'Would break liberal brains': Trump mulls trip to D.C. to discuss entering speaker race

Donald Trump is intrigued by the possibility of serving temporarily as House Speaker – and is reportedly considering a trip to Capitol Hill in the next few days to speak with Republican leaders.

The former president suggested Thursday morning that he would be willing to serve as speaker in the "short term" while running for a second term in the White House, and sources briefed on the conversations told The Messenger that he's been discussing the possibility with aides and allies.

“A lot of people have been calling me about speaker," Trump said Wednesday during a break in his New York fraud trial. "All I can say is we'll do whatever is best for the country and the Republican Party."

The sources said Trump's phone has been "blowing up" with Republicans urging him to go to Washington to meet with a group of candidates to replace the ousted House speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), but one source said he's deeply attracted to the idea of serving himself.

“Speaker Trump would break liberal brains,” that source said.

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Another GOP insider familiar with the discussions said Trump wasn't actually interested but was considering it to help tamp down Republican infighting in Congress, but some Republicans were actively encouraging him to serve, which would violate the conference's own rules.

"The ‘some’ is a big number," said another Republican familiar with Trump's thinking. "I just don’t know if he’s going to do it. Sometimes he believes he should go, other times he’s telling people it might be a bad idea."