President Donald Trump has said he would consider accepting the House speakership for a “short period” in order to help the Republican Party select a permanent replacement. He made the remarks on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co.
Trump discussed the situation after his suggestion last week that he would consider being House speaker again if Republicans won back control of the House in November. “If they’re going to have a vacancy, I think I could probably fill it for a short period of time,” he said. “But I don’t want to be House speaker. I have other things to do. I don’t want to be House speaker, but if they needed me to do it for a short period of time, I could do that.”
Trump also explained that he would help the Republican Party choose a permanent replacement and then step aside. “Well, actually they’ve asked me to do that. Then they can get someone else. And you know, there are a lot of people that want to be speaker,” he said.
Trump’s remarks came as House Republicans prepare to pick a new leader if Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) steps aside in the wake of the party’s poor performance in the 2020 presidential election.
