Trump's election helping his Criminal Cases

For some weeks now, Matt Gaetz has threatened to oust Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the US House of Representatives. He decided to pick a battle, which he later won.

The sardonic Mr. Gaetz, who is from Florida's equivalent of Hollywood, had seemed to have enough support for his coup for the previous few days.

But on Tuesday, it appeared to be the right-wing renegade vs the rest of his party on occasion.

Prior to the first vote to ever successfully remove a sitting Speaker, Mr. Gaetz sat by himself in the House chamber for roughly an hour while other members took a break. Democrats would occasionally stop by for a chat.

Members of Congress poured in as voting started, making the contrast between the two sides stark. 

Democrats gathered in lively talk and laughter, appearing unhurried like they were attending a cocktail party.

McCarthy is no more. What follows now?

A poisoned chalice will be passed down to the next US Speaker.

What does the US House Speaker actually do?

They had decided to unite in opposition to Mr. McCarthy at their caucus meeting earlier on Tuesday, and to endorse their own leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as the ideal candidate for Speaker.

After that meeting, member after member came to us and said they thought the Republican Speaker from California had morals, was unreliable, and wasn't worthy of saving.

The Republicans appeared mostly defeated because their attempts to persuade Democrats to back Mr. McCarthy were ineffective.

Many people sat motionless as they awaited the start of the vote.

While this was going on, Mr. Gaetz was seated in the rear of the room with other defectors including Eli Crane and Tim Burchett as well as people who had not yet decided to support him.

Mr. McCarthy attempted to appear unconcerned when he stepped onto the floor. He gathered his buddies around and playedfully tugged at one of their ties before reclining in his chair and crossing his legs.

Voting in the House can be tedious and time-consuming. Debates prior to these roll calls are often uninteresting and take place in front of a scarcely full chamber.

It was a different story on Tuesday, though. There were less than ten persons who were not present in the entire House, however there were many visitors in the galleries above.

Also, there was a lively conversation.

Besides Mr. Gaetz, there were just two other speakers, and he spoke the most.

He said that his Republican colleagues were beholden to special interests, and when he said he did not want to be lectured by them, one of them shouted, "You're no martyr."

When Mr. Gaetz made a comment, other people occasionally groaned and laughed.

As the members' votes were verbally tallied during the roll call, Mr. McCarthy seemed to understand that his future was sealed.

He was looking straight ahead with no expression on his face when the eighth Republican vote against him was counted.

When the House Democrats were about to leave the room, Mr. Gaetz made a point of walking over to where they were leaving.

The Capitol building began to empty as two Democrats and I boarded the elevator.

One said, "Let the civil war begin."

Another person chuckled.

Hard-right members of the House are prepared to remove Republican leader Kevin McCarthy from his position as speaker of the House, just nine months after his election. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday night, Congressman Matt Gaetz, a hard-right lawmaker from Florida, presented a motion to vacate while he continued to criticize McCarthy for working with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown over the weekend.

Earlier on Tuesday, McCarthy and his supporters had attempted to put an end to Gaetz's rebellion by putting up a procedural motion to table, or kill, the proposal. By a vote of 208 to 218 that motion was defeated, setting up the decisive vote to remove McCarthy. The motion to table was opposed by eleven Republicans in the House.

McCarthy finds the math in the House challenging. McCarthy can only afford to lose four Republican votes and keep his gavel with such a slim majority—that is, if every House Democrat votes against the speaker. Two Republicans and five Democrats were noted as absent from Tuesday's motion to table in the House. However, Gaetz had more than enough votes to win passage of his motion to vacate, with 207 Democrats voting together against the motion to table.

House Democratic leaders made their desire for caucus members to vote "yes" on the motion to vacate the chair known just prior to Tuesday's procedural vote. Following a Tuesday morning meeting with members, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared his caucus to be unified in our commitment to put people over politics. 

Democrats in the House are still open to reaching an agreement on a progressive course of action. Jeffries wrote a "Dear Colleague" letter stating, "Unfortunately, our extreme Republican colleagues have shown no willingness to do the same." The Republican Motion to Vacate the Chair is currently pending, and House Democratic leadership will vote yes because they are unwilling to separate from [Make America Great Again] extremism in a genuine and thorough way.

McCarthy told reporters he was "confident" he could hold on, but he also seemed resigned to his fate after meeting with his conference on Tuesday morning.

Reporter: That seems plausible.

McCarthy answered: Most likely.

McCarthy will have the chance to select a temporary speaker until an election is held if the move to resign is successful. McCarthy was elected speaker of the House in January after 15 rounds of voting, and a rerun might be even more drawn out and difficult.

McCarthy showed no remorse for cooperating with Democrats to keep the government open, even as he faced the prospect of losing his position as speaker. The government will remain funded through November 17 thanks to the stopgap bill that the House passed on Saturday, preventing a shutdown that would have resulted in the loss of salary for hundreds of thousands of federal employees. 

McCarthy declared that he would fight for the American people and would do so even if it meant losing his job.

Gaetz seemed to have the votes to remove McCarthy, but some other conservative Republicans who supported McCarthy during his January speakership campaign were hesitant to do so.

Hard-right Republican congressman Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who had at first opposed McCarthy's speakership attempt, advised his colleagues to concentrate on approving full-year budget measures.

Norman stated on X, "I have been deeply disappointed in a number of aspects of Speaker McCarthy's leadership, but this is not the time to pursue a Motion to Vacate." 

However, about ten more hard-right politicians joined the motion to resign, essentially ending McCarthy's political career. McCarthy's supporters came to the House floor to preserve his name despite the dire situation.

"The speaker that we elected has the resounding support of the majority of my party. We're happy of the leadership he's demonstrated," Oklahoma Republican congressman Tom Cole stated. Another group exists, albeit a small one. To be honest, they have motives only they truly understand for why they are willing to throw this body into disarray and this nation into doubt. Definitely not me.

Taking the microphone, Gaetz stated that the current situation in the House was intolerable and refuted Cole's claim.