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The Guardian - US
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Chris Stein (now) and Léonie Chao-Fong (earlier)

Biden calls to ‘change the poisonous atmosphere in Washington’; Trump denies involvement in McCarthy removal - as it happened

Kevin McCarthy United States Patrick McHenry Republican Donald Trump Joe Biden Matt Gaetz the House of Representatives
Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters hours after he was ousted as speaker of the House
Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters hours after he was ousted as speaker of the House Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

Closing summary

Republicans in the House were reeling after far-right insurgents yesterday orchestrated the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker. The majority leader Steve Scalise and the judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan have both announced they will run to replace him, while Donald Trump said he had nothing to do with McCarthy’s overthrow. At the White House, Joe Biden reiterated that House Democrats are willing to work with their GOP colleagues to prevent a still-looming government shutdown, while calling “to change the poisonous atmosphere in Washington”.

Here’s what else happened today:

  • The top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer warned the breakdown in the House threatens national security.

  • At least one GOP congressman wants the architect of McCarthy’s overthrow, Matt Gaetz, to be kicked out of the conference.

  • Will McCarthy’s downfall tip the scales of US politics ahead of next year’s elections? One analyst doesn’t think so, but warned it could nonetheless have unpredictable effects.

  • Republicans are so angry Democrats helped remove McCarthy that they are kicking veteran lawmakers Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer out of their Capitol offices.

  • Mitch McConnell says the next speaker of the House should change the rules so that what happened to McCarthy does not happen to them.

Updated

In New York City, Donald Trump returned for a third day of trial.

Judge Arthur Engoron is determining how much in damages Trump and his family must pay after finding they fraudulently inflated their assets for years. Yesterday, the judge imposed a gag order on the notoriously loquacious former president after he attacked Engoron’s clerk on social media.

Here’s the Guardian’s Dominic Rushe with the latest on the trial:

Donald Trump returned to his New York civil fraud trial on Wednesday a day after running afoul of the judge by denigrating a key court staffer in a social media post.

The former US president and Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race is voluntarily taking time out from the campaign trail to attend the trial. New York attorney general Letitia James’s lawsuit accuses Trump and his business of deceiving banks, insurers and others by providing financial statements that greatly exaggerated his wealth.

Judge Arthur Engoron already has ruled that Trump committed fraud by inflating the values of prized assets including his Trump Tower penthouse. The ruling could, if upheld on appeal, cost Trump control of his signature skyscraper and some other properties.

Trump denies any wrongdoing. With familiar rhetoric, on his way into court Wednesday, he called James “incompetent”, portrayed her as part of a broader Democratic effort to weaken his 2024 prospects and termed the trial “a disgrace”.

Trump has frequently vented in the courthouse hallway and on social media about the trial, James and Judge Engoron, also a Democrat.

But after he assailed Engoron’s principal law clerk on social media on Tuesday, the judge imposed a limited gag order, commanding all participants in the trial not to hurl personal attacks at court staffers. The judge told Trump to delete the “disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post”, and the former president took it down.

Updated

Here’s a story to watch.

Politico reports that one House Republican, Mike Lawler, thinks Matt Gaetz should be expelled from the party’s conference for engineering Kevin McCarthy’s overthrow:

As Punchbowl News points out, Gaetz’s foes may be able to clear that bar:

In the Senate, minority leader Mitch McConnell advised the next speaker of the House to “get rid of the motion to vacate”.

As part of the deal he struck with far-right holdouts to end their blockade that prevented him being elected to the speaker’s post in January, Kevin McCarthy agreed to lower the threshold for any House lawmaker to make the motion to one. Matt Gaetz, one of those who objected to McCarthy’s initial election, took it upon himself to on Monday make a motion to vacate, leading to McCarthy’s ouster the next day.

Here’s more from McConnell, who also indicated his party was ready to work with Senate Democrats on passing bills to fund the government over the fiscal year:

A Texas Republican congressman said that he would nominate ex-president Donald Trump to assume the position of the next speaker of the House following Republicans’ ouster of Kevin McCarthy.

The Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:

Troy Nehls said: “This week, when the US House of Representatives reconvenes, my first order of business will be to nominate Donald J Trump for speaker of the US House of Representatives.

“President Trump, the greatest president of my lifetime, has a proven record of putting America first and will make the House great again.”

The speaker does not have to be a member of Congress, though no speaker has ever assumed the role without holding a seat.

Trump’s name has been floated before, including during the 15-vote marathon rightwingers put McCarthy through in January before allowing him to take up the gavel.

On Tuesday, Nehls was not among the rightwingers who voted to remove McCarthy. Another congressman, Greg Steube of Florida, also said he would back Trump for speaker.

For the full story, click here:

Ohio’s far-right congressman Jim Jordan, who confirmed his run for House speaker, tweeted the following on Wednesday:

“Secure the border. Get spending under control. Fix the institution. Unify the party,” he wrote.

Jordan’s tweet follows his public plea for support for the House speaker position that he issued earlier today:

We are at a critical crossroad in our nation’s history. Now is the time for our Republican conference to come together to keep our promises to Americans. The problems we face are challenging, but they are not insurmountable. We can focus on the changes that improve the country and unite us in offering real solutions. But no matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference. I respectfully ask for your support for Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Updated

Jim Jordan: favorite of hard right who defied January 6 subpoena

Jim Jordan, the Ohio congressman who has confirmed a run for House speaker, is a celebrity on the far right of US politics – and a magnet for controversy whom a former speaker from his own party once called a “political terrorist”.

The full extent of Jordan’s involvement in Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, leading up to the deadly attack on Congress, remains unknown.

In the last Congress, when Democrats controlled the gavel, Jordan refused to cooperate with the House January 6 committee, despite being served with a subpoena.

Updated

Joe Biden was asked what his advice would be for the next House speaker, to which he laughed before replying:

That’s above my pay grade.

Here’s House majority leader Steve Scalise’s full letter to colleagues announcing his decision to run to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

The day so far

Republicans in the House are reeling after far-right insurgents yesterday orchestrated the removal of Kevin McCarthy as speaker. The majority leader Steve Scalise and the judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan have both announced they will run to replace him, while Donald Trump said he had nothing to do with McCarthy’s overthrow. At the White House, Joe Biden reiterated that House Democrats are willing to work with their GOP colleagues to prevent a still-looming government shutdown, while calling “to change the poisonous atmosphere in Washington”.

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

  • The top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer warned the breakdown in the House threatens national security.

  • Will McCarthy’s downfall tip the scales of American politics ahead of next year’s elections? One analyst doesn’t think so, but warned it could nonetheless have unpredictable effects.

  • Republicans are so mad Democrats helped remove McCarthy that they are kicking veteran lawmakers Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer out of their Capitol offices.

Updated

Republican House majority leader Steve Scalise announces run for speaker

The House majority leader, Steve Scalise, has officially announced that he will run to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

The Louisiana congressman currently occupies the No 2 role among the chamber’s Republicans, and in a letter to colleagues, he cast himself as a leader who would rededicate the GOP to the work its lawmakers were elected to do.

“We all came here to save this country from being taken down a dangerous path of destruction. We don’t sacrifice time with our families to come to Washington to fight over the small things – we are here because we care about our children’s futures and the kind of country they will grow up in. Under the failed leadership of President Biden, our country is being pushed to the brink,” his letter began.

Scalise is a survivor of a 2017 mass shooting at a baseball game practice in Virginia, a fact he mentioned in his pitch to Republicans:

God already gave me another chance at life. I believe we were all put here for a purpose. This next chapter won’t be easy, but I know what it takes to fight and I am prepared for the battles that lie ahead. I humbly ask you for your support on this mission to be your Speaker of the House.

Updated

Biden calls to 'change the poisonous atmosphere in Washington' after McCarthy overthrow

In a speech at the White House, Joe Biden said that despite Kevin McCarthy’s removal as speaker of the House, Democrats were willing to work with the GOP to pass spending bills and avoid a government shutdown that will otherwise occur in November.

“We cannot and should not again be faced with 11th-hour decision of brinksmanship that threatens to shut down the government,” Biden said.

“More than anything, we need to change the poisonous atmosphere in Washington,” he added. “You know, we have strong disagreements, but we need to stop seeing each other as enemies, need to talk to one another, listen to one another, work with one another.”

Biden said he and the House’s top Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, believe “our Republican colleagues remain committed to working in a bipartisan fashion. We were prepared to do it as well, for the good of the American people”.

Updated

Larry Sabato, a prominent University of Virginia political analyst, has weighed in with some thoughts about the wider ramifications of Kevin McCarthy’s ouster.

As dramatic as yesterday’s events may have been, Congress’s inner workings are not exactly the sort of thing most Americans pay daily attention to. When they cast ballots in November 2024 to decide whether Joe Biden gets a second term, and which party controls Congress, issues like the state of the economy and perceptions of crime and candidates’ fitness to serve are instead expected to be among the many things voters weigh.

Thus, in Sabato’s crystal ball newsletter, he concludes that McCarthy’s removal won’t necessarily tip the political scales by itself, but could spark chains of events that affect the fortunes of both parties:

We doubt there is much actual political fallout here, but one thing to monitor going forward is how much more dysfunctional the House becomes. The chances of a shutdown, which McCarthy narrowly avoided thanks to Democratic votes over the weekend, just shot up, as we are going to be doing the shutdown dance again in November and the new GOP speaker (assuming there is one) may need to take a harder line in an attempt to satiate his most insatiable members. It may be that this speaker gets a reprieve from some of the hardliners simply because he or she is not McCarthy. Democrats, meanwhile, declined to throw McCarthy a lifeline during the motion to vacate, opting en masse to vote with the Republican rebels. The Democrats seemed legitimately angry at McCarthy for offering them less than nothing for their support, which he clearly needed (or he just needed some Democrats to vote present on the motion to vacate, allowing loyal Republicans to deliver a majority of those voting).

Democrats also will likely relish the continued turbulence on the Republican side. That said, there are risks to them, too. Yes, it would probably be easy to blame Republicans for a future shutdown, but an extended one that has an impact on the economy could have repercussions for the president, too, as Washington Monthly’s Bill Scher argued when he suggested that Democrats bail out McCarthy. The Democrats voting for the motion to vacate is somewhat reminiscent of how their campaign arms, and their associated PACs, backed weak MAGA candidates in GOP primaries last year -- perfectly defensible politically but also not the sort of thing that is likely to elevate the more reasonable Republicans that Democrats often claim to want. That said, the readily apparent lack of discipline on the Republican side is not the fault of Democrats, and it’s natural for any political party to want to exacerbate the other side’s fissures and problems.

One final point: Despite his rocky rise to the top and short tenure as Speaker, McCarthy had been a prodigious fundraiser for House Republicans. Over the last several cycles, Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC he was aligned with, emerged as one of the most formidable outside spending groups in House races. With McCarthy out, there may be some negative effects on GOP fundraising.

Updated

A couple of other GOP old hands got into it over whether Democrats bore any responsibility for the downfall of Kevin McCarthy.

It began when Ari Fleischer, the former White House press secretary under George W Bush, accused Democrats of collaborating with Matt Gaetz to remove the speaker:

That prompted a riposte from Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, who is an outspoken Donald Trump foe. Steele noted that McCarthy’s problems became apparent at the start of the year when lawmakers from his own party blocked his election as speaker for days, and only relented when McCarthy made the concessions that led to his downfall:

Updated

Here’s a view from within the GOP on what just happened yesterday.

This CNN guest is Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster and consultant who has been involved for decades in Washington politics. He’s clearly not pleased with Kevin McCarthy’s removal from the speaker’s chair, and raises the prospect that the effort’s architect, Matt Gaetz, could soon be revealed to have committed serious ethical infractions.

McCarthy and his allies referenced the ongoing ethics investigation against Gaetz yesterday, about which few details are known, but the lawmaker denied it had anything to do with his campaign to remove the speaker.

Here’s Luntz’s interview, on CNN:

Updated

Trump denies involvement in McCarthy's ouster

Donald Trump said he was not involved in rightwing congressman Matt Gaetz’s motion that led to Kevin McCarthy’s ejection as House speaker yesterday.

Here’s what the former president had to say as he departed the courtroom in New York where a judge is considering what damages he and his family must pay after being found civilly liable for fraud:

Trump is broadly popular among House Republicans, many of whom have endorsed his attempt to return to the White House in next year’s presidential election. Gaetz is among the many lawmakers who have made names for themselves defending Trump, while McCarthy is also seen as an ally. As House minority leader in 2020, he signed on to a baseless effort to get the supreme court to block Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden.

Updated

Also speaking from the Senate floor, the chamber’s top Republican Mitch McConnell gave something of a eulogy for Kevin McCarthy’s speakership:

Punchbowl News has obtained Jim Jordan’s letter to House Republicans announcing his bid for speaker.

It reads, in part:

We are at a critical crossroad in our nation’s history. Now is the time for our Republican conference to come to keep our promises to Americans. The problems we face are challenging, but they are not insurmountable. We can focus on the changes that improve the country and unite us in offering real solutions. But no matter what we do, we must do it together as a conference. I respectfully ask for your support for Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Indeed, the House does not appear capable of doing much at the moment.

A few minutes ago, Patrick McHenry gaveled the chamber in, then immediately recessed it, a formality that underscores how the chamber’s functionality is limited without an elected speaker:

Democratic Senate leader Schumer warns House 'pandemonium' threatens national security

The Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that the “pandemonium” Congress descended into following Kevin McCarthy’s removal as House speaker threatens national security, and illustrates the perils of allowing rightwing extremists to wield political power.

“Yesterday, a small band of Maga extremists plunged Congress into pandemonium,” the New York Democrat said on the chamber’s floor.

“What happened yesterday is a failure entirely of the House Republicans own doing – a disaster in the making, to the great detriment of Congress, and to the detriment to the American people.”

The House is now adjourned until next week, when lawmakers will return to vote on a new speaker. The North Carolina Republican Patrick McHenry currently occupies the chair on an acting basis with limited powers, and Schumer warned that the vacuum could have implications for the country’s ability to defend itself.

“We find ourselves in a dangerous situation. With about 40 days to go before the government shuts down, the House has ground completely to a halt. Until Republicans stop their infighting, the House can vote on no bills, no appropriations work can get done. If God forbid some national crisis were to occur that demands immediate action, the House would be unable – unable – to quickly respond,” Schumer warned.

Updated

Jim Jordan is not alone in moving to replace Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. Here’s more from the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly on what we know about the race so far:

Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio emerged as leading contenders to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the US House of Representatives, after the Californian was brutally removed by his own Republican party on Tuesday.

Scalise is the House majority leader, Jordan the chair of the powerful judiciary committee. In the aftermath of McCarthy’s defeat, both were widely reported to be making calls and sounding out support.

Both are hardline conservatives who may struggle to attract support from moderates – a fact not lost on observers after some on the hard right of the Republican caucus chose to make McCarthy the first speaker ever removed by his own party.

On Tuesday night, speaking to the Fox News host Sean Hannity, Jordan repeatedly declined to confirm his interest in becoming speaker.

“We got to come to a decision as a conference,” Jordan said, adding: “I’m gonna leave that to the conference. Of course, I’ve talked to colleagues or colleagues have come to me and talked to me about that. But this is a decision for the conference.”

A source familiar with Jordan’s thinking, however, confirmed that he was considering mounting a run.

Updated

Trump accolyte and judiciary chair Jim Jordan says he's running for speaker - report

Jim Jordan, a prominent defender of Donald Trump and current chair of the judiciary committee, confirmed he will run for speaker of the House, Axios reports:

Representing Ohio, Jordan was among Trump’s most outspoken allies in the Capitol during his presidency. Since the GOP assumed the House majority at the start of the year, he has used the judiciary committee as an investigative tool against the Biden administration, and it was one of the three panels Kevin McCarthy selected to begin the impeachment inquiry into the president.

Updated

Vengeful Republicans boot high-ranking Democrats from Capitol offices

The GOP is absolutely furious with House Democrats, after the party yesterday voted unanimously to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House.

With only eight rightwing Republicans supporting his ejection, their votes were crucial to the effort’s success. Democrats argued that voting against McCarthy was both an expression of their deep dislike for a speaker who had allied himself with Donald Trump, among other sins, and also standard practice. McCarthy had not asked for their help to keep his seat, and the minority party in the House typically does not vote for the majority’s choice for speaker.

But Republicans aren’t buying it, and Patrick McHenry, the acting speaker who is now leading the House until they find a permanent replacement, is striking back where he can.

As the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports, he yesterday ordered the former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi out of the office in the Capitol building she had been allowed to use after stepping down at the end of last year:

The former House speaker Nancy Pelosi lamented a “sharp departure from tradition”, after the Republican Patrick McHenry ejected her from her office while she was away for the funeral of a friend.

“With all of the important decisions that the new Republican leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new speaker pro tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol,” Pelosi said in a statement on Tuesday night.

“Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time.”

Feinstein, the longest-serving female senator, died last week at 90. At 83 and with two stints as House speaker behind her, from 2007 to 2011 and 2019 to 2023, Pelosi has attained similar stature on Capitol Hill.

Speakers traditionally give their predecessors access to “hideaway” offices near the House floor after they step down.

Today, Punchbowl News reports McHenry has ordered Steny Hoyer, the former Democratic No 2 in the House, out of his Capitol office:

Updated

On an emergency episode of Politics Weekly America, the Guardian US Washington bureau chief, David Smith, joins Jonathan Freedland to discuss the fallout from this unprecedented event, and the various possibilities for McCarthy’s replacement.

Give it a listen here:

Updated

Meanwhile, in the Capitol, CNN spotted maintenance workers converging to remove Kevin McCarthy’s name from the speaker’s office:

Only for them to mysteriously withdraw, leaving the sign untouched:

What just happened in the House of Representatives? A recap

Far-right House Republicans opened a political Pandora’s box yesterday, when they orchestrated Kevin McCarthy’s removal from the speaker’s chair. A massive political vacuum now yawns in Congress’s lower chamber, and there’s no telling how it will be filled, or with whom.

There are a few things we do know. Here’s the Guardian’s Jenna Amatulli with a recap of yesterday’s takeaways:

The US House of Representatives voted to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair on Tuesday, making McCarthy the first speaker of the House in US history to be removed from the job.

McCarthy, who had only been in the post for nine months, set the wheels in motion for his removal last weekend when he collaborated with Democrats in an effort to fund the government and avoid a shutdown. That move prompted the hard-right congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida to introduce a motion on Monday night to oust him.

Despite efforts from McCarthy and his allies to put a stop to Gaetz’s proposal, their motion failed in a vote by 208 to 218. A final vote was held on Tuesday afternoon and saw eight hard-right Republicans joining 208 Democrats to remove McCarthy from his post. The final vote was 216 to 210, in favor of McCarthy getting the boot.

Here are five takeaways from the tumultuous event:

Updated

House Republicans scramble to find new leader after McCarthy falls to far-right revolt

Good morning, US politics blog readers. What a day yesterday was. Kevin McCarthy became the first speaker of the House of Representatives ever removed from the position after a revolt by eight far-right Republicans, aided by Democrats embittered by his embrace of Donald Trump’s policies. The afternoon vote made history, and the saga isn’t over yet. With McCarthy gone and saying he will make no effort to return to the speaker’s chair, Republicans now have to find someone else to lead the party in Congress’s lower chamber.

This is not a question we expect to be answered today. Patrick McHenry, the congressman whom McCarthy arranged to take over for him on an acting basis, has reportedly said he will hold a candidate forum on Tuesday of next week, and then a speaker election on Wednesday. The coming days will be consumed with jostling among the candidates lined up for the position that is second in line to the presidency. But after yesterday’s acrimony, is there any Republican who can win the 218 votes needed to lead the House, or appease the far-right lawmakers who sank McCarthy’s career? Follow this blog as we search for the answer.

Here’s what else is going on today:

  • Joe Biden is continuing his quest to relieve student debt after the supreme court blocked his attempt to cancel some federal loans, by announcing $9bn in relief for 125,000 borrowers.

  • Trump addresses California Republicans at 3pm eastern time. He has spent the past two days in a New York City courtroom, where a judge has been weighing how much in damages he and his family will pay after they were found liable for fraudulently inflating the value of their assets.

  • White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 1.30pm, where she’ll undoubtedly be asked what Biden thinks of the fiasco in the House.

Updated

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