Trump would be 'very unhappy' if Speaker Ryan left: White House

US President Donald Trump has reportedly told US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan he would be “very unhappy” if the Republican retires after the elections next year.

Ryan told his closest confidants that his current term as House Speaker will be his last and that they did not expect him to remain in Congress beyond 2018, POLITICO reported on Thursday, citing several people who know the speaker, including fellow lawmakers, congressional aides, conservative intellectuals and party lobbyists.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters later on Thursday that the president had spoken to Ryan, after the POLITICO report was published.

“The president did speak to the Speaker not too long ago and made sure that the speaker knew very clearly — and in no uncertain terms — that if that news was true, he was very unhappy with it,” Sanders said.

“The speaker assured the president that those were not accurate reports and that they look forward to working together for a long time to come,” she added.

Ryan also commented on the reports about his retirement, saying he’s not quitting Congress anytime soon.

Asked whether he was leaving Congress “soon,” Ryan chuckled and said: “I’m not, no.”

Ryan’s spokeswoman AshLee Strong also rejected reports about his retirement as “pure speculation.”

“As the Speaker himself said today, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” she said.

Sanders stated that Trump and Ryan were both surprised “because I don’t think it was very accurate reporting.”

“And so it sounds like they’re both committed to and looking forward to spending a lot more time together over the next, you know, hopefully seven, eight years,” Sanders said.

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Several of Ryan’s fellow Republican lawmakers told The Hill in early November that the Speaker could pass tax reform bill and quickly resign from Congress.

“There is certainly a school of thought that says ‘leave on a high note.’ And passage of tax reform would be a high note for a guy that’s spent 18 years in Congress working on it,” one GOP politician close to Ryan told The Hill last month.

Ryan was formally elected as the new Speaker of the House in October 2015.

Ryan, 47, has been in Congress for 19 years and enjoys strong ties with all wings of the Republican Party. He is the former chairman of the House Budget Committee and current head of the Ways and Means Committee.

Ryan, who was initially reluctant to accept the offer, set several conditions to run for the job. He demanded universal support among the party and that the chamber repeals a motion that can be used to oust a sitting speaker. He also insisted on spending the weekends with his family.

He is the House’s 54th Speaker and the youngest since 39-year-old Representative James Blaine assumed the job in 1869.

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