Kasich: Paul Ryan needs ‘to be more aggressive’ speaking out

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) should “be more aggressive” about speaking out following President Trump’s disclosure of classified information to Russian officials, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) said.

“I hope — I saw that Speaker Ryan said some things tonight about getting to the bottom line. Frankly, I think he should be more aggressive,” Kasich said at a CNN town hall special. “I think he should speak out more, and hopefully he will.”

The Washington Post broke the news Monday that Trump disclosed highly classified information with two Russian officials during an Oval Office meeting last week. While the president is within his rights to declassify information at his discretion, his decision has raised questions about whether he burned the source of the information, which was later revealed in a New York Times report to be Israel. 

{mosads}A 2016 tweet from Ryan recently resurfaced in the wake of the Post report, in which he said individuals who are “careless” with classified information should lose their access to such data.

“Individuals who are ‘extremely careless’ with classified information should be denied further access to such info,” Ryan wrote in the July tweet, which referenced then-FBI Director James Comey’s statement on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information.

Doug Andres, a spokesman for Ryan, said Monday that the Speaker wanted an explanation from the administration as to what the president revealed in his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

“We have no way to know what was said, but protecting our nation’s secrets is paramount. The speaker hopes for a full explanation of the facts from the administration,” Andres said.

Kasich said he didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, adding that if the report is true, the president is “in bigger trouble than losing his security clearance.” 

“I’m not jumping the gun, any more than if somebody accuses you of something, I’m going to assume that what they said is true,” he added.