GOP Rep. Gaetz rips Paul Ryan over his remarks about Trump

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) suggested late Wednesday that some conservatives are beginning to question whether Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) should remain in his role after he undercut President Trump’s claim that the FBI implanted a spy in his campaign.

“I have never to this point heard a single person talk about removing Speaker Ryan from the speakership,” Gaetz said on Fox Business’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

“Today, for the first time, I was hearing colleagues saying, ‘You know if Speaker Ryan won’t stand with us in this fight over the essentials of our democracy … do we need to look at other choices?’”

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Gaetz expressed frustration over Ryan’s comments earlier Wednesday that he agreed with Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) that he had seen no evidence to support Trump’s claims that a “spy” was embedded in his 2016 presidential campaign.

Ryan also said no one is above the law in comments critical of Trump’s view that he could pardon himself.

Gaetz accused Ryan of being a defender of the “deep state.”

“There is no defense today for Paul Ryan siding with the FBI and the Department of Justice against those of us in the Congress who are working for transparency and accountability,” Gaetz said.

“We need the Speaker to be an institutionalist for the Congress, not to be a defender of the deep state,” he said, adding that Ryan’s comments have caused frustration within certain Republican factions.

Trump and his conservative allies have pushed the theory, without evidence, that the FBI embedded a “spy” in his campaign for political purposes. They have argued the use of the informant is an example of bias within the bureau.

House Intelligence Comittee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) has pushed for the release of classified information about the FBI informant, but has been rebuffed thus far.