The plans to visit Capitol Hill are off for former President Donald Trump this week, as there’s plenty of chaos going on in the nation’s capital as Republicans in the House are scrambling to find a new Speaker.
A source who is close to Trump confirmed that news to media outlet The Hill, which previously reported that Trump’s campaign team was discussing a possible trip to Capitol Hill for the former president later this week.
The source said that the visit was never finalized, and it may not happen now as the future of the speakership is up in the air. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarhty was ousted from his leadership position recently after hard-line conservatives led by Florida Representative Matt Gaetz brought up a motion to vacate.
Eight GOP members along with all Democrats in the House voted to remove McCarthy from his position as Speaker.
Fox News originally reported that Trump was planning to make a trip to Capitol Hill. On Monday, though, the news outlet reported the trip wasn’t going to happen now.
The original plans for a Trump visit to Washington, D.C., arose once McCarthy was ousted as Speaker. In the days that followed, some GOP members of the House floated Trump’s name as a possibility to replace McCarthy.
Even though Trump obviously isn’t a member of the House, rules state that the Speaker doesn’t technically have to be a sitting member. It would also seemingly be very tough for Trump to secure the required votes to become Speaker, even if his name was officially brought up.
Trump has said that he would be willing to help the GOP in any way that he could, which wasn’t a complete dismissal of the idea that he’d be willing to be Speaker. That being said, he has commented that he is entirely focused on his 2024 campaign for president at this point.
For now, Trump has thrown his full support behind Republican Representative Jim Jordan from Ohio as Speaker. He posted his official endorsement of Jordan on social media channels last Thursday.
Jordan has long been considered to be a strong ally of Trump, and has defended the former president in the House over and over again.
Many sources have said that Trump’s team was forced to publicly endorse Jordan before the former president was really ready to do so, since Texas Republican Representative Troy Nehls posted recently that Trump was backing Jordan for the position.
Despite officially throwing his name into the ring for the Speakership, it’s far from certain that Jordan will be able to claim the gavel.
Steve Scalise, the House Majority Leader from Louisiana, has also officially announced that he would be seeking the Speakership. And while McCarthy initially said he wouldn’t pursue a quick return to the role, he didn’t entirely rule it out on Monday as he seeks to bring a settlement to the turmoil in the Middle East following Hamas’ surprise and deadly attack on Israel over the weekend.
The Republican Conference is expected to hold an internal vote for the future of the Speaker role sometime on Wednesday.
