Matt Gaetz floats the idea of a House speaker from outside Congress. Could it be Trump?

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz won't say who he wants to replace Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House of Representatives, but he narrowed the list a bit, and offered a tantalizing hint it might not be one of his colleagues.

The Florida Republican who led the successful charge to unseat McCarthy told CNN on Oct. 2 he could possibly vote for "maybe 100 Americans out there who wouldn't necessarily need to be a member of the body to be considered for the speakership."

The Constitution doesn't provide guidance about who is eligible to be speaker, saying only that the House should choose a speaker. A publication used to establish precedent in House rules says the practice of choosing a speaker from within the House has been followed "invariably."

This isn't the first time Gaetz has proposed nominating a speaker who was not a member of Congress. At a 2021 Save America rally in Florida, Gaetz made a "commitment" to voters that he would vote for former president Donald Trump for speaker.

Not long after, Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pennsylvania, introduced a resolution that would require the speaker to be an elected member of the House, directly citing previous ideas floated by Republicans to put Trump in the role.

"That Donald Trump's name would even be tossed around as a potential speaker in the people's house should serve as an alarm bell that our current requirements need to be amended in the name of protecting our nation and our democracy," Boyle said in a release.

Needless to say, Boyle's resolution didn't become law, leaving the pool for consideration for the speakership wide open.

Fight for speaker: Tim Burchett voted to remove Kevin McCarthy but is 'not ready to discuss' who should replace him

Gaetz hasn't said who out of the "100 Americans out there" he might nominate, but it's not outlandish to speculate he could mean Trump because of his previous commitment. He clarified Oct. 2 that his "number two" is Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who was diagnosed with blood cancer in August.

Gaetz introduced the successful motion to vacate the speakership Oct. 3, and for the first time in history the House removed its speaker. Eight Republicans, including Rep. Tim Burchett of Knoxville, joined 208 Democrats to create the prevailing margin of 216 to 210.

Republican Patrick McHenry of North Carolina is serving as interim speaker, a position with extremely limited powers, until the House selects a new speaker to replace McCarthy, who said Oct. 3 he will not again seek the position.

In January, it took 15 ballots for Republicans, who hold a tiny majority, to elect McCarthy to the House's top spot.

The speaker wields tremendous power in the House, selecting which bills come to the floor for a vote. The speaker also leads the steering committee that assigns party members to the committees that consider bills in their early stages and conduct investigations on behalf of the full House.

Allie Feinberg reports on politics for Knox News. She can be reached at allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com or on X: @alliefeinberg

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Gaetz says House speaker can come from outside Congress. Maybe Trump?