WASHINGTON (AP) ” The Latest on House Speaker Paul Ryan’s endorsement of presumptive GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump (all times Eastern Daylight Time):
5:32 p.m.
Donald Trump is celebrating his endorsement from House Speaker Paul Ryan on Twitter.
“So great to have the endorsement and support of Paul Ryan,” Trump writes.
The message comes after Ryan announced he’d be voting for the presumptive GOP nominee in an op-ed in a local Wisconsin newspaper.
Ryan had told The Associated Press that he needed time to get to know the billionaire businessman before he could support him.
Ryan had previously criticized some of Trump’s positions and the two men have significant differences on an assortment of policy issues.
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4:32 p.m.
One of Donald Trump’s top House backers is applauding Speaker Paul Ryan’s decision to throw his support behind the presumptive GOP nominee.
Congressman Chris Collins of New York says in a statement that Ryan’s endorsement “reinforces the fact that Republicans are united in our fight to defeat Hillary Clinton.”
He adds that, “Americans across the country recognize Donald Trump is the leader our nation needs to make America great again and erase the failures of the past seven and a half years.”
Trump has continued to lash out at some of his Republican critics even as he tries to unite the party behind his candidacy.
Ryan tells the AP he needed time to get to know Trump before endorsing.
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4:28 p.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says Donald Trump didn’t offer any deals in exchange for his endorsement.
The Wisconsin Republicans told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Thursday afternoon that he simply needed to reach the right “comfort level” to endorse the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. And he determined that Trump would do more to enact conservative policies than likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
Ryan tells AP, “This isn’t a deal.”
He says he decided to endorse Trump early in the week after a series of three or four private conversations and ongoing communication between their staff.
He adds, “I just wanted to have a good comfort level that these principles and policies were something we would be able to work with him on. And it took some time just to have those conversations.”
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4:20 p.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says he still has differences with’ Donald Trump, but he’s endorsing the Republican presidential candidate to help unify the GOP.
The Wisconsin Republican tells The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that his goal is to “make sure we are unified before the fall.”
Ryan had previously refused to endorse Trump in an extraordinary break between the two high-profile Republicans. He had expressed concern about Trump’s tone on the campaign trail and some of his policies.
Ryan says, “it is my hope the campaign improves its tone as we go forward and it’s all a campaign we can be proud of.”
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3:27 p.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says he’s going to vote for Donald Trump.
The Wisconsin Republican declared his support in a newspaper column published Thursday afternoon. It’s the first public backing Ryan has given the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Ryan writes in the Janesville Gazette that Trump “would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives. That’s why I’ll be voting for him this fall.”
Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck says the statement marks a formal endorsement.
