The US Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan has described Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump as a "warm and genuine person". It comes after they met on Thursday (12 May 2016) to discuss the future of the Republican party.

Ryan, an influential party leader, has previously said he is "not ready" to endorse Trump. The pair met in Washington, DC for talks over how to "unify" the GOP. However, an actual endorsement has yet to be forthcoming.

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"I think we had a very encouraging meeting. Look, it's no secret that Donald Trump and I have had our differences, we talked about those differences today, that's common knowledge", he said.

Ryan added, "The question is, what is it that we need to do to unify the Republican Party and all strains of conservative wings in the party. We had a very good and encouraging productive conversation on just how to do that".

In the past, leaders in the party would rally around presidential nominees after they were chosen ahead of the election in November. However, due to Trump's controversial policies and incendiary tone, some Republicans have held back in their endorsements.

Ryan also warned that these unifying talks would "take a little time". The former vice-president nominee said, "The process of unifying the Republican Party which just finished a primary about a week ago, perhaps one of the most divisive primaries in memory, takes some time. Look, there are people who are for Donald Trump, who are for Ted Cruz or John Kasich, who are for Marco Rubio and everybody else. It's very important that we don't fake unifying, we don't pretend unification, that we truly and actually unify, so that we are full strength in the fall [autumn]".

The US election takes place in November, with Trump set to face either Hilary Clinton or Bernie Sanders in the race for the White House.

US Election Donald Trump Ted Cruz Bernie Sanders