Rep. Matt Gaetz is fundraising off of his promise to nominate Trump for House Speaker

• Congressman Matt Gaetz is fundraising off of a questionable promise.
• Gaetz vows to nominate Donald Trump for House Speaker in 2022, should the GOP regain its majority.
• A Trump spokesman told Punchbowl News that the ex-president has "zero desire to be speaker."

Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida is fundraising for his reelection campaign off of a promise to nominate Donald Trump for House Speaker.

Gaetz has said he's in direct contact with the former president, and dismissed a reporter for Punchbowl News who tweeted that Trumpworld is not on board with the Florida lawmaker's pitch.

Trump has previously called the rumors of him becoming speaker "very interesting" and something he'd been hearing "more and more." But his team has poured cold water on the notion of the 45th president becoming House Speaker, marking a rare instance where Trump's aides quickly mobilize to tamp down misinformation.

Read more: Here are 9 people you should watch as Rep. Matt Gaetz's legal drama escalates

On Thursday too, Jason Miller, Trump's top remaining post-White House adviser, told Punchbowl News that the former president "has zero desire to be speaker." A Gaetz spokesperson and Trump's press office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Gaetz, who remains mired in scandals and faces potential legal peril in a federal child sex trafficking investigation, first made the promise to nominate Trump for House Speaker over the Fourth of July weekend.

"After the next election cycle when we take back the House of Representatives, when we send [current Speaker] Nancy Pelosi back to the filth of San Francisco, my commitment to you is that my vote for Speaker of the US House of Representatives will go to Donald J. Trump," Gaetz said at a Trump rally in Sarasota, Florida.

Theoretically, the House Speaker does not have to be an elected member of Congress, as the Constitution does not explicitly require any particular qualifications on holding elected office.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California has said he plans on taking over as Speaker should the GOP regain their House majority, but he has been under pressure from fractions within his own caucus.

McCarthy's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment on whether Gaetz's fundraising blast was cleared with GOP leadership.