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                 House Speaker Disavows Trump Comments on Judge

   by Smita Nordwall

   U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan has disavowed a comment by presumptive
   Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump about the Mexican heritage
   of a judge in a class action suit against Trump University, saying the
   comment is "indefensible."

   Questioned Tuesday about Trump's comments, Ryan said "I regret those
   comments he made.  Claiming a person can't do their job because of
   their race is sort of like the textbook definition of racism."  But he
   did not retract his endorsement of Trump, made last week, and he said
   he does not believe Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton is "the
   answer."

   Ryan made his comments during an appearance at a women's shelter in
   Washington, D.C.

   Trump said last week he feels U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel,
   because of his "Mexican heritage," would not rule fairly in the case
   charging Trump with fraud.  Curiel is an American who was born and
   raised in the midwestern U.S. state of Indiana.

   Despite criticism from both the Democratic and the Republican parties,
   Trump has refused to back off of those statements.

   U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska who has criticized
   Trump on multiple occasions during the campaign, tweeted: "Saying
   someone can't do a specific job because of his or her race is the
   literal definition of 'racism.'''

   Also leading the charge Monday were two former rivals for the
   Republican nomination.  Ohio Governor John Kasich tweeted that Trump's
   offensive "is flat out wrong.''  Trump, Kasich wrote, should "apologize
   to Judge Curiel & try to unite this country.''

   But no mea culpa was forthcoming from the candidate.  Trump insisted
   Monday that Curiel could not be impartial in the legal action against
   him because the jurist's parents were born in Mexico and Trump wants to
   build a wall along the Mexican border.

   Republican Senator Susan Collins called Trump's comments "absolutely
   unacceptable."

   Democratic Congressman Filemon Vela said in an open letter published
   Monday that Trump's "ignorant anti-immigrant opinions," border wall
   rhetoric and continued attacks on a sitting federal judge "are just
   plain despicable."

   Vela, who represents a district along the U.S.-Mexico border, says his
   great-great-grandfather came to the United States in 1857, well before
   Trump's ancestors.

   Vela wrote, "Mr. Trump you are a racist and you can take your border
   wall and shove it."

   Kasich, Rubio and Collins joined other top Republicans, House Speaker
   Paul Ryan, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker,
   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker Newt
   Gingrich, who all condemned Trump's remarks on Sunday.

   While Trump has called repeatedly for Judge Curiel to recuse himself,
   his lawyers have not made any such request.  Judges generally are
   thought to have conflicts of interest only in more specific situations,
   such as a financial interest in the outcome of the case.

   Trump's attacks on the jurist began when Curiel, at the request of news
   organizations, ordered the unsealing of documents in the case that have
   proved embarrassing for the real-estate magnate.

   Asked by an interviewer on Sunday whether he also would challenge the
   objectivity of a Muslim judge in a case involving him, given Trump's
   plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States, the candidate
   responded: "Yeah.  That would be possible, absolutely.''
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/house-speaker-paul-ryan-disavows-trump-comments-on-judge/3365784.html