Did Paul Ryan Just Call This Press Conference a 'Waste of My Fucking Time'? [Updated]

By Ellie Shechet  |  January 31, 2017 | 4:50pm
Politics


At a press conference on Tuesday, Speaker Paul Ryan defended Trump’s Muslim ban, adding that “I think it’s regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this.” After essentially admitting that he didn’t know about the executive order until it was already in place (“We were briefed on the contents of it as it was being rolled out”), and spouting some hot garbage about the importance of “border security,” Ryan left the stage. Then, a voice muttered, “Waste of my fucking time.”

It’s not immediately clear that this was Ryan himself caught on a hot mic (which wasn’t aired on the House Republican Leadership’s official feed), although that’s how it was taken by those viewing it on CNN, particularly because Paul Ryan probably would rather be spending his day calmly gutting the safety net than thinking about the disastrous and inhumane impacts of an insane policy he allegedly supports.

I guess the mic also could have been picking up the words of Fuad Shareef, an Iraqi father of three who worked as a translator for the U.S. at great personal risk, and whose family sold everything to resettle in Nashville—his time has also definitely been wasted, so who knows?

Update: Mediaite pointed out an exchange in which Ryan’s communications director denied this was Ryan, and Pelosi staffer Drew Hammill apologized for making the claim. A Washington Post reporter chimed in that it was “surely a bored cameraman.”

 
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