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Paul Ryan tries to pin growing scandal on Comey: ‘Why didn’t he take action’ instead of writing memo?

House Speaker Paul Ryan (CNN)
Travis Gettys
May 17, 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) said he continued to have full confidence in President Donald Trump, despite the cascade of scandals rushing over his administration.

The Wisconsin Republican addressed reports that the president asked former FBI director James Comey to back off the investigation of disgraced national security adviser Mike Flynn.

"Look, there's been a lot of reporting lately, I think, that requires close examination, let me tell you what I told our members just (Wednesday) morning," Ryan said. "We need the facts. It is obvious there are some people out there who want to harm the president, but we have an obligation to carry out our oversight regardless of which party is in the White House, and that means, before rushing to judgment, we get all the pertinent information."

Ryan said House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had requested a memo reportedly written by Comey following the White House meeting, which came the day after Flynn resigned under pressure over his contacts with Russia.

"I'm sure we're going to hear from Mr. Comey about why, if this happened as he describes, why he didn't take action at the time," Ryan said. "So there are a lot of unanswered questions."

The House speaker said he wasn't concerned that the "drip, drip, drip" of reports that suggested Trump was attempting to interfere with the Russia probe might hurt Republicans in the midterm elections.

"I don’t worry about things that are outside of my control," Ryan said. "I worry about things that are within our control, and that is whether or not we do what we were elected to do, which is to solve people's problems."

As Ryan left the podium, a reporter asked if he still had confidence in the president.

"I do," he said, walking away.

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