House Speaker Paul Ryan not seeking re-election
House Speaker Paul Ryan informed those close to him that he would not actively seek re-election before publicly announcing the decision later on Wednesday.
Ryan addressed his decision in a closed-door Republican Party meeting on Wednesday, sources told CNN.
The lawmaker from Wisconsin, who has been in Congress since 1999 and became House speaker in 2015, was said to have phoned house majority leader Kevin McCarthy about his retirement shortly before the news broke.
Rumours that Ryan would consider leaving office after the 2018 midterms had been circulating for some time, and the Speaker himself said back in January that re-election was a decision that both he and his wife were planning to make in late spring. However, in March Ryan dismissed rumours that he wouldn't seek re-election.
According to the sources, he decided it was time to step out of the job after Donald Trump managed to get his tax overhaul proposals passed.
Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for the New York Times, confirmed that Ryan would not be seeking re-election.
"He will serve out his full term, run through the tape, and then retire in January," Ryan's adviser Brendan Buck told Baker.
Top contenders to replace him are McCarthy and Senate majority leader Steve Scalise.