- After calling sexual misconduct allegations against Senate candidate Roy Moore "very, very credible," House Speaker Paul Ryan refused to address similar allegations against President Donald Trump.
- Pressed on whether he held Trump to high enough standards, Ryan said his focus was on Congress.
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Paul Ryan walked into an awkward exchange about sexual harassment allegations against Trump and Roy Moore
After calling sexual misconduct allegations against Roy Moore "very credible," Paul Ryan refused to address similar allegations against Donald Trump.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is adamant that Congress should be held to "high standards" and set an example for the rest of the country in how women are treated in the workplace amid a flood of recent allegations of sexual harassment both on the Hill and across the country.
But during an interview with NPR on Friday morning, Ryan struggled to explain the difference between the allegations of sexual misconduct made against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, which Ryan said are credible, and those made against President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election.
The Wisconsin Democrat argued that he is focused on holding Congress to high standards and said he hadn't compared the allegations against Moore and Trump.
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"My job here as speaker of the House is to help make sure that Congress is an institution that we're proud of and that's what I'm focused on," Ryan said. "I haven't spent my time reviewing the difference in these two cases."
Moore, a controversial far-right Republican, is facing multiple allegations that he sexually assaulted teenage girls while he was in his 30s, while Trump has been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct.
Pressed on whether the speaker is holding the president to high enough standards, Ryan said that his alignment with Trump on policy allows him to overlook "differences of opinions."
"It's no secret that [Trump] and I have had our differences of opinions," he said. "But what I see is a president who is fighting for the things that I'm fighting for. I see a president who's fighting for an agenda that will make a positive difference in people's lives."
"Is this president unconventional? No two ways about it," he continued. "He's very unconventional. But if we make good by the American people by actually improving their lives and fixing problems and finding solutions that are bothering them? That's a good thing."
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