House speaker vote: McCarthy thanks Trump for final votes as fight nearly breaks out on floor
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin McCarthy was finally elected speaker of the House of Representatives after 15 rounds of voting, clinching the gavel just after midnight on Saturday.
The longest contest for speaker of the House of Representatives in more than a century finally came to an end as six remaining Republican holdouts opted to vote “present”, giving Mr McCarthy a majority over Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.
Earlier, Republican House member Mike Rogers had to be physically restrained after lunging at Matt Gaetz amid chaotic scenes in the House.
Congressman Richard Hudson grabbed Mr Rogers by his face and physically pulled him away.
In his first speech as speaker, Mr McCarthy thanked former president Donald Trump for “helping get those final votes”.
Mr McCarthy’s bid had been delayed by a group of far-right Republicans including the likes of Lauren Boebert and Mr Gaetz.
However, on Friday he made significant progress in the 12th ballot, managing to flip a total of 14 representatives-elect in his favour after lengthy negotiations.
Exclusive: AOC says Republican chaos shows how reasonable progressives like the Squad are
Shock scenes as Republican held back in confrontation with Matt Gaetz during Speaker vote
How Matt Gaetz and AOC cleared the air on their positions over Kevin McCarthy voteTrump phone-ins, near-fights and 15 votes: Key moments from a chaotic House Speaker election
AOC reveals why she was chatting with controversial GOP opponent
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed why she was spotted chatting with the Republican congressman who once posted a cartoon of him killing her, on the House floor during the vote for speaker of the House of Representatives.
In between votes for speaker, Ms Ocasio-Cortez spoke with Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona.
Here’s what she told The Independent’s Eric Garcia:
AOC reveals why she was chatting with GOP opponent who fantasised about killing her
The progressive Democrat and Representative Paul Gosar were seen talking on the House floor amid the chaotic speaker’s vote
Trump peddles conspiracy about Georgia election workers
Former President Donald Trump used his social media platform, Truth Social, to fuel conspiracy theories aimed at a Georgia election worker.
Around midnight on 2 January, Mr Trump fired off a message on Truth Social claiming there were “contradictions” in Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman’s testimony to the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot.
Graig Graziosi has the details.
Trump peddles conspiracy about Georgia election workers
“There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere,” the election worker told the January 6 panel
Sen Patty Murray second in line for presidency due to GOP dysfunction
The House of Representatives’ failure to elect a speaker after three ballots on Tuesday means two women will, for a time, remain first and second in line for the presidency should disaster befall President Joe Biden.
Andrew Feinberg explains:
House GOP dysfunction leaves Sen Patty Murray second in line for presidency
The Washington senator is the Senate’s President Pro Tempore, a largely ceremonial post that is normally third in the presidential order of succession
Lincoln Project revives Liz Truss lettuce challenge to mock McCarthy’s speaker chances
The Lincoln Project has revived one of the most memorable political stunts of 2022 in the first days of the new year — asking whether Rep Kevin McCarthy’s chances of becoming the next Speaker of the House will outlast a head of lettuce.
The lettuce bit began in October of last year when the Daily Star launched a livestream on YouTube showing a framed photograph of then-Prime Minister Liz Truss next to a head of iceburg lettuce and similarly asking whether Ms Truss’ reign as prime minister or the lettuce would last longer.
As Ms Truss’ political difficulties mounted throughout October, the livestream gained in popularity. When Ms Truss ultimately announced her resignation on October 20, the lettuce, which had not yet wilted, was declared victorious over the United Kingdom’s shortest-lived prime minister ever.
Read the full story here:
Lincoln Project revives Liz Truss lettuce challenge to mock Kevin McCarthy
Republican congressman struggling in bid to become next Speaker of the House
Trump urges GOP to vote for McCarthy for House speaker
Donald Trump has urged Republicans to vote for Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday morning, the former president endorsed the GOP House leader saying that he “will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB”.
“Some really good conversations took place last night, and it’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY, & WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA,THE ONLY SPEAKER IN U.S. HISTORY TO HAVE LOST THE “HOUSE” TWICE!” he wrote.
“REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT. IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE, YOU DESERVE IT. Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB - JUST WATCH!”
His show of support for Mr McCarthy comes after three roll call votes were held on Tuesday – all ending with the GOP leader failing to secure enough votes to be elected to the House speaker role.
George Santos spotted all alone in House chamber
George Santos was isolated by an obvious cloud of political toxicity on Tuesday as the embattled congressman-elect appeared on the House floor to vote in the election for speaker of the House.
George Santos spotted all alone in House chamber on first day of new Congress
Rep-elect faces storm of controversy over lies about religion, background
Where things stood as House adjourned after three failed attempts to elect speaker
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.
House votes to adjourn until Wednesday as Kevin McCarthy’s speaker bid flounders
House Republican leader hopes to cling on to leadership role
Matt Gaetz twists knife over Kevin McCarthy’s failed House votes branding him ‘a squatter’ in speaker’s office
Rep Matt Gaetz has twisted the knife over Kevin McCarthy’s failed attempts to be elected House speaker, branding the GOP leader a “squatter” in the speaker’s office.
On Tuesday, Mr Gaetz sent a letter to Architect of the US Capitol Brett Blanton telling him that Mr McCarthy had moved into the speaker’s office at the Capitol and asking how long before he will be “considered a squatter” there.
He continued: “What is the basis in law, House rule, or precedent to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the Speaker of the House Office? How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?”
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:
Matt Gaetz brands Kevin McCarthy ‘a squatter’ after failed House speaker votes
Mr McCarthy failed to get enough votes to become House speaker in three separate roll call votes on Tuesday – marking the first time in more than 100 years where a speaker was not elected in the opening vote
What the rightwing press is saying about the GOP’s dysfunctional day
The Wall Street Journal
The Editorial Board of the paper goes after the “rump faction” blocking Kevin McCarthy’s bid to be speaker, asking “for what?”
House Republicans say they want to drain the swamp and save America, but they can’t even get through Day 1 without a display of dysfunction. Stipulated, Rep. Kevin McCarthy isn’t everyone’s ideal of a conservative Speaker. But he has led the House GOP since 2019, raised oodles of money for November’s midterms, and easily won a leadership vote last year, 188-31.
Later the board skewers the display that played out on Tuesday in Congress:
House Republicans have won two years in the majority to show the electorate they can govern better than Democrats and President Biden. They’re getting off to the kind of start that will persuade even their own voters to send them back.
New York Post
With a simple front-page headline of “Grow up!”, the New York Post attacks the “small group of Republican saboteurs” who are blocking Rep Kevin McCarthy from taking power as speaker of the House.
In the lead opinion piece, Michael Goodwin writes:
The GOP’s inability to elect a Speaker despite having a majority is more than a personal rebuke to the presumed leader, Kevin McCarthy of California. It’s a mark of incompetence and a worrisome sign the party is so fractured it will not be able to unite to accomplish anything of significance for the next two years.
Instead of being a check on the White House and the Democrat-controlled Senate and using its investigative power to probe President Biden and his family’s corrupt business deals, the chaos suggests too many Republicans are freelancing and engaged in a fools’ errand masquerading as an act of principle.
He later adds:
This is madness. The reasons for opposing McCarthy seem either vague or more personal than substantive, especially after he made so many concessions to win their votes. But it was never enough because their opposition is, at this late stage, fundamentally incoherent. Most important, a shootout in a lifeboat is not a persuasive argument that the party is ready to govern.
Fox News
On his Tuesday night show, Sean Hannity declared: “House Republicans now are on the verge of becoming a total clown show if they’re not careful.”
He continued: “But despite the cheering and elation from Democrats and the mob and the media, it’s not a dire situation – yet.”
Calling the holdouts against Mr McCarthy a “small but seemingly determined group of lawmakers” he then defended the GOP leader’s conservative platform to his viewers, calling it “exactly the America-first, MAGA agenda that so many of you I know like” andd added that Mr McCarthy has also vowed to go after the Biden family’s business deadline and the “politicised FBI”.
Tucker Carlson meanwhile framed the floor fight over who should be speaker as “chaotic” but “refreshing”, calling it “democracy” versus the “oligarchy” of the Democratic Party.
“The fact that this race has not been settled by now is being described especially online by many as ‘embarrassing’,” he said. “It is embarrassing if you prefer the Soviet-style consensus of the Democratic Party’s internal elections.”
He went on to defend attacks on Mr McCarthy for not being conservative enough, calling him “ideologically agnostic”, “flexible”, and adding that his real constituency is the lobbying community.
Carlson then said that this could be a strength: “It’s not easy being speaker when the House is this closely divided. And in some ways, Kevin McCarthy is perfectly suited for that. He’s skilled in politics.”
On Wednesday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends, host Steve Doocy called Tuesday a “disaster for Republicans” with his cohosts Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade agreeing.
Over at FoxNews.com, Liz Peek took another view, writing:
“The Republican Party requires a serious reboot, and perhaps this public skirmish is a necessary first step. The midterm elections delivered an unmistakable message: voters are not buying what the GOP is selling.
Arguing that voters have no idea what Republicans stand for and noting the obliteration of the party’s claims of fiscal sobriety, Ms Peek lays out the demands of the holdouts against Mr McCarthy describing their demands as “valuable objections” and that despite their portrayal as “unreasonable by the liberal media”, she says that many Republicans would agree with them.
Biden: ‘I hope they get their act together'
As he left the White House for a visit to Kentucky, President Joe Biden said of the House Speaker vote chaos: “That’s not my problem.”
He added that it is “embarrassing” that the process is taking so long and noted that “the rest of the world is looking”, but he himself is focused on “getting things done”.
Mr Biden also said: “I hope they get their act together.”
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