House Speaker Paul Ryan said when he first heard about President Trump allegedly referring to some African nations and Haiti as "s***hole" countries, he first thought they were "very unfortunate," and "unhelpful" during an interview Friday morning.

Ryan said, during the interview with WisPolitics, that he next thought about his own Irish heritage.

"My family, like a whole lot of people, came from Ireland on what they called coffin ships then" Ryan said. "Came here, and worked the railroads. The Irish were really looked down upon in those days. I hear all these stories from my relatives about Irish need not apply."

Ryan also responded to rumors of his potential retirement. He called the rumors purely speculative, and said he had not talked to anyone about a potential retirement. He said he sits down with his wife every even-numbered year in the Spring to talk about his future, and this year will be "no different."

The plan was originally for Ryan to talk about the recently passed Republican tax reform. Ryan said it would be, and in his opinion already is, a serious boom to the economy.

"I think the tax bill was absolutely critical because what it does is it says it makes sense to stay an American company. It makes sense to make things in America. It makes sense now to take the money you make oversees and bring it back into America and invest in this country."