Trump says he’s uninterested in being Speaker if GOP retakes House

Former President Trump said he was not interested in becoming the Speaker if Republicans retake the House in the 2022 midterm elections.

“No, I think that it’s not something I wanted. A lot of people bring it up. It’s brought up all the time. No, it’s not something I want to do. I want to look at what’s happening, and then we’re going to be doing something else. No, it’s not something I would be interested in,” Trump said during an interview with John Solomon and Amanda Head of Just the News on Tuesday. Solomon is a former employee of The Hill.

Trump’s remarks came after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said during a Trump rally in Commerce, Ga., on Saturday that he would nominate the former president to be Speaker of the House if Republicans win back the lower chamber.

“Give us the ability to fire Nancy Pelosi, take back the majority, impeach Joe Biden, and I’m going to nominate Donald Trump for Speaker of the United States House of Representatives,” the Florida Republican said, leading to a round of applause.

“Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody,” Trump said, taking to the lectern. “Well, that was interesting.”

Trump has been pitched on running for the Speakership before. The Constitution lacks a requirement for the House Speakership to be held by a House member, so the former president could theoretically be elected to the position. 

The development comes, however, as the former president is anticipated to make an announcement, likely after the 2022 midterms, on whether he will make another run for president. 

The Conservative Political Action Conference’s presidential straw poll last month found that Trump won in a hypothetical match-up among Republican challengers for the 2024 presidency. 

In a ​Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey released exclusively to The Hill on Monday, the poll found Trump receiving 47 percent of Americans’ support compared to President Biden’s 41 percent in a 2024 hypothetical match-up.