Ryan: Trump’s lewd comments ‘troubling’

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) during remarks on Saturday briefly noted the controversy over Donald Trump’s lewd comments in 2005.

{mosads}Ryan briefly noted the controversy while speaking at a Wisconsin Republican Party rally in Elkhorn, where the Republican nominee had been scheduled to appear alongside the Speaker.

“Let me just start out by saying, there is a bit of an elephant in the room,” Ryan said. “And it is a troubling situation. I’m serious, it is.

Ryan added that he “meant what I said” in a statement he issued Friday night about Trump’s comments. Ryan said in that statement he was “sickened” by the remark.

“But that is not what we’re here to talk about today,” Ryan said at the “Fall Fest” event on Saturday.

Ryan said in his statement after Trump’s comments surfaced Friday in a video released by The Washington Post on Friday that the businessman would no longer be appearing by his side on Saturday.

Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, who was then scheduled to attend in Trump’s place, also pulled out.

It’s unclear whether Ryan uninvited the candidates, or if they withdrew of their own accord.