Donald Trump to endorse Jim Jordan for House speaker

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to be the new Speaker of the House, hours after saying he would accept the job on a short-term basis if Republicans deadlock over the selection.

Jordan “is STRONG on Crime, Borders, our Military/Vets, & 2nd Amendment,” Trump said in an early morning post on Truth Social, adding that “he will be a GREAT Speaker of the House.”

Hours earlier, Trump said  that if House Republicans can't reach consensus on a candidate to replace the deposed Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., "they have asked me if I would consider taking the speakership until they get somebody longer-term, because I am running for president," he told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Tex., who had planned to nominate Trump for the speaker’s job, said Thursday night in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that the former president called him to say, “he is endorsing Jim Jordan, and I believe Congress should listen to the leader of our party.”

A handful of GOP lawmakers, mostly comprised of conservative hardliners, removed McCarthy as speaker on Tuesday, leaving the lower chamber paralyzed as House Republicans scramble to find a new leader. The House cannot conduct important business, such as passing the spending bills needed to avoid a government shutdown, without an official leader.

Nehls, a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus – a bloc of the House's hardest-right lawmakers – previously expressed support for Trump to serve as speaker before announcing that the former president was backing Jordan.

The Constitution does not specify that a speaker has to be a member of the House. Every speaker in American history, however, has been a House lawmaker. 

Jordan is currently serving as chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee. The only other declared candidate in the race so far is House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La.

Trump said Thursday he would accept the speaker of the House job on a short-term basis if Republicans deadlock selecting a new one.

"They have asked me if I would consider taking the speakership until they get somebody longer-term, because I am running for president," Trump told Fox News Digital.

Contributing: Sudiksha Kochi