In a rare interview on Monday, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) took a jab at his fellow Republicans in his home state for promoting Donald Trump’s big lie about the 2020 election, saying it’s “really clear” that President Joe Biden won and Trump lost.
“President Trump lost the election. Joe Biden won the election,” Ryan told WISN 12 in a rare interview on Monday.
“It was not rigged. It was not stolen. Donald Trump lost the election. Joe Biden won the election. It’s really clear,” he added.
Ryan’s comments come as Trump and his GOP allies continue to falsely assert that the 2020 election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud and Wisconsin Republicans gear up for an audit of presidential ballots. Biden won the state by roughly 20,700 votes over Trump.
A Wisconsin state Assembly committee voted on Monday to designate former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman as a special council to lead the audit.
Under the agreement, the Republican-controlled legislature can spend up to $680,000 on the probe, far more than the original contract called for.
Ahead of the vote, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers accused Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R) of “drinking the Kool-Aid” after meeting with former President Trump.
“Things changed a bit when Robin Vos went down and visited Donald Trump and got that nice picture on the plane,” Evers said. “Apparently they’re all drinking the Kool-Aid. But I think it was really, really unfortunate.”
Ryan told WISN that Trump “legitimately lost” the 2020 race, noting that all of his legal challenges of the election results were thrown out in court.
“He exhausted the court challenges,” Ryan said. “None of them went his way, so he legitimately lost. Is there mischief, organized shenanigans in elections? Sure. Is there fraud? Yes. Was it organized to the extent that it would have swung the Electoral College and the presidential election? Absolutely not.”
Ryan also offered a broader criticism of Trump’s control over the GOP, saying “I think we’ll just keep losing if we wrap ourselves around one person. We have not lost this much this fast in a long, long time.”
However, the former speaker, who is currently a guest lecturer in political science and economics at Notre Dame, said he had no immediate plans to return to politics.
“Who knows what the future holds down the road, but nothing in the near future, that’s for sure,” Ryan said.
Watch the interview below via WISN 12.
