UNDATED (WTAQ) – U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan is aiming to put the rumors to rest regarding a possible late run for president.
On Tuesday morning, Ryan spoke with Jerry Bader about his frustration over the constant speculation.
“I am not going to be the nominee, I don’t want to be the nominee,” Ryan told Bader. “If I wanted to be president, I would have run for president.”
Ryan (R-Wisconsin) says that his goal for launching a public relations push is to frame the Republican agenda to help win the White House.
“Here is an agenda that gets America back on track, here is an agenda using our conservative principles and applies them to the issues of the day,” said Ryan. “So that the country gets a really clear choice on how to get us back on track and go in a better direction.”
The 46-year-old Ryan is expected to deliver a speech reinforcing his position that he’s not going to run for president Tuesday afternoon.
CONTESTED CONVENTION
As for his role as co-chair of July’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ryan says his top priority is to simply follow the rules.
“The delegates will meet and the rules committee will assemble the rules for the convention,” explains Ryan. “Then stick to the rules — clear and simple.”
The Janesville native also denies claims from Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump that there has been any “rigging” of delegates.
“Each state decides its delegate allotment and everything on its own, and that’s before the convention,” Ryan says. “When you get to the convention, the delegates form a rules committee, they write the rules of the convention and we will follow the rules by the book.”
Speculation continues about that open convention scenario, if Trump does not lock down enough delegates to secure the GOP nomination.
Ryan was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2012.
