Trump Endorses Jim Jordan for House Speaker as GOP Remains Deeply Divided

Shortly after midnight on Friday, Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social site that Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan has his "Complete & Total Endorsement" to become the next speaker of the House. He called Jordan a "STAR" long before his years in Washington representing Ohio's 4th Congressional District, and predicted he would be a "GREAT Speaker."

The post followed a leak by a few hours. Late Thursday, Texas Rep. Troy Nehls wrote on X that he had just had a great conversation with Trump, who was endorsing Jordan, and that Congress should listen to the leader of the party. Nehls told The Associated Press the former president had made up his mind after thinking it over, and believes Jordan is right for the job. Two Republicans familiar with Trump's thinking said he had been telling people in recent days that he preferred Jordan. It was unclear whether he had meant to announce it before Nehls' post.

Jordan chairs the House Judiciary Committee and is one of Trump's most committed defenders on the Hill. He has led investigations into the prosecutors who have charged the former president, and he was among the Republicans who worked with Trump to overturn his defeat before Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has been indicted in both Washington and Georgia over his efforts to overturn the election he lost to Joe Biden.

Jordan is one of two leading contenders, alongside Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the majority leader, who has also worked closely with Trump over the years. Each is trying to lock down the 218 votes needed to win, which requires support from both the far-right and moderate wings of a badly fractured conference. Whether the endorsement will push Scalise out of the race is unclear.

The endorsement also closes, for now, one of the stranger threads of the week. Trump had been in talks to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday, which would have been his first trip to the building since leaving office and since his supporters attacked it on Jan. 6. He told Fox News Digital he was going, and three people familiar with the discussions confirmed them to the AP. One of them said he would likely have attended a closed-door candidate forum that evening, ahead of a vote that could come as soon as Wednesday, and would have been there to talk with lawmakers rather than pitch himself. Nehls said the trip was unlikely.

Trump had also stoked talk that he might take the job himself. He told Fox News Digital he would accept a stint as speaker of 30 to 90 days if no candidate had the votes, saying he had been asked to act as a unifier and that he is running for president. On social media he said he would do whatever is necessary to help "short term." Nehls, among the first to promote the idea, said multiple members were willing to support and give nomination speeches for Trump, and that he would turn to him again if no candidate reaches 218. "Our conference is divided. Our country is broken," he said. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who did not vote to remove McCarthy, wrote on X that she believed Trump "would take the job."

The idea is not impossible on paper: the Constitution does not require a speaker to be a House member, though all 55 speakers elected so far have been, and lawmakers have occasionally cast protest votes for outsiders. In practice, the job means effectively running the Capitol and managing hundreds of lawmakers, and it demands attention to arcane legislative detail that Trump showed little interest in as president. He is also campaigning in early primary states and absorbed by four criminal indictments and several civil cases.

Trump helped McCarthy win the gavel in January after 15 rounds of voting, then pressed Republicans to impeach Biden and reject deals McCarthy struck. Last month he urged the right flank to back a shutdown absent deep spending cuts. McCarthy instead moved to keep the government open for 45 days without those cuts, the decision Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz cited in moving to oust him.

What to watch now is Tuesday's candidate forum, whether Scalise stays in, and whether either man can reach 218 when a vote comes, possibly as soon as Wednesday.