Trump narrows down VP choice to five individuals

Newt Gingrich weighs in on the GOP candidates potential running mates on 'The O'Reilly Factor'

This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," May 13, 2016. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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O'REILLY: Thanks for staying with us. I'm Bill O'Reilly. "Personal Story" segment tonight, Donald Trump has says he has narrowed his V.P. choice down to five individuals. And one of them, Newt Gingrich joins us now from Washington. Any interest in the job, Mr. Speaker?

NEWT GINGRICH, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, I mean, you have to look at it very seriously, of course.

O'REILLY: Do you speak to Donald Trump on a regular basis?

GINGRICH: No. I talk to him occasionally. I talk to the campaign people a lot more.

O'REILLY: Does he call you and say what should I do on this item or that item?

GINGRICH: Rarely. He is not a guy who seeks that kind of advice very much.

O'REILLY: You have discussed with him foreign policy, domestic policy?

GINGRICH: Oh, sure.

O'REILLY: Have you sat down at dinner and said look, this is how I see the world?

GINGRICH: No. I regard Donald as an old friend. Calista and I belong to his club here in Washington. We have regularly talked with him for the last five or six years during the campaign occasionally -- I do more of it by email than I do by phone. But we have communicated on a routine basis with the campaign and with Trump and his family.

O'REILLY: But when you say communicate, nobody know what that means. Do they ask you questions? Do you volunteer things?

GINGRICH: Sometimes I get questions. Sometimes I volunteer things.

O'REILLY: Did you say, don't call O'Reilly a so and so and that kind of thing?

GINGRICH: I find, as you know because you know him well, I find that kind of advice gets you nowhere.

(LAUGHTER)

O'REILLY: Well, yes. I mean, it's hard to say how much Donald Trump process. He is a fairly good listener.

GINGRICH: Right.

O'REILLY: But you don't know how many -- now, all right. So, that would be interesting Trump-Gingrich ticket. Because you would provide him with the working knowledge of Congress which he doesn't have. You are also a conservative with bona fides that he doesn't have.

GINGRICH: And you would have two unusual heads of hair. So, I mean --

O'REILLY: Your head of hair, that's pretty standard.

GINGRICH: Okay.

O'REILLY: And you know, Floyd the barber, he cuts your hair, doesn't he? The guy that used to be in Mayberry?

(LAUGHTER)

GINGRICH: Right. He retired to cut hair in McClain.

O'REILLY: Now, and I don't want to be bold and fresh here even though that's my description. You know a lot more about policy than Donald Trump knows. Would that, you know, would the VP --

GINGRICH: Well, there are a lot of very good candidates. That know a great deal. And he has been very clear that he wants an insider because he understands that while he has done an amazing job arousing the country, building a real movement, to get things done in Washington, as he proved in the visit yesterday, you have got to sit down and talk to the legislators. You have to work out a strategy. But he has got a number of talented people he could call on. You know, so I think the list is -- I don't know who is on the list.

O'REILLY: I know pretty much who is on the list. I think you are going to get it. I think that he is going to choose you. I mean, this is, again, I'm making this not based on any inside information I want the audience to know. I don't know that nobody has said that to me. But I do know who he is considering just by a deduction. And I think he will select you. And I think Rudy Giuliani, he is going to say is going to be Homeland Security guy. Chris Christie is going to be Attorney General. Ben Carson is going to be Health and Human Services. So, he is going to go into the Cleveland convention with his whole crew which is going to mollify the Republican establishment because you are the Republican establishment. Are you not?

GINGRICH: Well, and I once was speaker of the House and I have been around for a long time. But I think I have always been a little bit of an outsider in terms of the traditional kind of establishment.

O'REILLY: Well, you are outspoken in that way. You are not a spinmeister. Are you surprised that Ryan, the current speaker didn't endorsed Trump --

GINGRICH: Yes.

O'REILLY: -- after he won Indiana. Were you surprised about that?

GINGRICH: I was surprised and I said, it's the time. I thought it was a mistake for Paul to do that. I'm glad that they had the meeting yesterday. I think it looks like things are coming together. But I think, you know, when you are the speaker of the House, you speak for the whole conference, I thought that was a little bit of a mistake. I think he could have communicated privately everything he wanted to. On the other hand, the truth is, they do have some very different policy issues.

O'REILLY: Sure. Absolutely.

GINGRICH: And they are going to have to work them out.

O'REILLY: Particularly on trade.

GINGRICH: Right.

O'REILLY: There is a big gap on trade. Final question. We talked to Congressman Gohmert yesterday and he said, look, I'm not going to support Trump until he apologizes to Ted Cruz for calling him a liar and other people for demeaning them. Did that bother you when Trump did that?

GINGRICH: I think Trump's standard style is to be very aggressive and very direct and by the way. The first person to call Ted Cruz a liar was Marco Rubio. You go back and look at the debate, it was Rubio and Cruz who were saying each other was lying about their votes in the Senate long before Trump picked it up.

O'REILLY: All right. But, you know what I'm talking about.

GINGRICH: Trump has a style that is uniquely his. And he's gotten the nomination in a way that is truly historic. I predict that Louie Gohmert who I know well, when he is confronted with Hillary Clinton is going to enthusiastically be for Donald Trump.

O'REILLY: All right. Mr. Speaker, you have always been straight with us. And we appreciate that very much. Thank you.

GINGRICH: Good being be with you.

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