Asserting that his campaigning has been bringing hundreds and thousands of people to the party's fold, Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump today said he was surprised to hear House Speaker Paul Ryan saying that he was not ready yet to support him.
"I was really surprised by it. And it's fine. He can do whatever he wants to do. It's fine. But I was surprised by it. Many other people were surprised by it and some were really surprised by it and not happy about it," Trump told Fox News in an interview.
"I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now," Ryan had told CNN.
"Paul Ryan said that I inherited something very special, the Republican Party. Wrong, I didn't inherit it, I won it with millions of voters!" Trump tweeted, slamming Ryan.
Trump said he is scheduled to meet Ryan on Wednesday, but does not know the agenda.
"With millions of people coming into the party, obviously I'm saying the right thing. The party was staid, it had a lot of problems. Whether it was the right thing or the wrong thing, whatever they were saying wasn't doing it," he said.
"Now the Republican Party is the talk of the world because there's no place and no party that's, you know, increasing in scope like we have. It's a big story. Millions and millions of people have come into the party. I have this. It's hard to believe. And it doesn't bother me at all," Trump observed.
The presumptive GOP nominee said that he has not decided on his vice presidential pick, but it would certainly not be from the Democratic party.
"We want to have a great ticket. The Democrats have been in there for a long time, the economy is terrible. The real unemployment rate is probably 20 per cent, it could even be higher than that. It's a disaster. Jobs are leaving," he said.
Meanwhile, media reports said Trump's opponents inside the party are trying to launch a third-party candidate now that they have failed to prevent the real estate tycoon from becoming the party's nominee.
The 'Never Trump' Movement spent millions of dollars in negative advertisements against Trump during the primaries.
