Meanwhile, the man who did the ousting — Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) — counts himself among the roughly 70 percent of Freedom Caucus members who say they are willing to support Ryan.

“When they make decisions, it’s not in haste,” Brat said of the caucus. “And so I would ask the American people: Hold your fire. Wait till you see exactly what our group is doing, and I think you’ll see that it’s coherent, it makes sense.”

One problem for Brat and his Freedom Caucus colleagues is that Ryan has remained mum for the most part on his intentions. When he spoke to the House Republican Conference on Tuesday, Ryan set out conditions for agreeing to serve as speaker, including an end to the House rule allowing a speaker to be ousted by a simple majority.

Ryan appeared to soften on that point in meetings with lawmakers later in the week, and Freedom Caucus members say Ryan privately discussed other concessions, including a restructuring of the House Republican steering committee and adherence to the “Hastert rule” requiring a majority of Republicans to support any measure put on the floor.