It was Thursday’s news heard around the nation: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan plans to retire after the 2018 congressional elections.

The story was the top link on Drudge Report. It shot across social media. And the president himself called Ryan about it.

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But there was one problem with the story: It wasn’t verified by Ryan himself. AshLee Strong, Ryan’s national press secretary, denied the report on Twitter.

“This is pure speculation,” Strong said on Twitter. “As the speaker himself said today, he’s not going anywhere any time soon.”

The story was titled “Paul Ryan Sees His Wild Washington Journey Coming to An End.” Inside, the story declared: “Ryan has made it known to some of his closest confidants that this will be his final term as speaker.” But he is reluctant to be honest, the story claimed, before his fundraising abilities would diminish.

Strong was not the only one contradicting the story. A far bigger contradiction to the story’s thesis — that Ryan has decided to retire after the 2018 election results — came from the White House.

Presidential press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump called Ryan after he saw the report.

“The president did speak to the speaker not too long ago,” said Sanders at Thursday’s press briefing. “And he made sure the speaker knew very clearly and in no uncertain terms that if the news was true, he was very unhappy with it. The speaker assured the president that those were not accurate reports.”

A Fox Business reporter then asked if the president was caught by surprise by the Thursday morning story in Politico.

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“It sounds like it may have caught Speaker Ryan by surprise,” said Sanders. “I don’t think it was very accurate reporting.”

But Politico officials stood by the story, written by reporters Tim Alberta and Rachael Bade.

“This deeply reported story by Tim Alberta and Rachael Bade is a must-read for anyone who cares about Congress and politics,” wrote Politico communications director Katie Pudwill in a statement to LifeZette.

“It states, in part, that Speaker Ryan has confided in people close to him that this will be his final term as speaker. Rachael and Tim interviewed three dozen people who know the speaker — lawmakers, congressional and Trump administration aides, and Republican lobbyists — and not a single person believed that Speaker Ryan will stay in Congress past 2018. I guess we’ve found one — Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”

When queried by LifeZette after Politico stood by its report, Strong said, “We won’t have anything more to offer on this story.”

Ryan only reluctantly agreed to become speaker after his predecessor, John Boehner, retired in 2015. Ryan was then chairman of the House Budget Committee and was focused on reforming Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal entitlement programs.

PoliZette White House writer Jim Stinson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.

(photo credit, homepage and article images from Speaker Paul Ryan’s Twitter)