Breaking News: McCarthy Removed As Speaker By House Vote!

By Tyler Durden / ZeroHedge

Update (1635ET): After eight tumultuous months of pandering and lies (according to Rep. Matt Gaetz), Kevin McCarthy has been removed as Speaker of the House for the first time in US history.

The final vote was 216-210.

The last time the House tried to evict a speaker was 1910, which failed.

Rep. Patrick McHenry is now the acting speaker, as announced by the House Clerk. The next step is for the chamber to begin rounds of voting to elect a new Speaker, as we saw eight months ago.

He’s just recessed the House so that the parties can meet and confer on a “way forward.” It was quite the tantrum…

The speaker pro tempore is imbued with all the powers of an elected speaker of the House. McCarthy hand-picked McHenry (R-N.C.) for this role when he was elected speaker in January. The pro tempore is kept as a secret, held by the clerk of the House, until a speaker is removed or incapacitated, a process designed after Sept. 11, 2001, to ensure continuity of government. -Politico

And other last requests? https://t.co/yCjZ6SoiI0

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 3, 2023

Oh brother…

*  *  *

Update (1630ET): The House is now voting on the motion to remove McCarthy, and – unless Democrats intervene, Gaetz has enough votes to vacate him as Speaker after six Republicans voted ‘aye’ (Biggs, Buck, Burchett, Crane, Gaetz and Good).

Watch Live:

*  *  *

Update (1435ET): The House is now voting on whether to move forward with the ouster vote, or to ‘table’ it – which would save McCarthy.

Update: The ‘motion to table’ has failed, and the House will now move forward with debate ahead of a vote on Gaetz’s effort to remove McCarthy.

*  *  *

Update (1323ET): It appears that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy may actually be out of a job, just eight months after he bent over backwards (and forward?) to land it.

In a ‘Dear Colleage’ letter, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries tells his ‘troops’ that “House Democratic leadership will vote yes on the pending Republican motion to vacate the chair.“

House Dems are falling in line.

*  *  *

Days after narrowly averting a government shutdown by striking a secret side-deal with Democrats over Ukraine funding, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) faces the biggest challenge to his Speakership by the same group of House conservatives who delayed his rise to power eight months ago.

On Monday night, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed a motion to formally remove McCarthy from his role as speaker – a vote for which McCarthy says he’ll get out of the way first thing today, while CNBC says the vote should begin at 2pm ET.

In short, only Democrats may be able to save McCarthy – who says he hasn’t made any deals with the Democrats who he says “haven’t asked for anything,” following a Monday night call with House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) – who will ultimately decide McCarthy’s fate.

While the minority party in the House typically doesn’t support the majority’s choice for speaker, motions to vacate are rare – and this situation hasn’t been seen in more than a century.

According to the Guardian, Gaetz and his allies have the votes to remove McCarthy.

In a notice to lawmakers, Democratic whip Katherine Clark’s office said votes on the motion to vacate Kevin McCarthy from his position as speaker of the House could take place “at any time after the House convenes at 12:00 p.m. today.”

Before voting on the motion itself, McCarthy’s allies may move to table the proposal, which, if successful, would block the motion to vacate, and save McCarthy’s speakership. That would need a simply majority to pass, and, the way the numbers are looking now, can’t be achieved without Democratic help.

“Members should keep their schedules flexible and be prepared to vote at the appropriate time,” reads the notice.

Gaetz and his Freedom Caucus allies were livid on Sunday after it emerged that McCarthy had made a secret side-deal with Democrats for more Ukraine funding, in exchange for passage of a continuing resolution that will keep the government running through mid-November.

Developing…

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/mccarthy-out-today-motion-vacate-first-order-business-says-he-hasnt-struck-deal-dems

‎***Support BeforeItsNews By Trying HerbAnomic Natural Health Building Products Including Humic & Fulvic Liquid Trace Mineral Complex & UltraCur Bio-Available Curcumin—‎‎Click Here‎‎ For More Information & To Order!***