Donald Trump has furiously attacked his one-time ally Paul Ryan over the former House Speaker’s continued support of Republicans who voted for his second impeachment.
In a statement posted to his Truth Social platform on Saturday, Mr Trump excoriated former Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, for his opposition to the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The former president also attacked Mr Ryan’s appointment to the board of Fox News’ parent company, Fox Corporation in the same post.
“Did anyone notice that Fox News went lame (bad!) when weak RINO Paul Ryan, who is despised in the Great State of Wisconsin for being ‘a pathetic loser,’ went on the Fox Board[?]” Mr Trump wrote.
He continued: “They won’t even talk about an obviously rigged 2020 Presidential Election”, before calling on Mr Ryan to be removed from the Fox Corp.’s board of directors.
“That’s why our Country is going to HELL - Elections have consequences”, he insisted. “Get Ryan off your Board and report the News as it should be reported…And stop taking negative ads from the perverts, and others!!!”
The Independent has reached out to Fox Corporation and Fox News for comment on Mr Trump’s remarks.
Mr Trump’s fiery statement appears to have been drawn by Mr Ryan’s appearance at a re-election campaign event for Republican Congressman Tom Ricein Florence, South Carolina last week.
Mr Rice was one of just ten Republicans who supported the second impeachment of Donald Trump in 2021 following the January 6 attack on Congress.
Mr Ryan, who retired from Congress in 2019, had remained close to Mr Trump during his final two years in office.
But the former Speaker went on to publicly support calls for Mr Trump’s impeachment.
And at the campaign event in South Carolina, Mr Ryan denounced Republicans who he claimed did not have the courage to risk Mr Trump’s disfavour.
“There were a lot of people who wanted to vote like Tom but who just didn’t have the guts to do it,” said Mr Ryan,The Sun News reported.
“There are a lot of people who say they’re going to vote their conscious, they’re going to vote for the Constitution, they’re going to vote for their convictions but when it gets hard to do that they don’t do it.”
Mr Rice defended his vote to impeach Mr Trump during a Sunday show interview, calling it the “conservative vote” and an issue of defending the US Constitution.
“He lifted not one finger to stop [the attack]...It was clear to me what I had to do. I was livid, I’m livid today about it,” Mr Rice told ABC News.
“I did it then. And I would do it again tomorrow,” he added.
Mr Trump continues to promote the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him, claiming foreign interference and widespread fraud. His campaign has been unable to provide any evidence of such claims which have been refuted by the Department of Justice and other federal agencies.
The former president remains on top of the potential 2024 Republican primary field, and regularly hints at another run for White House in 2024. Mr Trump’s Save America PAC controlled more cash-on-hand than both the two major US political parties at the beginning of 2022.
