Matt Gaetz says he's talked to Trump about making the former president speaker of the House if Republicans win a majority

  • In July, Rep. Matt Gaetz pledged at a Florida rally to nominate Donald Trump as House speaker.

  • He mentioned it again Tuesday but said he'd keep details of his talks with Trump confidential.

  • A Trump representative has said the former president has "zero desire" to become House speaker.

During a Tuesday news conference on the imprisonment of January 6 defendants, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said he'd talked to former President Donald Trump about making him speaker of the House of Representatives if the Republicans were to retake the majority in the 2022 midterm elections.

When pressed for additional details on the conversation, Gaetz said he kept "conversations with the former president between the two of us."

This isn't the first time Gaetz has pushed the idea. He began campaigning on the promise at a "Save America" rally in July in Sarasota, Florida, according to the ABC affiliate WTXL, in addition to including it in one of his fundraising newsletters.

"After the next election cycle when we take back the House of Representatives, when we send Nancy Pelosi back to the filth of San Francisco, my commitment to you is that my vote for speaker of the US House of Representatives will go to Donald J. Trump," Gaetz said during the July rally.

While the House speaker does not technically need to be an elected official, the Trump representative Jason Miller previously said Trump had "zero desire" to assume the position.

Gaetz, who is still embroiled in a Department of Justice sex-trafficking investigation, has vehemently denied allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl in 2019 and paid her to travel with him.

Trump was said to have wanted to defend Gaetz when the allegations were publicized but was advised to refrain from commenting on the matter.

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