Gayle King Just Grilled Paul Ryan About Women and Minorities

Yesterday, House Speaker Paul Ryan announced he wouldn't be seeking re-election, and today he sat down for an interview with Gayle King on CBS This Morning, during which the co-host grilled him on the lack of diversity in the Republican party—specifically woman and minorities.

She referenced a photo that President Trump tweeted Wednesday that shows Ryan and a bunch of other white male Republican Congressional leaders with their thumbs up. Gayle asks what they were all celebrating, to which he responds, “Just the accomplishments we’ve had heretofore and then the rest of the agenda we’re working on.” Ryan lists off infrastructure and health care bills as agenda items they are working on.

However, King has a different agenda topic in mind and changes the conversation. "I have to say, Mr. Speaker, when I look at that picture, I don't see anyone that looks like me—in terms of color and gender," King said. "And you were one of the main people that said you want to do more for the Republican party, to expand...you wanted to expand the base. Some say this president doesn't really want to expand the base."

After King says she feels "excluded," Ryan tries to defend himself by saying, “I don’t like that you feel that way. We need more minorities, more women in our party."

He says he plans to focus on "inclusive, aspirational politics" and on recruiting more women, like Mia Love. He adds that he's "going to keep fighting for the things [he] believes in," which is, you know, trying to take away a bunch of women's rights, like defunding Planned Parenthood.