PAUL RYAN: Trump's attacks on judge 'the textbook definition of a racist comment'
Screenshot/CNN
"Claiming a person can't do their job because of race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment," the House speaker said during a Tuesday press conference.
Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has prompted a firestorm of criticism in recent days with his attacks on US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel over his Mexican heritage.
Trump claims Curiel, who is presiding over two cases involving the Manhattan businessman's now-defunct Trump University, cannot be impartial because "he's a Mexican." Trump cited the fact that he is planning on "building a wall" along the US-Mexico border.
Curiel was born in Indiana.
Republicans from all corners of the party have criticized Trump for the racially charged attacks. That includes Ryan, who distanced himself during a Friday interview, just one day after ending a month-long standoff over whether he would endorse the bombastic real-estate magnate.
"I think that should be absolutely disavowed," Ryan said Tuesday. "It's absolutely unacceptable. But do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No I do not."
Ryan added that he and Trump have "more common ground on the policy issues of the day." And he suggested he's much more likely to get progression on his agenda, which began rolling out Tuesday, in a theoretical Trump administration than in a Clinton administration.
"But I do absolutely disavow those comments," he continued. "I think they're wrong. I don't think they're right-headed. And the thinking behind it is something I don't even personally relate to."
Watch Ryan's comments below:
Ryan on Trump: Claiming someone can't do their job bc of their race is "the textbook definition of a racist comment" https://t.co/kE1c7nFQ1C
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