9:04 p.m. ET update: House Speaker Paul Ryan said on a CNN town hall on Tuesday that the country needed to “calm down” and talk about its differences following the killings of police officers in Dallas and the deaths of African-Americans at the hands of police.
Original story:
House Speaker Paul Ryan has one of the toughest jobs in politics right now: safeguarding the future of the Republican Party while simultaneously uniting the party around Donald Trump, its controversial presumptive nominee.
Ryan is taking part in an hourlong CNN town hall Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET as he gears up for the perilous political mission of guiding the GOP through next week’s Republican National Convention.
The speaker has frequently been drawn into the center of controversy during the presidential campaign, sometimes scolding Trump or simply keeping his distance while also encouraging the party to support Trump to avoid a Hillary Clinton win in November.
Ryan was, for instance, forced to repudiate Trump’s attacks on an American-born judge of Mexican ancestry who is presiding over a civil suit against the billionaire. Ryan, who endorsed Trump in June, said those comments met the “textbook” definition of racism.
But Ryan has also argued that, for all his faults, Trump would be a better President than Clinton as he tries to fight off Democrats hoping to seize back the Senate and winnow away his House majority.
As well as the presidential election, Ryan will expect to face questions from CNN moderator Jake Tapper and the town hall audience on attempts by House Republicans to keep alive Clinton’s email controversy after she learned last week from FBI Director James Comey that she would not face indictment. His attempt to deprive her of her security briefings conducted for presidential nominees over the issue has already failed. But House Republicans have now asked the Department of Justice to probe whether Clinton lied to Congress.
And Ryan is also currently embroiled in a standoff in the House over the gun reform debate, following a sit-in by Democrats earlier this month led by civil rights icon John Lewis designed to force the speaker to allow a series of votes on firearms legislation.
The town hall meeting will be broadcast on CNN, CNN International and CNN en Español. A livestream will also be available online via CNNgo.