House Speaker Paul Ryan hinted at potentially bringing a lawsuit against Donald Trump if the latter wins the presidency and enacts a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.
During an interview with The Huffington Post, Ryan — who represents Wisconsin's first district — was asked about Trump's proposed immigration ban.
"I would sue any president that exceeds his or her powers," Ryan said Thursday.
The speaker did not, however, provide an opinion about whether Trump's temporary halt on Muslim immigration would exceed his presidential powers.
"That's a legal question that there's a good debate about," Ryan said, alluding to the
1952 Immigration and Nationality Act.
That act, whose veto by President Harry Truman was overridden by both houses of Congress, pulled several U.S. immigration laws and policies under one umbrella. The act set quotas for different nationalities and regions of the world.
The act has been reworked and rewritten several times since, including in the years after the September 11 terror attacks.
Trump first called for a
ban on Muslims in December, a week after the San Bernardino terror attack. He
reiterated the proposition this week after a Muslim shot and killed 49 people in Orlando and wounded 53 others at a gay nightclub.
Ryan and Trump have clashed in recent months, but with Trump now the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, the pair has
met in person a handful of times and say they're working together to win the election.
That hasn't stopped Ryan from growing tired of Trump's unfiltered campaign speech.
He does not agree with Trump's Muslim ban and did not like hearing about
Trump's gripes with a Mexican-American judge overseeing a lawsuit against him.
Ryan endorsed Trump in early June, and he told the Post that does not equal "a blank check." He said the pair is still seeking "real unity" between Trump and the GOP as a whole.
Still, Trump hasn't crossed the line that separates acceptable and unacceptable — at least in Ryan's eyes.
"I don't know what that line is, but right now, I want to make sure that we win the White House," Ryan told the Post.
Ryan said Thursday he doesn't have plans to
rescind his endorsement despite the differences that exist between the two.
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