Lauding Donald Trump for Monday's presidential debate, Speaker Paul Ryan said the Republican nominee "met expectations," The Hill reports.
Ryan believed that Trump had fared well enough to pass the test. "I think people met their expectations. Hillary [Clinton] gave a very polished, well-rehearsed defense of the status quo, and I think Donald Trump gave a unique Donald Trump response to the status quo," Ryan said.
"I think he gave a spirited argument and I think he passed a number of thresholds — that for 90 minutes he can go toe-to-toe with Hillary Clinton," he added.
Ryan, meanwhile, refused to comment on Trump's attack on former Miss Universe winner Alicia Machado.
"I'm not going to get into the 'who said what' this morning on some talk show because I didn't see it," Ryan said.
Clinton towards the end of the debate on Monday accused Trump of being sexist as she spoke of disrespect shown towards Machado by Trump.
"One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He loves beauty contests, supporting them and hanging around them," Clinton said in the debate. "And he called this woman 'Miss Piggy.' Then he called her 'Miss Housekeeping,' because she was Latina."
Trump reiterated the criticism in an interview to "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning, saying, "She (Machado) gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem," CNN reported.
Meanwhile, few House Republicans voiced some disappointment over Trump's performance, according to Politico.
While Rep. Bill Flores of Texas said Trump "wasn't quite as consistent as I would've liked him to have been," Rep. Scott Perry said he saw "missed opportunities."
Rep. Patrick Meehan said Trump "started out strong but needed to be able to stay disciplined." He believed that in the next debate Trump will probably be "more capable" of handling the situation.
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