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Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday threw cold water on suggestions he should take over as the House of Representatives as the next speaker.
Mr. Trump said a lot of people have been asking him about pursuing the speaker job since a revolt by House conservatives ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the post on Tuesday. But Mr. Trump said his “total focus” is on becoming the next president of the United States.
Under House rules, there is no requirement that the speaker be a sitting member of Congress to be elected to the post.
“What I can say is I will do what is best for the country and for the Republican Party,” Mr. Trump told reporters staked out at his civil fraud trial in New York. “We have some great, great people.”
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a strong Trump supporter who is thought to be auditioning for the role of his running mate, was among the Republicans to raise the prospect of the former president serving as speaker.
Mr. Trump said Ms. Greene is a “wonderful woman” but insisted he was not interested in the job.
“I will do whatever it is to help, but my focus, my total focus is being president, and quite honestly, making America great again because we are living in a country in decline,” he said.
The House of Representatives made history Tuesday when eight Republicans joined all the Democrats in supporting Rep. Matt Gaetz’s motion to remove Mr. McCarthy as speaker.
Mr. Trump stayed relatively silent as the drama played out on Capitol Hill, aside from questioning the GOP infighting without picking sides in the fight.
Mr. Gaetz, Florida Republican, said he kept Mr. Trump abreast of his plans. He said the conversations he had with the former president left him with “great confidence that I’m doing the right thing.”
Some of Mr. Trump’s rivals for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination had a vastly different take.
Former Vice President Mike Pence called it “unwelcome news” and said it is creating an unnecessary distraction that is taking attention away from solving the nation’s biggest problems.
“I am deeply disappointed that a handful of Republicans would partner with all the Democrats in the House of Representatives to oust the speaker of the House,” Mr. Pence said shortly after Mr. McCarthy’s ouster. “Political performance art in Washington DC does little to address the issues the American people are facing.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Mr. McCarthy’s downfall was predictable because he weakened himself with concessions he made to the conservative hardliners who ultimately turned on him.
Mr. Christie said the “political assassination” was fueled by Mr. Gaetz’s personal beef with Mr. McCarthy, California Republican.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said the chaos on Capitol Hill is “a strong contrast to how we do business in Florida.”
“I think you see a lot of theater, a lot of chaos; I’m not sure it ever leads to any results,” he said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. “Whereas in Florida, everything we do is calculated to deliver outcomes and to create a better life for the people down here.”
Mr. DeSantis said Republicans likely could have avoided the situation if they enjoyed the same level of electoral success as the Florida GOP in what otherwise proved to be a disappointing 2022 midterms.
When he was in Congress, Mr. DeSantis was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus that helped foment the rebellion against Mr. McCarthy.
Biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy broke with his GOP presidential rivals, saying “chaos” is needed to challenge a status quo that is failing the nation. He also said that he is open to the idea of Speaker Trump.
“This isn’t crazy,” he said. “We need to shake things up in there.”
The speaker turmoil is the latest chapter in the fight over the direction of the GOP that has divided the party for more than a decade, a fight that accelerated with the rise of Mr. Trump in 2016.
Mr. McCarthy struggled to win over a small faction of far-right lawmakers that blame the Washington establishment — including fellow Republicans — for ignoring the will of voters and runaway government spending adding to the $33 trillion federal debt.
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