Newt Gingrich’s political team rushed to clear-up the former House Speaker’s goals late Tuesday after multiple news organizations reported that Gingrich planned to announce the establishment of a presidential exploratory committee during a trip to Georgia on Thursday.
Joe Gaylord, Gingrich’s political adviser, shared with the Des Moines Register that the establishment of an exploratory committee is a certainty.
“It is exactly that, an exploratory committee,” Gaylord explained to the newspaper. “But you can’t say that this is tantamount to an announcement of candidacy. It is the announcement of an exploratory committee that says, ‘is it really feasible for me to do this, and let me check this out in the next six or seven weeks, because I want to find out if it’s real before I do it.”
Gingrich spokesman, Rick Tyler, circulated a statement to reporters Tuesday night contradicting Gaylord’s statement.
“Gingrich is not traveling to Georgia to announce that he will form ‘an exploratory committee’ as stated in the Des Moines Register,” Tyler refuted. “To be clear, while Speaker Gingrich is in Georgia on Thursday, he will not announce the formation of an exploratory committee.”
It’s not clear if Gingrich will explore a presidential bid.