Trump endorses Jim Jordan for House speaker

By CNN Newsource

Published October 5, 2023 1:04 pm

By Kristen Holmes, Alayna Treene and Kate Sullivan, CNN

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump endorsed Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s bid for speaker of the House Friday.

In a post on Truth Social shortly after midnight, Trump said Jordan “will be a GREAT Speaker of the House, & has my Complete & Total Endorsement!”

Trump’s intervention into the race came after he expressed openness to temporarily serving in the role himself and, per a source familiar with discussions, considered a visit to Capitol Hill to speak with Republicans in the coming days as they weigh a new speaker.

The former president is not expected to go to Capitol Hill, a source close to Trump said Thursday night. The Messenger first reported the internal discussions on a potential trip.

Republicans are slated to hear from speaker candidates at a forum next Tuesday, setting up the next possible House-wide speaker vote on Wednesday, October 11. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Jordan have announced their candidacies, and others could still enter the race, but it remains to be seen whether the conference can coalesce around a viable successor to McCarthy.

In the meantime, the vacancy leaves the House essentially paralyzed.

Trump approached about serving as speaker

Trump has been approached in recent days by GOP lawmakers who have floated the idea of him serving as speaker, even on a temporary basis, one source familiar with the conversations said, and has been “intrigued” by the idea.

“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 told Fox News Digital. Trump told Fox he was focused on his presidential campaign but that he would be open to serving for a “30-, 60-, or 90-day period.”

Trump has told those with him this week that while he is “flattered” and “honored” that people have raised his name, he is not seriously entertaining the idea, according to two people who have spoken with him about Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

Trump is “entirely focused” on running for president, the two sources said, characterizing his public posturing on the narrative that he could be elected speaker as Trump relishing the attention.

“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 outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan on Wednesday during a break from his civil fraud trial.

Republican Reps. Troy Nehls of Texas and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia had publicly said they would support Trump for the role.

If he did run, Trump would need to earn the majority of the votes of lawmakers present and voting, which could prove difficult for a former president who is polarizing even among members of the GOP conference. Rep. Mike Lawler, a GOP freshman from a swing district in New York, told CNN earlier Thursday that he doesn’t see a role for Trump in the speaker’s race.

Asked by CNN’s Jim Sciutto whether he wanted the former president to come to the Capitol, Lawler said, “I think the choice for speaker will be someone who is currently a member of Congress and I think these discussions should be among the members.”

And even if Trump were to be elected, it’s unclear whether he could get around House Republican conference rules that state any member who is indicted on felony charges that carry a prison sentence of two or more years is required to step down from leadership. Those rules are self-enforced and could be changed – but only after a speaker is elected.

This headline and story have been updated with additional information.