(Image via Twitter)
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) condemned Donald Trump’s criticism of a Mexican-American judge presiding over a Trump University case as “the textbook definition of a racist comment."
He called Trump's claim "absolutely unacceptable" that a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University is biased because of his Mexican heritage, but noted that the Republican Party must stand united come the general election in November.
"I disavow these comments,” said Ryan. “I regret those comments that he made. Claiming someone can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment… It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
“But do I believe Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not,” he added. “I believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of the day and we have more likelihood getting our policies enacted with [Trump] than we do with her.”
Ryan noted that such comments “undercut” efforts to advance the party’s agenda.
“At the end of this day, this is about ideas – this is about moving our agenda forward,” he said. “I do think these kinds of comments undercut these things and I’m not even going to attempt to defend them.”
Check out Speaker Ryan's remarks below.