Newt Gingrich speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on Feb. 27, 2015. | AP Photo Gingrich on Trump VP talk: 'I know nothing about this stuff'

If Newt Gingrich is on Donald Trump's shortlist for vice president, the former speaker of the House claimed Tuesday to not know anything about it.

"I don't have any idea how long the short list is. I think if it's 200, I'm probably on it," Gingrich told Fox News' Neil Cavuto during an interview in which the host referenced Trump's remarks last week that he had narrowed down his list of potential running mates to "five or six."


Gingrich brushed it off, remarking, "I know nothing about this stuff" and haven't talked to "anybody at the campaign about it."

"You know, I think that that's something — there's only one person who matters, and that's Donald Trump. He will decide — it's the first really big decision that will shape his presidency," Gingrich said. "I think he intends not to decide until some time in July. And I suspect people will get pretty tired speculating about it some time in the next two or three weeks."

Gingrich, who has made no secret out of his issues with Trump's comportment as a candidate, said voters might have to get used to the idea that this is as "presidential" as he gets.

"Trump's a big boy. He's very tough. He's very smart. I tell him in private what I honestly believe. And I say in public what I honestly believe. I wish he was about 10 percent more presidential. That's not his style," he conceded. "I have a hunch this is the presidential style we're going to have to live with if he wins."

Pointing to comments from Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) in which he expressed reluctance in backing Trump because of concern of what his 9-year-old son might hear coming from the president's mouth, Gingrich mused that the presumptive Republican nominee would do well to consider more self-restraint and discipline.

"Every once in a while he'll say, 'Oh, I could be presidential but you'll be bored.' I think a little bit of boredom in terms of certain kind of language would actually be good because lots of young people take their cues from the president of the United States," Gingrich said. "And I think it would be helpful for him to do that."