Paul Ryan is ruling out a White House run, insisting he'd have jumped into the 2016 fray "if I really wanted to be president."
In an interview with CNN to air Sunday morning on the network's
"State of the Union" program, the new Speaker of the House says he's "perfectly happy and content" to let the opportunity go.
"If I really wanted to be president, I would have run in this cycle for the presidency," the veteran Wisconsin lawmaker and Mitt Romney's running mate in the 2012 presidential election tells CNN, which posted an excerpt of the interview Friday.
"I had the chance and opportunity to do so and I chose not to do that. I'm perfectly happy and content with this decision."
Ryan
was elected speaker Thursday, taking over from outgoing Ohio Rep. John Boehner – and ending months of disarray within the GOP caucus.
Ryan had been initially hesitant to take the gavel, reconsidering only after number two Republican Kevin McCarthy dropped out of the speaker's race, and after getting assurances that divided Republican factions would unify behind him.
"I think he would've liked to have been president, but I think he's figured out God had another plan for him to be speaker of the House," Boehner told CNN.
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