The Speaker called the president's tears a 'distraction'
Speaker Paul Ryan responded Wednesday to President Obama’s executive order on guns that the president should have exhibited “the same kind of reaction” to the terrorist attacks committed by ISIS supporters last year.
In an interview with Yahoo News’ Katie Couric, Ryan was asked if he had been swayed by the president’s tears Tuesday, as Obama recalled the 20 first-graders gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012. Ryan responded that he thought the president should have reacted the same way in other situations, particularly after acts of terrorism.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]“I was affected by it, but I thought we should’ve had the same kind of reaction when James Foley was beheaded, when San Bernardino and Paris occurred,” Ryan told Couric. “That’s the kind of reaction I had when those occurred.”
Ryan went on to explain what an announcement about new regulations on gun sales had to do with the White House’s Middle East policy, saying the president’s remarks were drawing focus away from the real problem—ISIS.
“What I think he’s trying to do is distract from basically his failed policies,” said Ryan.“I think the president should put as much effort into going after homegrown Jihadists and going after terrorist infiltration of our refugee network and going after defeating ISIS than he is in trying to frustrate the law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights.”
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