WASHINGTON- House Speaker Paul Ryan continued with his habit of making excuses for the President on Thursday. When asked about President Trump’s conversations with former FBI director James Comey, Ryan said that “the president’s new at this. . . He’s learning as he goes.” An excuse like this, removed from its context, sound like a parent explaining their child’s misbehavior. “He’s learning as he goes” is not a sufficient excuse for the office that Trump holds.
Craig Gilbert at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
House Speaker Paul Ryan offered a partial defense Thursday of President Trump’s repeated contacts with former FBI director James Comey, suggesting that Trump was so “new at government” he didn’t appreciate the traditional distance a president keeps from FBI investigations.
“Of course, there needs to be a degree of independence between DOJ (Department of Justice), the FBI and a White House, and a line of communications established,” said Ryan, but “the president’s new at this…He’s learning as he goes.”
Ryan said that Trump “probably wasn’t steeped in the long-running protocols” about how the FBI and White House interact when the president discussed with Comey the investigation of his campaign’s contacts with Russians.
When asked at his weekly press conference if that was an acceptable excuse, Ryan said, “I’m not saying it’s an acceptable excuse. It’s just my observation.
Read more at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
