Trump Called Ryan About Report He Plans to Step Down

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump called House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday to ask about a Politico report that the Wisconsin Republican will step down from his leadership position after 2018, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Ryan told the president he’s sticking around, a House leadership aide said. Ryan himself said at a news conference on Thursday that he’s not planning to quit any time soon, and a spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, said the story “is pure speculation.”

Trump “made sure the speaker knew very clearly that if the news was true he’d be very unhappy” Sanders said. Ryan assured the president that they’d be working together for “a long time,” she said.

Politico reported that of three dozen people close to Ryan it interviewed, none expected him to remain in Congress after 2018, and that the speaker has “made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net, Shannon Pettypiece in New York at spettypiece@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net.

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