Washington – For two hours this morning the two most powerful members of the of the Republican party met on Capitol Hill. Donald Trump, the 2016 presumptive presidential nominee and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan spent time face to face talking about the importance of party unity as well as getting to know each other.
In a joint statement released after the morning meeting the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and House Speaker said the two had a “great conversation” and that they were honest over their “few differences” during two hours of meetings on Thursday.
“We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal,” the joint statement said.
As expected Speaker Ryan did not endorse Trump and there will likely be a number of conversations between the two over the coming weeks. This get to know you meeting in the shadow of the Capitol dome was so that the two could get on their differences on the major issues.
The joint statement from Trump and Ryan highlighted one of those common values and echoed talking points sent earlier in the day to Trump surrogates emphasizing the need to defeat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“The United States cannot afford another four years of the Obama White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents,” it said. “That is why it’s critical that Republicans unite around our shared principles, advance a conservative agenda, and do all we can to win this fall.”
“With that focus, we had a great conversation this morning. While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground.”
But chairman downplayed Ryan’s reluctance to endorse in an interview with MSNBC soon after the meeting ended.
“I think everyone was a bit caught off guard by how quick it all ended,” Reince Priebus the RNC chairman, told MSNBC on Thursday about Trump wrapping up the nomination.
“People thought that (Texas) Sen.(Ted) Cruz would at least go to California, that didn’t happen, I think it threw a few people off.”
