Trump Says He’d Accept The Speakership Temporarily

Former President Donald Trump has said that he would temporarily accept the speakership of the House of Representatives, according to a report by Fox News.

Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California was removed from the speakership on Tuesday in a bipartisan vote of the House of Representatives, following a motion to vacate the chair filed by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida. After some members of the House Republican Conference called on Trump to accept the speakership, he said on Thursday that he would be open to doing so for a short period of time, until the party can agree upon a permanent replacement, according to a report by Fox News.

“They have asked me if I would take it for a short period of time for the party, until they come to a conclusion – I’m not doing it because I want to – I will do it if necessary, should they not be able to make their decision,” Trump said. “I would only do it for the party.”

Trump has been publicly lobbied by Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, one of his closest allies in Congress, to seek the office of speaker of the House, primarily through posts on X. Republican Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas also has called on Trump to become the speaker.

Trump previously received a vote for speaker in January from Gaetz amid a standoff between McCarthy and conservative House Republicans. The  Constitution imposes no qualifications on the office of speaker, enabling Trump to accept the job if he received the support of the House, which currently has a four-seat Republican majority.

Were Trump to assume the role of speaker, he would be the second president in history to hold both offices after President James K. Polk. He would also be the first such person to hold the role after serving as president.

Trump is currently the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. So far, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern have announced their candidacies, with the Republican Conference scheduled to hold a vote for its nominee on Wednesday.

Jordan’s spokesperson directed the Daily Caller News Foundation to a media appearance where he said that “President Trump wants to be president.”

Scalise, Hern and Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.