WASHINGTON (CNN) â House Speaker Paul Ryan is moving aggressively to end speculation that he may be a late entry into the Republican presidential race, planning to pull himself out of consideration once and for all.
In remarks to be delivered later Tuesday at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, Ryan plans to say he wonât be the GOP nominee under any circumstance.
âHeâs going to rule himself out and put this to rest once and for all,â a Ryan aide told CNN.
The move comes as the chatter over a possible Ryan bid at a deadlocked convention is becoming a major distraction for the speaker. But Ryan aides believe even a late entry would not be feasible and would divide the party even further.
Ryan continues to stress that his main priority is developing an agenda for the eventual nominee to adopt, to show what Republicans would do to replace Obamacare, reform the tax code, address poverty and boost job creation.
Even before Ryan planned to address the issue on Tuesday, conservatives were warning that any move to install him as the partyâs standard-bearer at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July would backfire.
âThe one thing that would completely destroy the party is coming out (of Cleveland) with Paul Ryan as the nominee,â Republican South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney told CNN on Monday.
Another conservative told CNN he opposed Ryan â or any other individual who hasnât been campaigning â from getting the partyâs nomination.
âTo parachute someone in who hasnât run for the office, who hasnât done the grueling work of campaigning â if you want to do something that heightens cynicism to all-time high, that would do it,â Virginia Rep. Dave Brat told CNN on Monday.
Several House Republicans told CNN that Ryan has been clear with them that he has been trying to tamp down the speculation and he doesnât want to run for president. They say he made a conscious decision when he decided to run for speaker last fall that he was removing himself from a White House bid.
Mulvaney said his concerns had nothing to do with Ryan personally, but because Republican activists would feel âsomething was taken from them unfairly and they would stay home.â He predicted 60% of the voters in his district wouldnât vote in November if the convention handed the nomination to the House speaker.
House Republicans werenât the only ones dismissing a potential Ryan bid.
âI think itâs simply nonsense that someone outside of the three people running for this nomination are going to be nominated at this convention,â Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner told CNNâs John Berman on âAt This Hour.â âItâs just nonsense. One of the three will be our nominee, and I know there are some people who think there is going to be this through-the-looking-glass-moment for Paul Ryan or perhaps others, but itâs simply not going to happen.â
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz also commented on Ryanâs announcement, which she said is no surprise given the contentious GOP nomination fight.
âIâm not at all surprised he doesnât want to step in the way of this trainwreck,â Wasserman Schultz said.
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