Top GOP leader calls Donald Trump's criticism of Hispanic-American judge "textbook racism"

Combo photos show U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan(L) speaking at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., the United States on Nov. 5, 2015, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking to motorcyclists participating in Rolling Thunder parade in Washington D.C., the United States on May 29, 2016. U.S. Republican House SpeakerPaul Ryan announced on Thursday that he would vote for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

WASHINGTON, June 7  -- U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday doubled down on his criticism of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling his comments on a judge because of his ethnic background "textbook racism."

"I regret those comments that he made," said Ryan here at a press conference. "Claiming a person can't do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of racist comments. ... I think that should be absolutely disavowed."

Over the past week, Trump repeatedly accused U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the Indiana-born jurist overseeing a civil fraud suit in California involving Trump University, of being unfit for the case because he was of "Mexican heritage."

Trump implied that Curiel, the Hispanic-American judge, was biased against him because of Trump's proclamation that he would build a wall along the border between America and Mexico to halt illegal immigration.

Trump expanded his argument on Sunday, suggesting to several U.S. cable news hosts that a Muslim judge might also not be fit to rule without bias in the case because of his previous call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Other Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, had already denounced Trump's attacks of Curiel.

Ryan's denunciation came at a time as he and Trump were still in the middle of rapprochement after a chaotic and divisive primary season, during which Ryan repeatedly scolded Trump for his incendiary remarks.

After almost month-long reservation about Trump's nomination status, Ryan announced on Thursday in a newspaper column, not a joint press conference with Trump as other GOP supporters had done before, that he now was ready to vote for Trump in the fall.

However, Ryan's struggle to distance himself away from Trump was all but highlighted less than 24 hours after his embrace of the New York billionaire developer.

"The comment about the judge the other day just was out of left field for my mind," said Ryan in an interview with local media on Friday. "It's reasoning I don't relate to. I completely disagree with the thinking behind that."