Kenosha---At a town hall meeting held in Paul Ryan's political backyard Friday, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan chided the Speaker for not standing up to Donald Trump. The Dane County Democrat and Kenosha native traveled back to his hometown to speak at an event organized by Forward Kenosha, a group of political progressives.
"I was really proud of Paul Ryan last summer during the campaign when Donald Trump said and did some really crazy things," Pocan told a crowd of about 200 at UAW Local 72 headquarters. "He stood up and called them out and that's what he should've done as a leader and Speaker of the House of Representatives. But unfortunately these days I feel like he's rolling over and having the president rub his belly rather than standing up and being the Speaker," Pocan said to cheers and applause.
The brunt of Pocan's criticism of the Janesville Republican centered on his support of the Obamacare replacement bill. But he also indirectly criticized Ryan in the wake of Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey for not supporting an independent investigation of Russian meddling in U.S. elections.
"We're not from inside the beltway. We're all from Wisconsin," Pocan said. "But that doesn't pass the smell test, does it? None of this does." In remarks directed at Trump himself, Pocan went on to say: "If the president truly has nothing to hide join us in asking for a special prosecutor so you can move on with your agenda."
Speaking at an appearance in Racine Thursday, Speaker Ryan appeared to support Trump's decision to fire Comey, saying it was Trump's prerogative, adding that he saw no need for an another investigation.
Then speaking to reporters in Delavan Friday, Ryan refused to comment on Trump's messages on Twitter that imply he may have recorded telephone conversations with Comey. Ryan said he's "not going to comment on the tweets of the day or the hour."
Ryan said he had no opinion on Pocan holding a town hall in his district. Ryan hasn't held a traditional town hall in his district yet this year. He has conducted telephone conference calls with hundreds of constituents at a time, and he's also spoke at a number of events, most of which were off-limits to the public.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.