Donald Trump offers to step in as Speaker of the House

Former US president Donald Trump has offered to temporarily take up the role of speaker of the House of Representatives, US media reported Thursday.

Republican Kevin McCarthy was axed this week as speaker in a brutal, historic rebellion by far-right members of his own party who accused him of a string of broken promises and were furious at his cooperation with Democrats.

DONALD TRUMP

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“I have been asked to speak as a unifier because I have so many friends in Congress,” Donald Trump told Fox News. “If they don’t get the vote, they have asked me if I would consider taking the speakership until they get somebody longer-term, because I am running for president.”

But former Republican congresswoman Barbara Comstock told CNN that Donald Trump would not be eligible for the role because he has been charged with criminal offenses.

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“Unfortunately he doesn’t know the House rules, which say if you’re indicted you cannot be in House leadership,” Comstock said.

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Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is slated to go on trial in Washington next March for allegedly conspiring to subvert the results of the November 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

CRIMINAL CASES

Other criminal cases against Trump include racketeering charges in Georgia for allegedly conspiring to upend the election results in the southern state and a trial in Florida in May 2024 on charges of mishandling top secret government documents.

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Trump and his two eldest sons are also currently facing a civil fraud trial in New York for inflating the value of their real estate assets to receive more favorable bank loans and insurance terms.

© Agence France-Presse