U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) participates in an interview at the Economic Club of Washington in Washington, U.S., September 28, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Ryan, the top Republican in the U.S. Congress, took the extraordinary step on Monday of distancing himself from Donald Trump, stirring a backlash from some lawmakers and deepening a crisis over his party's struggling presidential nominee.
In a conference call with congressional Republicans, Ryan all but conceded that Democrat Hillary Clinton was likely to win the White House on Nov. 8 and said he would put his full energy into preserving Republican majorities in Congress so as not to give her a "blank check."
