House GOP warns Ryan to back Trump

By Manu Raju, Deirdre Walsh and Tom LoBianco, CNN
Updated 2211 GMT (0611 HKT) May 11, 2016

Washington (CNN) - Rank-and-file House Republicans are urging Speaker Paul Ryan to get behind presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, warning his resistance could lead to the party fracturing rather than uniting if he withholds his endorsement.

"It makes it harder to unite," said Rep. Raul Labrador, an Idaho Republican and leader within the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei was incredulous about the speaker's high profile break with Trump last week, saying, "Ryan goes out on CNN and says it's Donald Trump's duty to unite the party," asking, "So Mr. Speaker, what's your job regarding unity?"

House Republicans met with Ryan Wednesday morning for the first time since the speaker told CNN's Jake Tapper he was not yet ready to endorse the presumptive nominee.

After the meeting, Ryan waved off concerns he was making things tougher, saying, "To pretend we are unified without actually unifying means we go into the fall at half-strength. This election is too important to go into an election at half-strength."

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