United States Speaker of the Lower House and one of the most powerful members of the Republican party, Paul D. Ryan thrust open Thursday the discomfort that many party members are feeling about Donald Trump as their presumed presidential nominee, withholding his support and deepening the fracture between the outsider candidate and the party he hopes to lead.
An epic Washington political battle took shape on Sunday after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia as Senate Republicans dug in and said they would refuse to act on any Supreme Court nomination by President Obama. But the White House vowed to select a nominee within weeks.