Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images //James Devaney/GC Images
- Jamie Raskin says GOP members of the House could try to make Trump the Speaker.
- Pro-Trump members have repeatedly talked about the idea, Raskin said on "Face the Nation."
- Rep. Matt Gaetz previously told supporters he would nominate Trump if the GOP took the House.
Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin said pro-MAGA House members have talked "repeatedly" about voting to instate former President Donald Trump as Speaker should Republicans take control of the chamber this election cycle.
During a Sunday appearance on "Face the Nation" with Margaret Brennan, Raskin said pro-Trump Republicans want to get rid of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and could attempt to vote in Trump as his replacement. Raskin pointed to Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs as an example of people who have pushed back against voting McCarthy into Speakership.
"And they might just vote for Trump, when they, you know, take the roll call for speaker," Raskin said. " So we know that the hard right Freedom Caucus people are in search of another candidate and one potential candidate whose name has been floated is Donald Trump himself, because the Speaker of the House does not have to be a member of the House. And they are talking about putting Trump right there."
Brennan pushed back, saying it was not a "real option" to make Trump the Speaker.
"Well, they talk about it repeatedly," Raskin replied. "And if Trump decided he wanted to do it, it would pose a profound problem for their party because they refuse to do the right thing."
The idea to bring Trump back to politics by voting him in as Speaker has been publicly floated by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz since last year.
During a Florida Trump rally in July 2021, Gaetz promised a crowd that he intended to nominate Trump to the House Speaker position in 2022 following the midterms. He told reporters a few months later he had spoken to Trump about the prospect.
Trump at one point expressed fleeting interest in the idea after it was proposed to him in an interview, but his previous spokesperson, Jason Miller, told reporters in June that Trump had "zero desire" to become Speaker of the House.
Trump is expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid on Tuesday.
The Constitution does not require the Speaker of the House to be an incumbent member and representatives have used this rule to vote for candidates, often in protest, from outside of the House. In 2019, former Rep. Anthony Brindisi voted for Joe Biden — then the former vice president — as Speaker.
There have never been enough votes from House members for an outside candidate to become Speaker, and Trump has begun losing support amongst his party after many candidates he endorsed struggled to win their midterms.
However, talk of Trump leading the House has become more popular over the years, and multiple Republicans, like his former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former adviser Steve Bannon, have also supported the idea of House Speaker Trump.
Representatives for Trump and Gaetz did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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