House Speaker Paul Ryan goes to Silicon Valley

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) made a quiet swing through California, venturing to the country’s tech capital to preserve relationships with the industry, as Congressional Republicans face increasing pressures caused by Donald Trump’s rhetoric. He paid a visit to cloud-storage giant Dropbox, where he held a private question-and-answer session with company employees. The Speaker appeared at a high-dollar fundraiser at the San Francisco home of Russ Johnson, a former HP executive, and his wife, Colene. And the Speaker joined a private breakfast in Menlo Park (CA) hosted by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Zack Roday, a spokesman for Speaker Ryan, framed the trip in the context of the high-stakes fight for House supremacy. “It shouldn’t be a surprise Paul Ryan is raising funds to defend and strengthen the House Republican majority.”