Newt Gingrich chastised Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, for refusing to endorse presumptive Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump.

Appearing on “Mornings on the Mall” on WMAL in Washington DC (the program I co-host along with Brian Wilson), the former Speaker of the House said “I think he made a mistake yesterday,” when asked about Ryan’s assertion that he was “not ready” to back Trump yet.

Gingrich said he believed Paul remarks were partly motivated by the sudden departures of Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich from the presidential race and “I think that’s part of the shock you’re seeing.”

He also said Ryan doesn’t have to agree with Trump’s policies and can use the power of the Speaker’s gavel to influence Trump’s agenda should he win the Presidency:

“He can sit down and negotiate very toughly with the nominee on specific issues. That is why the constitution has a division of powers, and I encourage that kind of tough-minded negotiation. But it has to be done in a framework that we’re all Republicans. We’re all on the same side…

The Speaker of the House has a lot of tools. He can defend whatever position he believes in by the power of whether or not he even brings it to the floor. So he has enormous leverage over the President of the United States if he wants to use it.”

Gingrich has been front and center over the past several weeks defending Trump and pushing back against the ongoing resistance to the New York billionaire’s nomination. His high-profile support has led to much speculation that he could be on Trump’s short list of running mates.

When Wilson asked the former presidential candidate whether he would accept an offer to be Trump’s VP, Gingrich would only say he’d give the offer “serious thought.” But, he went on to say that the odds of that happening are very slim.