would be enough to prompt a lawsuit from House Republicans.

After Trump said Monday he could enact the ban unilaterally, Ryan has continually referred reporters to the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act -- and said Thursday the issue was still an open “legal question.”

Ryan also said Trump doesn’t have a “blank check” with his endorsement, and suggested a limit to the behavior he'll tolerate from the presumptive Republican nominee.

“I don’t know what that line is,” Ryan admitted.

While Ryan is sticking by his endorsement of Trump, the Wisconsin Republican told NBC that fellow Republicans should follow "their conscience" when it comes to endorsing the winner of the party's presidential primary.

“The last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that's contrary to their conscience,” he said in an interview with NBC that will air in fully on Sunday.

Of his own endorsement, Ryan said: “I feel as a responsibility institutionally as the Speaker of the House that I should not be leading some chasm in the middle of our party.”