Oct. 6 (UPI) — Rep. Troy Nehls, a Texas Republican who earlier this week said he intended to nominate Donald Trump for House speaker, said Thursday that he has spoken to the former president who is endorsing Rep. Jim Jordan for the job.
“Just had a great conversation with President Trump about the speaker’s race. He is endorsing Jim Jordan, and I believe Congress should listen to the leader of our party,” Nehls said on X, the social media platform formerly know as Twitter.
“I fully support Jim Jordan for speaker of the house.”
Just had a great conversation with President Trump about the Speaker’s race.
He is endorsing Jim Jordan, and I believe Congress should listen to the leader of our party.
I fully support Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House.— Congressman Troy E. Nehls (@RepTroyNehls) October 6, 2023
The U.S. House of Representatives and more specifically the Republican Party has been thrown into disarray since Tuesday when Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., became the first House speaker in U.S. history to lose the gavel in a vote.
The vote was put forward by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., following in-party fighting with far-right members of the GOP over legislation to keep the government funded.
McCarthy’s grip on the gavel was tenuous since he picked it up. After the GOP retook the house in January, McCarthy was named speaker following 15 rounds of voting.
He gained the position only after breaking the stalemate by making compromises with the extreme right-wing of his party, including allowing the reinstatement of a procedure that allows for a sole member to call a vote to vacate — a power that Gaetz used when McCarthy made comprises over the weekend with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown.
On Wednesday, Nehls tweeted that he intended to nominate Trump for the position, which does not require one to be a member of Congress though no speaker has ever not been a congressman. That same day, Jordan a staunch Trump ally and a founder and current vice chair of the far-right Freedom Caucus, said he is running for the job as speaker of the House.
Jordan, R-Ohio, has been linked to the former president’s attempt to overthrow the election of President Joe Biden that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on Congress, and defied a subpoena from the House committee investigating the attack.
The bipartisan House select committee had said it was aware of at least one communication Jordan had with Trump on Jan. 6 and that it had sought information concerning other communications he had that day and the day prior with the then-president’s legal team.
Jordan on Thursday confirmed in an interview with NBC News that he has spoken with the former president about his bid for speaker but that he would not say how Trump responded.
“I don’t want to say anything, but I had a great conversation with the president,” he said.
Despite facing four indictments, including charges that he conspired to overturn the will of the voters in the 2020 presidential election, Trump maintains a strong hold over the Republican Party.
