House Speaker Paul Ryan is all but conceding Hillary Clinton will be the next president.
In a conference call Monday morning with House Republicans Ryan tells them that he will not defend Donald Trump or campaign with him for the next 30 days.
Instead he says he will spend ``his entire energy making sure that Hillary Clinton does not get a blank check with a Democrat-controlled Congress.''
That's according to a person on the call who demanded anonymity to describe the private conversation.
Trump tweeted Monday afternoon that Ryan "should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee.''
Conservative House Republicans have complained to Ryan that he and other party leaders are being too negative about presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Two people involved in the call said California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher called Republican leaders "cowards'' and said they must stop their defeatist attitude about Trump's chances.
Another person involved in the call said the head of the Republicans campaign organization, Greg Walden of Oregon, noted that Trump's poll numbers have been falling since his first debate with Hillary Clinton.
The person said Walden said he expects even more erosion in Trump's numbers now.