Donald Trump, eyeing campaign reset, endorses Paul Ryan

Donald Trump reversed course on Friday and endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan for re-election, as he sought to stop his presidential campaign’s bleeding after several self-inflicted wounds and relentless criticism from his own Republican Party.

Facing sinking poll numbers and desperate to reset a campaign that has perhaps reached its lowest point of the year, Mr Trump made a bald plea for unity and pledged to work with the very party leaders he had earlier dismissed as Washington’s ineffective establishment figures.

“We need unity. We have to win this election,” Mr Trump told a rally in Mr Ryan’s state of Wisconsin, as he stressed a “big tent” Republican Party is the only way to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November’s election.

“In our shared mission to make America great again, I support and endorse our Speaker of the House Paul Ryan,” he said, to cheers from the Green Bay crowd.

He also announced support for senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte, two legislators facing tough re-election fights.

Mr Trump has suffered a brutal campaign week that included his refusal to back down in a confrontation with the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq. Mr Ryan, Mr McCain and Ms Ayotte had all assailed Mr Trump for his disparaging remarks.

It got worse Friday with criticism from Michael Morell, a 33-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency who served presidents of both parties and helmed the agency in 2011, but announced his support for Ms Clinton.

Mr Trump “may well pose a threat to our national security,” he wrote in a New York Times column. Mr Mor-ell said that as Russian President Vladimir Putin “played upon Mr Trump’s vulnerabilities by complimenting him. He responded just as Mr Putin had calculated.”