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Donald Trump is under fire, this time from some of his fellow Republicans, for comments that he's made over the last few days about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Republican Presidential candidate says he admires the "strength" of Mr. Putin's leadership, and he's compared it favorably to the leadership exercised by President Obama.
Hillary Clinton has called the remarks unpatriotic….but as our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports, Mr. Trump's admiration of the Russian leader is making some top Republicans uncomfortable.
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It must be absolutely miserable being Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
There you are, the most senior elected Republican in Washington…..second in line for the Presidency after Vice President Joe Biden.
You're literally two heartbeats away from the Oval Office.
And every time you open your mouth and hold a press conference, you are peppered with questions about …. Donald Trump.
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Not his job but it is the position in which he finds himself because, after a bit of a dance, Paul Ryan did publicly endorse Mr. Trump for the Presidency a few weeks ago….and yet is clearly uncomfortable about his choice, and nowhere close to being politically allied with Donald Trump.
For example over Russia….Mr. Trump says Vladimir Putin is a stronger leader than Barack Obama.
And in an interview with Larry King that aired on the Russian propaganda TV station RT, he notably held back from laying into Moscow for hacking into the Democratic Party's computer servers.
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Paul Ryan, asked a similar question about Vladimir Putin, took an entirely different path.
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And it isn't just the Speaker of the House who finds himself having to dance on the head of a pin as the country hurtles towards election day.
Senator John McCain of Arizona….who faced off against Barack Obama for the Republicans in the 2008 Presidential election faced an inevitable question when he made an appearance here on Friday.
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What a pickle.
There are, of course, Republicans who are loyally standing by Donald Trump….and standing up for him.
His running mate, for example, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana who received his first national security briefing on Friday.
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Ready on Day 1 he says.
But with top Republicans still shying away from the Republican Presidential ticket, voters can at least be quizzical about how those relationships will play out in the event that Donald Trump finds himself in the Oval Office.
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