Former President Donald Trump revealed Wednesday that he has been fielding calls about possibly becoming the next speaker of the House of Representatives, but the legal battles weighing over the GOP juggernaut might keep him on the campaign trail rather than Capitol Hill.
While Trump, 77, has already been deemed the preferred speaker choice for at least two House Republicans, a little-known House GOP rule restricting those with felony indictments from serving in the role could make him ineligible for the post.
“A member of the Republican Leadership shall step aside if indicted for a felony for which a sentence of two or more years’ imprisonment may be imposed,” the Republican Conference Rules of the 118th Congress state.
Trump is facing a total of 91 charges across four criminal cases — and up to 712 years and six months behind bars if convicted of all of them.
Those rules could be altered to make way for Speaker Trump. However, with his freedom potentially at stake and an election rematch against President Biden possibly in the cards, it appears improbable, for now, that the former commander in chief would take the gavel.
“A lot of people have been calling me about speaker. All I can say is we’ll do whatever is best for the country and the Republican Party,” Trump told reporters Wednesday outside the Manhattan courtroom where his civil fraud trial is ongoing.
The 2024 GOP presidential front-runner didn’t reject the idea of becoming speaker outright but insisted that he’s focused on his White House aspirations.
“My total focus is on being president,” Trump said, noting that there are other “great people” in the GOP who could handle the job.
As speaker, Trump would be responsible for tasks such as administering the oath of office to the members of the House, giving members permission to speak on the floor, counting and declaring votes, assigning members to committees, sending legislation to committees, and signing bills and resolutions that pass in the House.
“You’ve got to be in the institution to understand how it works,” ousted former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has not publicly endorsed anyone to replace him, told reporters Tuesday night.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, while acknowledging that Trump would “be great” as speaker of the House, said Tuesday that he’d prefer to see him in the Oval Office after the 2024 election.
“I want him at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” Jordan (R-Ohio) told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “But if he wants to be speaker, that’s fine too.”
Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a vocal critic of the former president and one of his 2024 presidential primary rivals, dismissed the idea of a Speaker Trump as a joke Wednesday.
“Really, we want a convicted felon to be president of the US?” Christie, 61, told CNBC. “And you have some jokers on the Hill yesterday saying let’s make him speaker?”
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Troy Nehls (R-Texas) have been the most vocal proponents of electing Trump to the speakership, with the former saying Trump is the “only candidate” she is supporting at the moment, and the latter vowing to nominate him.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who introduced the measure to dethrone McCarthy, has also said that “Speaker Trump has a great ring to it.”
House members have been advised that a vote for a new speaker will not take place until next week. Individuals not serving in Congress, such as Trump, are eligible to receive votes.
Trump received one vote for the speakership back in January on the seventh, eighth and eleventh ballots, despite only being nominated on the eleventh by Gaetz.
