Paul Ryan To Quit Over Health Care Bill Failure? Fox News Host Jeanine Pirro Asks Him To Step Down

Fox News host and former prosecutor Judge Jeanine Pirro opened her show "Justice With Judge Jeanine" Saturday with a statement calling House Speaker Paul Ryan to step down after the American Health Care Act (AHCA) was withdrawn by Republican leaders before its scheduled vote Friday. President Donald Trump tweeted earlier in the day urging his followers to tune in to Pirro's show.

"Ryan needs to step down as Speaker of the House. The reason: He failed to deliver the votes on his healthcare bill, the one trumpeted to repeal and replace ObamaCare," Pirro said in her opening statement.

"You come in with all your swagger and experience and sell them a bill of goods which ends up a complete and total failure and you allow our president, in his first 100 days, to come out of the box like that, based on what?" Pirro continued.

Pirro also made it clear that her comments were not about the president but only the speaker. "Folks, I want to be clear: this is NOT on President Trump. No one expected a businessman to completely understand the nuances, the complicated ins and outs of Washington and its legislative process. How would he know on what individuals he could rely?" she said during the show.

"Ryan has hurt you going forward, and he's got to go," she added.

People started to speculate that Trump's tweet might be promoting the show because Pirro was an old friend and that it implied he also supported Pirro's comments on the speaker. However, Trump's representatives made it clear he was not. During the "Fox News Sunday" show, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus called the president's tweet and Pirro's call for Ryan's resignation as "coincidental."

"There is no preplanning here," Priebus said, and added that Trump promoted Pirro's show on Twitter "because he loves Judge Jeanine" and wanted to do her a favor.

Trump "doesn’t blame Paul Ryan" for the failure of the AHCA, Priebus said. "He thinks Paul Ryan is a great Speaker of the House."

Pirro also mentioned that the president had no coordination with her before the tweet. "When he tweeted, 'Watch Judge Jeanine tonight,' he and I had absolutely no conversation, no discussion, no email, nothing," she said, according to the Gazette.