Trump fires back at Speaker Ryan; Clinton’s lead increases

The Republican presidential nominee is lashing out at the Republican Party’s top elected official.

Donald Trump tweeted Monday afternoon House Speaker Paul Ryan “should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee.”

Trump’s comments were in response to Ryan’s remarks in a conference call with Republican lawmakers that he won’t defend Trump and will spend the next month defending his party’s House majority.

Ryan told Republicans he’s now focused on ensuring Hillary Clinton doesn’t get a blank check as president with a Democratic-controlled Congress. Ryan said he will spend the next month defending his party’s House majority.

Donald Trump’s chief spokesman says “nothing’s changed.” Jason Miller dismissed Ryan’s comments on Monday. Miller tweeted that, “Mr. Trump’s campaign has always been powered by a grassroots movement, not Washington.”

Trump’s stock has plummeted after an underwhelming performance in his first debate and the release of a 2005 video Friday capturing Trump making sexual predatory comments about women.

The Latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows Clinton with an 11 percentage point lead over Trump, 46% to 35%, among likely voters. The ballot including third-party candidates.

The survey was conducted Saturday and Sunday, in the time between the video being released and the “locker room talk” defense in Sunday’s televised debate, the WSJ reported.