US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said he will not support a resolution to censure US President Donald Trump over his comments following the white supremacist march in Virginia, even though he believes Trump “messed up” by saying “both sides” were to blame for violence and that there were “very fine people” among those marching to protect Confederate statues.
Ryan was asked at a town hall on Monday night organized by CNN in his Wisconsin congressional district whether he would back the resolution that comes following Trump’s comments about the Charlottesville, Virginia, rally.
The question came from Rabbi Dena Feingold, the sister of former Democratic senator Russ Feingold, who grew up in the same city as Ryan.
Ryan said censuring Trump would be “counterproductive.”
“If we descend this issue into some partisan hack-fest, into some bickering against each other and demean it down into some political food fight, what good does that do to unify this country?” Ryan said, adding that it would be the “worst thing we could do.”
While Ryan said he would not support censuring Trump, he gave his sharpest criticism to date of the president’s comments in the wake of the rally where a woman protesting against the white supremacists was killed by a man identified as a neo-Nazi supporter.
Ryan had previously spoken out against the violence, both on Twitter and in a statement earlier on Monday, but he had not addressed Trump’s comments directly.
“I do believe that he messed up in his comments on Tuesday [last week] when it sounded like a moral equivocation or at the very least moral ambiguity when we need extreme moral clarity,” Ryan said of Trump. “You’re not a good person if you’re there, it’s so very clear.”
The Ryan town hall began 30 minutes later than originally planned to accommodate Trump’s nationwide address where he outlined a new strategy for troops in Afghanistan.
Ryan said he was “pleased” with what he heard from Trump and that it represented a more comprehensive strategy than what had been in place under former US president Barack Obama.
The Ryan town hall event was in Racine, near where Foxconn Technology Group has said it plans to build a factory that could employ thousands. Ryan helped in negotiations with the Taiwanese company.
Ryan defended the US$3 billion tax incentive package working its way through the Wisconsin legislature for Foxconn, citing the potential jobs and US$10 billion investment by the company, calling it an “exceptional deal.”
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