Gaetz “will never get confirmed,” an unnamed Republican senator told Fox News. Senator John Cornyn rolled his eyes and let out “an audible snort,” while Gaetz’s Republican House colleagues reportedly gasped when they heard the news.

Donald Trump has joked about running for a third term as president even though it would flout the rules of the US constitution. Before meeting with president Joe Biden on Wednesday, Mr Trump spoke to Congressional Republicans at the Hyatt Regency in Washington DC.

The party protected vulnerable incumbents and picked off Democrats in competitive districts, handing the president-elect a unified Congress to enact his agenda.