WASHINGTON - House Speaker Paul Ryan says Republican lawmakers should follow their conscience in deciding whether to support Donald Trump, the GOP's presumptive nominee for president.

Ryan told NBC's "Meet the Press" that "the last thing I would do is tell anybody to do something that's contrary to their conscience. Of course I wouldn't do that."

Ryan has endorsed Trump. He told host Chuck Todd in an interview to be broadcast Sunday that he understands he is in a "very strange situation" to be supporting the party's presumptive nominee while not urging his fellow lawmakers to do so.

But he says Trump is "a very unique nominee."

Ryan told reporters Thursday he will continue to defend conservative principles, despite a warning from Trump that Republican congressional leaders should "be quiet."