Paul Ryan says get my name out of the GOP Convention talks, ‘I’m not running for president’
While GOP candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz may not be able to garner the necessary 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination out right, Wisconsin Rep. and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan says he’s not in the running when or if there is a contested convention.
photo/ donkeyhotey
“I do believe people put my name in this thing, and I say get my name out of that,” Ryan said during an interview with conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt, responding to the scenario where he would be chosen by delegates as a potential Republican nominee for president. “This is, if you want to be president, you should go run for president. And that’s just the way I see it.”
Check out the audio below, Ryan appears on the show right around the sixteen minute mark.
After Hewitt referred to Karl Rove’s call for a “fresh face” as the nominee, Ryan replied, “I’m not the fresh face. I’m not that person.”
Ryan then declined, a third time, to consider the idea.
“I think you need to run for president if you’re going to be president, and I’m not running for president,” he said. “So period, end of story.”
As Speaker of the House, Ryan is the chairman of the Republican convention but he did not specify whether the rules of the 2012 convention would be used for the 2016 convention.
“I’m going to be an honest broker, and make sure that the convention follows the rules as the delegates make the rules,” he said, reminding Hewitt’s audience that the Rules Committee would meet the week before the convention to decide the details that the delegates would follow.
“I’m not going to make an opinion or a judgment one way or the other, because it’s their decision, the delegates’ decision, who are the grassroots of the party, by the way,” he said.
Check out the full audio of the first hour of the show below.
photo/ donkeyhotey
