Paul Ryan on Potential Presidential Nomination: 'Let’s Put This to Rest and Move On'
"Let's put this to rest and move on," Paul Ryan said.
— -- House Speaker Paul Ryan said it’s time for the speculation of him potentially accepting a presidential nomination to come to an end after days of rumors he wouldn’t rule out the possibility, telling reporters “it’s not going to be me.”
“There are people out there campaigning. That’s who should be president,” Ryan said today at his weekly news conference. “Let’s just put this thing to rest and move on.”
Ryan said he chided his predecessor, former Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, for fanning the flames of speculation this week when he told a group in Florida that Ryan could and should run in place of Ted Cruz or Donald Trump, according to Politico.
“I saw Boehner last night and I told him to knock it off,” Ryan said. “I used slightly different words. I used his own words he used against us to tell us to knock it off.”
A spokesman for Boehner later said the former speaker’s comments were “off-the-cuff,” and pointed out that he has endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president.
Ryan went on to reiterate today it would be the voters who would decide who would be the Republican presidential nominee.
“The Republican primary voter is going to make the decision on who are nominee is going to be,” he said. “If not, the delegates will make the decision, and they’re elected. I’m going to respect that process.”
The Speaker will still have a role in the Cleveland GOP nominating convention come this summer.
“I learned after becoming Speaker that I’m the chair of the convention. So, I will obviously have to bone up on the rules and all those things,” he said.