Newt Thanks Pelosi for “Early Christmas Gift”

In what he described as an effort to "compete in all 50 states," former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich took his surging campaign to New York City, holding a private one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump and a fundraiser at the Union League Club's New York headquarters.

Gingrich met with "The Donald" in his midtown Manhattan office Monday morning and, arriving in a black SUV, was immediately swarmed by dozens of members of the media jostling for a word with the newly minted frontrunner. About 50 tourists were among the crowd, taking a break from their holiday shopping along Fifth Avenue for an unexpected surprise.

Following the nearly hour-long meeting, both men emerged from Trump's 26th floor office to take questions from reporters. Praising Trump for being an "American icon," Gingrich talked about an idea he pitched to Trump: creating a mentoring program in one of New York City's poorest school districts. Trump called it "a great idea" and, never missing an opportunity to self-promote, said he would be happy to get on board creating ten "apprenti," which is a word he made up to pluralize the word "apprentice."

At an afternoon press conference at the Union League Club, Gingrich did more damage control on previous comments he made about child labor laws. Calling his words "distorted," he repeatedly sought to explain his comments about how children as young as nine-years-old from poor neighborhoods should be able to work as janitors. The intention, he said, is "to get them into the world of work, get them into the opportunity to earn money, to get them into the habit of showing up and realizing that effort is rewarded and America is all about the work ethic."

He also had words of warning for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, saying her threat to release information from an ethics committee inquiry would bring an "early Christmas gift."

"If she's suggesting she's going to use material that she developed while she was on the ethics committee, that is a fundamental violation of the rules of the House and I would hope members would immediately file charges against her as soon as she does it," he said.

Pelosi served on the House ethics committee that investigated Gingrich for tax cheating and campaign finance violations during the 90's. She told the website "Talking Points Memo" she would release information about Gingrich "when the time was right." She went on to say "I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year."

One place Gingrich skipped on this trip -- jewelry store Tiffany & Co, which sits right next to Trump Tower.