Palin doubles down on Ryan snub despite Trump endorsement

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Donald Trump endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan late Friday, ending a four-day standoff between the GOP’s most powerful men that exposed deepening concerns about the NY billionaire’s presidential candidacy.

He also announced support for senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, two lawmakers facing tough re-election fights.

Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, shared the stage at the KI Convention Center in downtown Green Bay Friday night in front of an enthusiastic crowd of several thousand people.

Donald Trump is expected to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday, moving to mend an intra-party rift that has put the Republican presidential nominee at odds with its highest-ranking elected official.

“He’s a good man and he’s a good guy”, Trump added, as he gave a thumbs up sign.

“We’re letting ourselves get distracted by sideshows”, said Greg Hartmann, a former Hamilton County commissioner who was a delegate for Gov. John Kasich.

In an interview earlier this week, Trump said he was “not quite there yet” when it came to endorsing Ryan in his primary race. We need unity. We have to win this election.

Over the past few days, Trump had refused to endorse either Ryan and McCain fueling speculations that all is not well among the Republicans and the party is not united ahead of the crucial November general elections. Many republicans, including Ryan, McCain and Ayotte, were critical of Trump’s insistent attacks on the pair.

The Nehlen campaign – which is hitting Ryan on his qualified support of the Obama administration’s global trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership – thinks its candidate can still pull off an upset.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign event at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Trump’s reluctance to back Ryan suggests that he is either the most ungrateful presidential contender in American history or that he really is irrational.

Trump’s campaign said his economic advisory panel included former steel executive Dan DiMicco; Howard Lorber, CEO of tobacco company Vector Group Ltd; and Trump campaign finance chairman and investment manager Steven Mnuchin.

“I need a Republican Senate and House to accomplish all of the changes that we have to make”. Based on listener emails I get a large swath of Trump’s base has no use for Ryan.

Mr Trump’s campaign has insisted that the money was “a payment for hostages” held in Iran who were released in January.

However the rocky path towards GOP unity plays out, Trump will have to win over Wisconsin’s Republicans to win the state.

Ryan, who withheld his own endorsement of Trump for weeks after Trump had clinched the party’s nomination, deflected Sykes’ questions about whether he might withdraw that support. “She’s a disaster. I said before, if Crooked Hillary becomes president, terrorism will absolutely destroy the inner worlds of our country”. “We are going to be the big tent party”. A fundraising email was sent to supporters immediately after Trump’s announcement.

The parents had spoken out against Mr Trump at last week’s Democratic National Convention.

“I’m not going to try and psychoanalyze this stuff”, the House speaker told Weber.

Trump set off a firestorm Tuesday when he told the Washington Post that he wasn’t ready to endorse Ryan or McCain.