--- title: Paul Ryan: Donald Trump Comments on Judge Are 'Indefensible' description: Paul Ryan doubled down on his criticism of Donald Trump's comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel on Tuesday, calling them "indefensible" canonical: https://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-07T14:42:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T08:38:15.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Paul Ryan: Trump Remarks Are 'Textbook' 'Racist Comment' og:description: "I am not going to defend these kind of comments because they are indefensible" og:url: https://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt455623ae88887c91/698896bf656a3f564ebcbd34/paul-ryan-judge-racism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: House Speaker Paul Ryan Holds Weekly News Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Paul Ryan: Trump Remarks Are 'Textbook' 'Racist Comment' twitter:description: "I am not going to defend these kind of comments because they are indefensible" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt455623ae88887c91/698896bf656a3f564ebcbd34/paul-ryan-judge-racism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Paul Ryan: Donald Trump's Comments Are 'Textbook Definition of a Racist Comment' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:38 AM UTCPublished: Jun 7, 2016 2:42 PM UTC  U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C. on May 26, 2016. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C. on May 26, 2016. Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Updated: Dec 13, 2023 8:38 AM UTCPublished: Jun 7, 2016 2:42 PM UTC Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan doubled down on his criticism of Donald Trump’s [comments about Judge Gonzalo Curiel](http://time.com/4356045/donald-trump-judge-gonzalo-curiel/) on Tuesday, calling them “indefensible.” Trump has repeatedly argued that Curiel, who is hearing the class-action [lawsuit against Trump University](http://time.com/4353116/trump-university-documents-released/), has [an “absolute conflict”](http://time.com/4356690/donald-trump-judge-mexican-legal-arguments/) of interest because of his Mexican heritage, given Trump’s promise to build a wall on the Mexican border. Curiel is an American, born in Indiana to Mexican immigrant parents. “I am not going to defend these kind of comments because they are indefensible,” Ryan said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., which was called to discuss a new conservative effort to tackle poverty. “Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment.” Ryan said it would be “mature and responsible” for Trump to admit he was wrong. The Speaker said he has not changed his mind about supporting Trump in the general election. “It’s absolutely unacceptable, but do I believe that Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not,” Ryan said. “At the end of the day, this is about ideas, this is about moving our agenda forward.” Hours later, Ryan expanding on his comments in an interview with Brian Kilmeade on “Kilmeade and Friends.” When the host asked Ryan if he was saying Trump was a racist, Ryan answered, “No, I’m not. I’m saying his comment was. I don’t know what’s in his heart. I can’t speak to that whatsoever. What I’m saying is to suggest that a person’s race disqualifies them to do their job is textbook. That’s what I’m saying.” New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie defended Trump on Tuesday. “Donald Trump is not a racist,” Christie told reporters, “So the allegations that he is are absolutely contrary to every experience that I’ve had with him over the last 14 years… Congressman Ryan is entitled to his opinion.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/"},"headline":"Paul Ryan: Donald Trump's Comments Are 'Textbook Definition of a Racist Comment'","datePublished":"2016-06-07T14:42:48.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T08:38:15.000Z","description":"\"I am not going to defend these kind of comments because they are indefensible\"","url":"https://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/","keywords":["Paul Ryan","republicans","2016 Election","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt455623ae88887c91/698896bf656a3f564ebcbd34/paul-ryan-judge-racism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt455623ae88887c91/698896bf656a3f564ebcbd34/paul-ryan-judge-racism.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"House Speaker Paul Ryan Holds Weekly News Conference","caption":"U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, speaks during a news conference in Washington, D.C. on May 26, 2016.","creditText":"Andrew Harrer—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/paul-ryan/","name":"Paul Ryan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4359768/paul-ryan-donald-trump-judge-curiel-racism/","name":"Paul Ryan: Donald Trump's Comments Are 'Textbook Definition of a Racist Comment'"}}]}] ```