House Speaker Paul Ryan forcefully denied on Tuesday that he’s eyeing the congressional exit lounge.
‘I am not going anywhere anytime soon, and lets just leave that thing at that,’ Ryan told reporters during the House leadership’s weekly press conference.
Ryan panned a Politico magazine feature that said he was contemplating early retirement.
‘I actually think that piece was very irresponsible,’ Ryan said. ‘It was a speculative piece and it was faulty speculation. I want to put it to rest.’
The rumors of Ryan’s departure swirled around Capitol Hill on Thursday, but he, his office and even the White House insisted it’s not true.
‘I ain’t goin’ anywhere,’ Ryan said then.
Rumors swirled around Washington on Thursday that House speaker Paul Ryan was eyeing the exits but he insisted Tuesday that it’s complete bunk
President Donald Trump was worried enough about a Ryan departure to call him from the White House on Thursday
During a Republican Conference meeting before Tuesday’s press conference, Ryan reportedly told his colleagues that ‘I’m not leaving this job.’ They gave him a standing ovation.
President Donald Trump was concerned enough about losing an ally to call him personally on Thursday, and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders gave reporters a readout in her afternoon briefing that day’
‘The president did speak to the speaker not too long ago, and made sure that the speaker knew very clearly and in no uncertain terms that if that news was true, he was very unhappy with it,’ she said.
‘The speaker assured the president that those were not accurate reports, and that they looked forward to working together for a long time to come.’
Not only was Trump floored by Politico’s reporting, but Ryan was caught flat-footed.
On Tuesday Ryan also blasted a Politico report saying he’s eyeing the congressional exits as ‘irresponsible’ and ‘faulty speculation’
‘It sounds like it may have caught Speaker Ryan by surprise,’ Sanders said, ‘because I don’t think it was very accurate reporting.’
‘It sounds like they’re both committed to and looking forward to spending a lot more time together over the next, hopefully, seven [or] eight years.’
Ryan’s spokeswoman Ashlee Strong said in a statement that the Politico story was based on ‘pure speculation.’
‘As the speaker himself said today, he’s not going anywhere any time soon,’ she said.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy also dismissed the Politico report as ‘not true,’ talking to reporters at the Capitol.
Politico had reported that Ryan was lkely to ‘serve through Election Day 2018 and retire ahead of the next Congress.’
U.S. President Donald Trump, center, and U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, left, walk through the U.S. Capitol after a GOP conference meeting on tax reform at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Thursday that Trump called Ryan and the speaker assured him that he’s not looking for an early retirement
But the speaker recently plowed $1.9 million of fundraising proceeds into the National Republican Campaign Committee, a sign that he’s committing to push through another re-election cycle.
Politico’s analysis, though, held that he would put in just one more legislative year ‘to chase his second white whale, entitlement reform, while using his unrivaled fundraising prowess to help protect the House majority.’
A senior aide to another Republican House member from Wisconsin told DailyMail.com on Thursday that Ryan ‘never planned to be here forever, but I think 2018 is a little too early to be placing bets on.’
‘The speaker isn’t going to walk away from the job when he has a Republican president and a Republican majority in the Senate that’s in zero danger of going away,’ the insider said.