President-elect Donald Trump and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich share the stage during a July campaign rally in Cincinnati. Photo: Associated Press.
A role for Newt Gingrich in Trump administration?
Dan Chapman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former Georgia congressman Newt Gingrich is sitting pretty today, a likely choice for a top position in President-elect Donald Trump's administration.
U.S. Secretary of State Gingrich, anybody?
Gingrich, who also served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 1990s, was short-listed for Trump's vice presidential slot. He closely advised Trump and served as one of the president-to-be's more stalwart defenders during the campaign.
Gingrich, whose own insurgent presidential campaign flamed out in 2012, could be in line for a cabinet post. NBC News reports Gingrich as under consideration for Secretary of State, as speculation now turns to the Trump cabinet.
"Newt has been my friend for a long time and I'm not saying anything," Trump said at a July campaign rally in Ohio. "But I can tell you in one form or another, Newt Gingrich is going to be involved with our government, that I can tell you. Newt is going to be involved."
Georgia Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, who opposed Trump's candidacy, said loyalty plays big with the president-elect.
"I fully expect that Newt will get some type of very prominent position in the Trump administration," Peake said Wednesday morning. "Who knows? There's probably a handful of people who can name what they want and Newt would be on that short list."
Last summer, at a reception sponsored by the Dentons law firm, Gingrich said Trump had offered him a senior position if elected.
"I said I want to be the senior planner for the entire federal government, and I want a letter from you that says Newt Gingrich is authorized to go to any program in any department, examine it and report directly to the president," The Hill, a Washington publication, quoted Gingrich as saying.
Larry Sabato, who runs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Gingrich as secretary of state wouldn't allow for many dull moments.
"If I owned a China shop I'd sell it, because Gingrich, in whatever role Trump gives him, will be a bull," Sabato said via email. "Gingrich finally got his revenge on the Clintons—and it was total."