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
McCarthy delays next vote until Thursday after six humiliating defeats in Speaker bid
House lawmakers voted to adjourn for a second day Wednesday evening without selecting a speaker in a historic defeat for Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and a sign of the total lack of unity that has taken over his caucus.
The chamber had adjourned for several hours after three votes transpired throughout the afternoon and each failed to result in the election of a speaker. Conservative opponents of Mr McCarthy showed no signs of relenting in their effort to block his election to the role, while at the same time there was little evidence of any consensus candidate emerging to unify both sides.
The former minority leader’s allies continued an unrelenting barrage of attacks aimed at their conservative colleagues, but appeared no closer to winning any of them over. The House voted by an extremely narrow margin to adjourn until noon on Thursday, though it remains totally unclear if Mr McCarthy will make any progress towards the 218-vote threshold needed to secure the speakership.
Should he assume the title of Speaker of the House, his tenure will still be permanently marred by an astounding six defeats on the House floor — no leading candidate for a party that controls the House has lost on the first speaker’s election ballot in more than 100 years.
John Bowden has the full story.
McCarthy delays next vote until Thursday after six humiliating defeats in Speaker bid
Republicans see little progress after marathon of votes
ICYMI: Biden calls House GOP dysfunction ‘embarrassing’ as voting for Speaker set to continue
President Joe Biden on Wednesday decried House Republicans’ failure to elect a Speaker and begin regular business, telling reporters at the White House that the dysfunction reflects poorly on the United States.
Speaking just outside the White House residence before he departed aboard Marine One for an event in Kentucky, Mr Biden said the spectacle in the lower chamber is “embarrassing” because it is taking so long for the House to begin doing business.
“It’s a little embarrassing it’s taking so long, and the way they are dealing with one another,” he said.
He added that the House’s failure to chose a speaker on the first day of the 118th Congress — the first time in a full century that no candidate has garnered support from a clear majority of members on the first roll call vote — was “not a good look” and “not a good thing”for the US.
Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Biden calls House GOP dysfunction ‘embarrassing’ as voting for Speaker set to resume
Mr Biden says the House’s failure to elect a Speaker on the first day of the 118th Congress is “not a good look” for the country
Santos shares press release about being sworn in to Congress... except he hadn’t been
George Santos can add another false statement to the long list of fictions he has spun about his life.
The freshman New York congressman-elect was among the new class of lawmakers who arrived on Capitol Hill on Tuesday eager to be sworn in and commence their duties as elected representatives for their various districts.
But that didn’t happen.
George Santos shares statement about being sworn in to House - when no one has been
New York Republican was already under fire for wide range of fictions on his resume
Jake Tapper goes viral for ‘child molester’ quip regarding speaker chaos
CNN anchor Jake Tapper has gone viral for a quip about disgraced former Republican House speaker Dennis Hastert during an on-air discussion about the chaotic scenes in Congress on Tuesday.
After Kevin McCarthy failed to garner sufficient votes to secure the Speakership, fellow CNN presenter Dana Bash opined that Republicans had faced a similar dilemma when Newt Gingrich was forced out as speaker in 1998.
Tapper recalled how that turned out.
Bevan Hurley reports.
Jake Tapper goes viral for ‘child molester’ quip during House speaker chaos
There was an awkward on-air moment during a conversation between CNN anchors on the current GOP disarray
Who is Hakeem Jeffries?
While the Republican battle continues over Kevin McCarthy’s repeated attempts to claim the House speaker’s gavel, Democrats have remained united behind their new leader, New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries.
Who is Hakeem Jeffries? Democrats united behind new leader
‘There’s a genuine sense that he wants to develop relationships and working partnerships with many of us,’ progressive Democrat says of new leader
Photo of AOC laughing as Matt Gaetz makes impassioned speech goes viral
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been captured laughing while sitting behind her Republican opponent Matt Gaetz as he delivered an impassioned speech amid his campaign to resist Kevin McCarthy’s attempts to be elected House speaker.
Read more in this report:
Photo of AOC laughing as Matt Gaetz makes impassioned speech goes viral
Gaetz is among the Republicans opposing Kevin McCarthy’s bid for speaker
Biden calls House GOP dysfunction ‘embarrassing’
President Joe Biden on Wednesday decried House Republicans’ failure to elect a Speaker and begin regular business, telling reporters at the White House that the dysfunction reflects poorly on the United States.
Speaking just outside the White House residence before he departed aboard Marine One for an event in Kentucky, Mr Biden said the spectacle in the lower chamber is “embarrassing” because it is taking so long for the House to begin doing business.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Biden calls House GOP dysfunction ‘embarrassing’ as voting for Speaker set to resume
Mr Biden says the House’s failure to elect a Speaker on the first day of the 118th Congress is “not a good look” for the country
Boebert says Republican chaos is fine because it means US isn’t sending money to Ukraine
Lauren Boebert has said she is fine with the chaos in the Repubican party over the vote to choose Kevin McCarthy as the House speaker because this meant the US government was not aiding Ukraine in its war efforts.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday, she said she was fine with it as the “government isn’t spending money sending it to Ukraine so the American taxpayers are certainly winning”.
Maroosha Muzaffar reports:
Boebert says Republican chaos is fine as it means US isn’t sending money to Ukraine
‘Government isn’t spending money sending it to Ukraine so the American taxpayers are certainly winning’
From laughing to cringing: The most memorable images of three days of House speaker votes
With C-SPAN providing an unfiltered live feed of all the action on the floor of the House of Representatives as the votes continue to name a speaker, audiences have been treated to an interesting insight into how Congress functions – or dysfunctions, as the case may be.
Usually, congressional rules dictate what cameras can and cannot show, but with no representatives sworn in there are no such rules.
There have been some memorable still images captured by photographers present in the chamber as lawmakers have laughed, cringed, appeared frustrated and huddled in tense negotiation between ballots as Kevin McCarthy suffered defeat after defeat.
Here are some of the best images to emerge so far:
From laughing to cringing: The most memorable images of House speaker votes
Lawmakers have laughed, cringed, appeared frustrated, and huddled in tense negotiation between ballots
ICYMI: As McCarthy struggles, Michael Fanone visits his office to ‘rub it in’
Michael Fanone, a former Washington, DC Metropolitan Police officer who was injured while protecting the Capitol on January 6, 2021, visited the Capitol to witness the chaos surrounding GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become the speaker of the House.
Jan 6 officer Michael Fanone visits McCarthy’s office to ‘rub it in’
‘Maybe the fourth time’s the charm,’ former officer says of McCarthy’s speakership bid – which he subsequently lost
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