Former President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would be willing to be speaker of the House for a "short period of time" if House Republicans could not reach a consensus on another candidate to replace California Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

"They have asked me if I would take it for a short period of time for the party, until they come to a conclusion—I’m not doing it because I want to—I will do it if necessary, should they not be able to make their decision," Trump told Fox News Digital, adding he would only be interested in a "30, 60 or 90-day period."

McCarthy's stunning ouster, set in motion by hard-right members of his party, was the first time in U.S. history a speaker has been removed from the job.

The Associated Press reported earlier on Thursday that the 2024 GOP primary frontrunner is in talks to visit Capitol Hill next week as Republicans debate who should be the next speaker, citing three people familiar with the talks.

"I have been asked to speak as a unifier because I have so many friends in Congress," 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." 

Trump is being encouraged to run by a small group of far-right allies including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. McCarthy, of California, lost his position this week when eight Republicans supported a motion introduced by Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to remove him from the speakership.

Gaetz and Greene are both Trump allies, though Greene voted against the motion to remove McCarthy.

Trump, the early front-runner for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination, said that he is fully focused on his presidential run, but has flirted with the idea of running for speaker for years.

"I would only do it for the party," Trump said on Thursday, telling Fox News he would rather focus on his presidential campaign.

A person does not have to be a member of the House to serve as speaker, though that has historically been the case. From time to time lawmakers have thrown their vote to those outside of Congress, often as a protest of sorts against the candidates running.

Rep. Troy Nehls, a Texas member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, has said he plans to nominate Trump.

"I’ve been contacted by multiple Members of Congress willing to support and offer nomination speeches for Donald J. Trump to be Speaker of the House," Nehls wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday. "Next week is going to be HUGE."

A vote could come as early as Wednesday.

Not every Republican is thrilled by the idea of welcoming Trump into the chamber.

"No, I think the discussion should be focused on the people that are in the conference," Rep. Mike Lalwer told CNN on Thursday when asked if he wanted Trump to be speaker. Lawler is a freshman Republican from New York who represents a district President Joe Biden won in 2020 and has toed the line between party loyalty and appealing to moderates and independents back home.

"I think we need to have a very blunt and direct conversation. I think the candidate that will ultimately be chosen as speaker is going to come out of the conference so that's where I think the conversation needs to be focused.," added Lawler, who was a vocal opponent of McCarthy's ouster.

Speaking Wednesday during a court appearance in New York, Trump said that “a lot of people” had been calling him about the job, but insisted that he was focused “totally” on his campaign to return to the White House.

Still, he said: “If I can help them during the process, I would do it. But we have some great people in the Republican Party that could do a great job as speaker,” he said

In a social media post early Thursday, he added that he “will do whatever is necessary to help with the Speaker of the House selection process, short term, until the final selection of a GREAT REPUBLICAN SPEAKER is made - A Speaker who will help a new, but highly experienced President, ME, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The possibility of Trump visiting Republicans as they battle amongst themselves for a path forward caught many on Capitol Hill by surprise and concern. The former president’s involvement is sure to further complicate an already complex set of maneuvering the two leading candidates — Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio — will need to make in order to grasp the 218 votes required to win the job.

A source familiar with Jordan's plans told Spectrum News that the right-wing chair of the House Judiciary Committee planned to stay in Washinton through the weekend to whip support for his bid. Scalise is reportedly back in his home state, reaching out to colleagues virtually.

Both men are likely to face a steep hill to the dais as they try to win the support of both the far-right and moderate factions of the party.

The far-flung idea of Trump being a candidate for the speakership was raised in January by the same far-right members of the conference. In a number of rounds, Republicans like Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Gaetz nominated Trump as their candidate. The effort was ultimately fruitless as McCarthy had the support of more than 90% of the conference

One of the sources who spoke to the Associated Press cautioned that if Trump goes ahead with the visit, he would be there to talk with Republican lawmakers and not to pitch himself for the role. Trump would most likely attend a closed-door candidate forum that Republicans plan to hold Tuesday evening, ahead of a vote that could happen as soon as Wednesday.

Immediately after news of Trump’s potential visit began to trickle out, Greene, who is one of Trump's most loyal allies in Congress, posted another endorsement of him for the job on social media. “If Trump becomes Speaker of the House, the House chamber will be like a Trump rally everyday!!” she wrote on X.

The trip would be Trump’s first to the Capitol since leaving office and since his supporters violently stormed the building in a bid to halt the peaceful transition of power from him to Democrat Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has been indicted in both Washington and Georgia over his efforts to overturn the election's results.

Until a new speaker is chosen, all legislative work is the House is suspended.