Closing summary
As Republicans scramble to find a new House speaker, Donald Trump is mulling visiting the Capitol to weigh in on what the party should do next. Meanwhile, Kevin McCarthy’s staffers are reportedly working to secure support for judiciary chair Jim Jordan to replace him. It’s unclear why, but it could have something to do with another report saying majority leader Steve Scalise began his campaign for the speakership before McCarthy had even been formally ousted.
Here’s what else happened today:
Environmentalists are outraged after the Biden administration began constructing new border fencing. Joe Biden says he doesn’t think it will be effective, but federal law required him to do so. Meanwhile, his administration reportedly will resume deportation flights to Venezuela, a major source of migrants.
Trump for speaker of the House? It could theoretically happen, and one Republican wants it to, but it would probably be a bad idea for the GOP.
A Georgia judge rejected former Trump attorney Sidney Powell’s attempt to get charges against her related to trying to overturn the state’s 2020 election result dismissed.
George Santos’s former campaign treasurer pleaded guilty to an unspecified felony. It’s unclear what his means for the congressman and admitted fabulist, who is under federal indictment.
Alabama will get a second majority Black congressional district, despite the best efforts of state Republicans. A Democrat will likely represent it, bolstering their margins in the House.
Sidney Powell, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, is facing criminal charges over her involvement in a scheme to breach election systems in a rural Georgia county. Her case is on course to continue after a judge today turned down an attempt to dismiss the charges.
Brian Rafferty, Powell’s attorney, argued in a 213 page motion filed last week that the case should be thrown out because prosecutors had presented misleading evidence to the grand jury that indicted Powell, and failed to turn over exculpatory evidence. The central thrust of Powell’s defense in the case is that she was not involved in the voting machine breach. Will Wooten, a prosecutor in the Fulton county district attorney’s office, strongly disputed those claims during a brief hearing on Thursday, saying they were “absurd and unsupported.”
Scott McAfee, the judge overseeing the case, said that he had not heard anything meriting dismissal ahead of a jury trial scheduled to begin later this month. “Just purely on procedural grounds, I don’t believe that this motion to dismiss for misconduct … I don’t see that as clearing just the procedural bar of being something under the court’s authority,” he said. “It’s the jury’s role to decide contested issues.”
McAfee also pressed Rafferty to give a concrete list of items he wanted prosecutors to ensure they wanted to turn over. Wooten said all relevant evidence had been turned over to Powell’s team, but agreed to have his office again review special grand jury transcripts and other materials to double check.
Powell, who was one of Trump’s key lawyers as he sought to overturn the 2020 election, faces seven criminal charges in Georgia, including racketeering, conspiracy to commit election fraud, conspiracy to commit computer theft, and conspiracy to commit computer trespass. She is alleged to have helped facilitate a scheme in which a team gained access to Coffee county’s election equipment and copied sensitive information.
Powell and Ken Chesebro, another Trump attorney who was the architect of the fake elector scheme, successfully severed their trial from Trump and the 17 other defendants, and will have the first trial of the group.
Biden administration to resume deportations to Venezuela amid pressure over migration - report
The Biden administration will restart deportations to Venezuela, as it faces rising pressure to curb surging migrant flows on the southern border, CBS News reports:
NEWS — The Biden administration is restarting direct deportations to Venezuela in an attempt to reduce the recent record arrivals of Venezuelan migrants along the southern border, four current and former U.S. officials tell @CBSNews.https://t.co/OPsbDoxdPX
— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) October 5, 2023
Deportations to the South American country have been paused for years due to Washington’s strained relations with Caracas, but CBS News reports Venezuelans who have entered the US illegally and lack a valid basis to stay will now be sent home.
Last month, the homeland security department extended temporary permission for about 472,000 Venezuelans to live and work in the US:
Georgia judge rejects ex-Trump attorney Powell's attempt to dismiss case - report
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a judge has rejected Sidney Powell’s attempt to dismiss the charges filed against her by district attorney Fani Willis related to trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election.
Powell acted as a lawyer for Donald Trump, during the period when he and his allies attempted to disrupt Joe Biden’s election victory in the swing state. She was indicted alongside the ex-president in August, and has pleaded not guilty to the charges:
Judge Scott McAfee rejects an attempt from Sidney Powell’s attorney to dismiss the Fulton charges against his client. “I don’t see that as clearing the procedural bar for something that’s under the court’s authority,” he says, noting it’s a trial jury’s role to decide.
— Tamar Hallerman (@TamarHallerman) October 5, 2023
And in a taste of what the trials for the 19 defendants Willis charged will be like, an attorney for Powell’s co-defendant Kenneth Chesebro said he has been told nearly 180 witnesses who could potentially be called:
Chesebro's attorney says he's received a witness list from the Fulton DA's office that's 174 (!) people long for the upcoming trial
— Tamar Hallerman (@TamarHallerman) October 5, 2023
Punchbowl News has obtained House Democratic whip Katherine Clark’s instructions to the party’s lawmakers ahead of the expected speakership election next week.
There’s not much surprising here, and her instructions underscore that Democrats will do what they did in January, when Kevin McCarthy was elected as House speaker after a painful 15 ballots: repeatedly vote for minority leader Hakeem Jeffries:
NEW -- EMAIL from @WhipKClark
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) October 5, 2023
"Each member of our Caucus must be physically present on the Floor for next week’s proceedings. Many of you have made tremendous sacrifices to continue to be in Washington, and these have not gone unnoticed. We understand that the uncertainty of… pic.twitter.com/5lBUWmqcFo
The big question thus remains: who will the GOP vote for?
Should Donald Trump become the next speaker of the House? At least one Republican thinks so.
Far-right fixture Marjorie Taylor Greene says she wants the ex-president and current frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination to take the chamber’s top post:
The only candidate for Speaker I am currently supporting is President Donald J. Trump.
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 4, 2023
He will end the war in Ukraine.
He will secure the border.
He will end the politically weaponized government.
He will make America energy independent again.
He will pass my bill to stop…
Legally, it’s possible – the House speaker does not have to be an elected member of the chamber.
But as Punchbowl News’s John Bresnahan – a veteran chronicler of Congress – observes, appointing Trump would … well, maybe you should just hear it from him:
/3 This Trump idea is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard.
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) October 5, 2023
Every R moderate has to stand up on the floor & vote for Trump by name. Or if they don’t, Trump comes after them back home.
Rs have to change conference rules to let him run cuz of his multiple felony indictments
/4 And then he’s gone in a couple months.
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) October 5, 2023
Seriously, R may already may end up in the minority next year. Probably will. This would guarantee it
It benefits no one but Trump.
Which is why he loves the idea, lol
/5 Also, this is Trump acting like he’s the nominee already. He probably will be, let’s face it. So this is smart for him. But it’s not good for the House GOP conference or the NRCC.
— John Bresnahan (@bresreports) October 5, 2023
The DCCC will love it though!
There’s no saying how a judge will rule on Donald Trump’s motion to dismiss the charges against him for trying to overturn the 2020 election, but the case has been slowly grinding towards trial. Here’s Hugo Lowell’s report from last week, when special counsel prosecutors asked the judge to issue a gag order against Trump:
Special counsel prosecutors reiterated Friday to the federal judge overseeing the 2020 election interference prosecution against Donald Trump the need to impose a limited gag order against the former president to curtail his ability to attack them and potentially intimidate trial witnesses.
The sharply worded, 22-page filing, submitted before a hearing scheduled for 16 October in federal district court in Washington, accused Trump of continuing to make prejudicial public statements even after they first made the request three weeks ago.
“He demands special treatment, asserting that because he is a political candidate, he should have free rein to publicly intimidate witnesses and malign the court, citizens of this district, and prosecutors. But in this case, Donald J Trump is a criminal defendant like any other,” prosecutors wrote.
The prosecutors said the need for a limited gag order had only increased in urgency since their initial request, filed under seal to the US district judge Tanya Chutkan on 5 September, as they cited several threatening statements from Trump that could affect their case and potential jurors.
In particular, the filing highlighted Trump’s posts on his Truth Social platform that attacked his former vice-president, Mike Pence, saying without evidence that he had “made up stories about me” and had gone over to the “dark side” after he testified to prosecutors about Trump’s conduct.
The filing also raised Trump’s post about Gen Mark Milley, the retiring chair of the joint chiefs of staff and another likely trial witness after he was cited in the indictment, that baselessly accused him of committing treason and suggested that he be executed.
“No other criminal defendant would be permitted to issue public statements insinuating that a known witness in his case should be executed,” the assistant special counsel Molly Gaston wrote. “This defendant should not be, either.”
Donald Trump files motion to dismiss 2020 election subversion case
Donald Trump has filed a new motion to dismiss the special counsel’s 2020 election subversion case.
NEW: Trump files motion to dismiss the Special Counsel’s 2020 election subversion case — argues Trump has absolute immunity for actions performed within “outer perimeter” of his official duties. https://t.co/oRzMLBKGAQ
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) October 5, 2023
In a new filing on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers argue that he has “absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions performed within the ‘outer perimeter’ of his official responsibility.”
The motion states:
“Breaking 234 years of precedent, the incumbent administration has charged President Trump for acts that lie not just within the ‘outer perimeter,’ but at the heart of his official responsibilities as President.
In doing so, the prosecution does not, and cannot, argue that President Trump’s efforts to ensure election integrity, and to advocate for the same, were outside the scope of his duties.
Instead, the prosecution falsely claimsthat President Trump’s motives were impure— that he purportedly “knew” that the widespread reports of fraud and election irregularities were untrue but sought to address them anyway.
The full motion can be found here.
Updated
Following federal judges setting a new congressional voting map in Alabama that could help Democrats achieve a majority in the US House next year, here is the Guardian’s Jewel Wicker and Sam Levine’s report on the story:
The map was chosen from three proposals presented by the court-appointed Special Master Richard Allen. The new map adds a second congressional district to the state, allowing Black voters to choose their preferred candidate.
Following the 2020 census, Republican lawmakers had enacted a congressional map that provided Black Alabamans with one majority district out of seven in the state.
The three-judge panel found it violated section two of the Voting Rights Act, which bans race-based discrimination in voting procedures, and ordered lawmakers to create a map where Black Alabamans made up the majority of voters in two districts.
For the full story, click here:
Far-right Republican representative and staunch Donald Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene has said that if Trump assumed the House’s vacant Speaker position, the “House chamber will be like a Trump rally everyday.”
She added, “It would be the House of MAGA!!!”
If Trump becomes Speaker of the House, the House chamber will be like a Trump rally everyday!!
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 5, 2023
It would be the House of MAGA!!!
Earlier this week, following the ouster of former House speaker Kevin McCarthy, Greene announced that the only candidate she will support is Trump.
“We can make him Speaker and then elect him President,” Greene tweeted.
Here is video of president Biden’s full comments on Thursday in which he explains reasons why the Texas border wall construction has started after his administration waived 26 federal laws to allow for the construction.
“The border wall money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate it, to redirect that money. They didn’t, they wouldn’t.
In the meantime, there’s nothing under the law other than they have to use the money for what it was appropriated for. I can’t stop that,” said Biden.
President Biden explains why border wall construction has begun in Texas citing this was already appropriated money for it. He also responded "no" to a question on whether border walls work. pic.twitter.com/W9m4Wr16Jf
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 5, 2023
Updated
The day so far
As Republicans scramble to find a new House speaker, Donald Trump is mulling visiting the Capitol to weigh in on what the party should do next. Meanwhile, Kevin McCarthy’s staffers are reportedly working to secure support for judiciary chair Jim Jordan to replace him. It’s unclear why, but it could have something to do with another report saying majority leader Steve Scalise began his campaign for the speakership before McCarthy had even been formally ousted.
Here’s what else has happened today so far:
Environmentalists are outraged after the Biden administration began constructing new border fencing. Joe Biden says he doesn’t think it will be effective, but federal law required him to do so.
George Santos’s former campaign treasurer pleaded guilty to an unspecified felony. It’s unclear what his means for the congressman and admitted fabulist, who is under federal indictment.
Alabama will get a second majority Black congressional district, despite the best efforts of state Republicans. A Democrat will likely represent it, bolstering their margins in the House.
Former Democratic presidential candidate and independent New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg said Democrats should have done more to stop Kevin McCarthy from being removed from office.
He characterizes McCarthy as a conservative who had at least some interest in actually governing, but is now set to be replaced with a hardliner who will be even more difficult to work with. Writing in the Washington Post, Bloomberg says:
McCarthy’s failure to reach out to Democrats was inexcusable, of course. But so too was Jeffries’ failure to extend an olive branch. Not only has it empowered the Republicans’ extreme right wing, but it also squandered an opportunity for Democrats to increase their influence.
Jeffries had a chance to use the crisis to push for a more bipartisan governing model in the House, one that would have given Democrats more involvement in crafting legislation and conducting oversight. It could have been a transformative moment for Congress and the country. But if any informal Democratic overture occurred, it was too little, too late.
It’s true that McCarthy gave no indication he would have had the good sense to accept a serious peace offering by Jeffries. But even if he had rejected it, Democrats could have shown voters that at least one party in Washington is serious about finding common ground. Their failure to make a peace offering falls heaviest on the party’s moderates, who speak of bipartisanship but, when push comes to shove, don’t practice it.
Now, with the House paralyzed, not only is Congress failing to do the people’s business, but aid to Ukraine has been indefinitely paused, helping Russia’s war effort and costing people their lives.
“There has to be an adult in the room,” McCarthy said over the weekend, after keeping the government from shutting down with the help of Democrats. He was right. Sadly, in the end, neither he nor Jeffries could do the adult thing, by reaching across the aisle to prevent Congress from sinking even deeper into dysfunction.
Biden says border wall won't work, but law required construction
Joe Biden explained that his administration was moving forward with building a wall on the US border with Mexico because federal law required it – even though he does not believe it will work.
Here are comments he made to the press from the Oval Office:
President Biden defends moving to build border barriers in a portion of the Rio Grande Valley, saying funding was already appropriated and he “can't stop that” despite asking Congress to redirect the money.
— The Recount (@therecount) October 5, 2023
Asked if he thinks the border wall works, Biden says “No.” pic.twitter.com/U9dRRl4Lbk
Environmental advocates are furious with Biden for waiving federal laws in order to move forward with the construction, even though his own administration said in its early days in office that such a barrier would not be effective. Here’s the latest on this story:
For a sense of how the GOP is trying to spin this week’s theatrics in the House, take a look at this tweet from the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is tasked with winning seats in the chamber:
Extreme House Democrats are the Chaos Caucus. pic.twitter.com/SDtxWqdKg3
— NRCC (@NRCC) October 5, 2023
All the Democrats you see there represent swing or red districts, and many won re-election only narrowly last year, when Joe Biden’s allies overperformed expectations thanks to factors like the downfall of Roe v Wade and successful warnings about GOP extremism.
The Democratic caucus was unanimous in voting to oust Kevin McCarthy, arguing that they were merely keeping with the common practice of the minority party in the House refusing to support the majority’s choice for speaker.
Trump considering visit to Capitol to meet with House Republicans ahead of speakership election
Donald Trump is considering meeting with House Republicans at the Capitol next week, a source familiar with the former president’s plans tells the Guardian, as his party works to elect a new speaker following Kevin McCarthy’s overthrow.
Trump is the frontrunner for the GOP’s presidential nomination, and has been endorsed by several House lawmakers. He has denied involvement in congressman Matt Gaetz’s successful effort to remove McCarthy from power, and both lawmakers call themselves Trump allies.
More hints of the dynamics of the speaker’s race within the House Republican Conference are emerging.
The latest report is from the Messenger, which, citing unnamed sources, reports that Steve Scalise began campaigning to replace Kevin McCarthy even before he had been officially ousted.
Scalise, the majority leader, is one of two major candidates who have declared their candidacy, along with judiciary chair Jim Jordan. Both are staunch conservatives, and the Messenger’s report may explain why McCarthy’s aides are reportedly encouraging lawmakers to support Jordan:
Kevin McCarthy had just been ousted as speaker of the House. Republicans — and the entire Congress — were stunned. Yet McCarthy’s deputy, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., wasted no time, as he quietly launched a bid to become the next speaker, multiple sources tell The Messenger.
Four Republican sources say Scalise started his campaign for speaker on Tuesday evening, moments after the House approved a far-right motion to vacate McCarthy from the speakership, before any other member had formally declared a candidacy.
One House Republican who was lobbied by Scalise early Wednesday morning said the Louisiana Republican’s outreach was “was too early.”
“The body wasn’t even cold,” the lawmaker, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the speaker’s race, told The Messenger. “It was bullsh--.”
The race to replace McCarthy has just two declared candidates so far: Scalise, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee. There is also Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., who has fielded support from members but has not yet formally announced a bid.
Another thing that could prove pivotal to determining control of the House next year: the revolt that ousted Kevin McCarthy from office.
His ouster was unprecedented, and the GOP is still digesting its implications for their broader campaign to hold onto the House, and regain the senate and White House next year. One lawmaker, Ohio’s Max Miller, told CNN it set the party back:
Rep. Max Miller fears GOP chaos could cost them House — and said he told that to Trump this week. “He’s incredibly upset.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 5, 2023
Accuses Matt Gaetz of using the “MAGA cloak” to make it seem like Trump backs him.
“That's why he's so good at what he does is because he's a BS artist” pic.twitter.com/Bss7KEPpvg
Speaking of the House, the Cook Political Report just got its hand on Alabama’s new congressional map and, as expected, Democrats appear set to win a new seat in the state:
NEW: a federal court just selected Alabama's new congressional map, featuring an additional Black majority district. Under the remedial plan, #AL02 swings from Trump +29 to Biden +12, virtually assuring a Dem pickup. pic.twitter.com/9sXRVGwELB
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) October 5, 2023
The redrawn map came after the supreme court struck down an earlier version that included only one majority Black district, in what the justices determined was a violation of the Voting Rights Act.
The state’s Republican lawmakers tried to get around that by enacting a new map that didn’t follow the court’s decision, leading them to again order Alabama to draw new maps. With Republicans controlling the House by only four seats, the decision could prove pivotal to Democrats’ quest to retake the majority in next year’s elections.
Former George Santos campaign treasurer pleads guilty to felony
An ex-campaign treasurer for George Santos, the Republican congressman who admitted to lying about large portions of his resume and is currently facing federal fraud charges, will plead guilty to an unspecific felony, prosecutors have announced, according to the Associated Press.
It is currently unknown to what charge Nancy Marks is admitting guilt, the AP reports. A veteran of Long Island politics, Marks worked with Santos on his two congressional runs.
In May, federal prosecutors indicted Santos on 13 charges, including fraud and money laundering. Democrats have called on him to resign, and Santos is currently being investigated by the House ethics committee.
Jim Jordan appeared on Fox News earlier today to make his pitch for why he would be a good speaker.
Here’s what he had to say:
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on his candidacy for Speaker of the House in a Fox exclusive:
— The Recount (@therecount) October 5, 2023
“You need someone who can unite the conference … We have to have someone that can bring our team together. I think I’m best equipped to do that.” pic.twitter.com/ZVofF8glaI
Back at the Capitol, Semafor reports that staffers for Kevin McCarthy have been making calls to support Jim Jordan’s bid to replace him as speaker.
Jordan is the chair of the judiciary committee a former leader of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, and among the most prominent of the lawmakers who boosted their profile by strenuously defending Donald Trump. The Ohio lawmaker is considered the strongest competitor to Steve Scalise, the House majority leader who is also vying to take over for McCarthy.
Following his ouster from the speaker’s chair on Tuesday, McCarthy did not endorse a successor, and Semafor reports it’s unclear if his staffers are making calls to support Jordan at his orders.
Trump asks for classified documents trial to be delayed till after 2024 election
The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports that Donald Trump has requested his trial on charges related to hiding classified government documents at Mar-a-Lago be delayed until after next year’s presidential election:
NEW: Trump asks for the Mar-a-Lago classified docs trial to be delayed until at least Nov 2024 — after the election — citing discovery complaints and the trial schedule for his lawyer Chris Kise. https://t.co/40Eiq6f527
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) October 5, 2023
The former president is facing more than three dozen federal charges relating to taking classified materials with him when he departed the White House, then frustrating investigators’ efforts to retrieve them from his south Florida resort.
Republicans’ demands have expanded from merely building a border wall. Some lawmakers and candidates, including Donald Trump, have recently publicly mulled invading Mexico, ostensibly to fight drug traffickers. As the Guardian’s Ramon Antonio Vargas reports, on progressive Democrats wants them to knock it off:
A progressive US congressman from Texas has asked his legislative colleagues to join him in condemning some American conservatives’ calls to invade Mexico – ostensibly to do battle with drug cartels there.
Joaquin Castro says he intends to file a resolution in the US House as soon as Friday reaffirming the federal government’s “commitment to respecting the sovereignty of Mexico and condemning calls for military action without Mexico’s consent and congressional authorization”.
The San Antonio Democrat and House foreign affairs committee member’s proposed measure – a copy of which was provided to the Guardian – comes after a high-profile episode in May saw US senator John Kennedy urge the US to send its military into Mexico to confront drug cartels.
In the process, Kennedy insulted Mexicans by saying they “would be eating cat food out of a can and living in a tent behind an Outback” steakhouse restaurant if it were not for their proximity to the US. The racist remarks earned the Louisiana Republican criticism from Mexico’s top government leaders as well as many of his compatriots.
Former president Donald Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy – who are all seeking the Republican party’s 2024 White House nomination – have similarly pledged to send US military forces into Mexico to wipe out drug lords if given the chance, as the Dallas Morning News reported.
The resolution from Castro, who’s served in the House since 2013, seeks to assert that the US and Mexico “have cooperated for several decades on a variety of issues such as trade, investment, counter-narcotics, migration, rule of law and security, including through recent high-level security and economic dialogues”.
Biden waives federal laws to approve border wall construction
The Biden administration has issued waivers to federal law in order to build border fencing in south Texas, the Associated Press reports.
Building a wall along the US frontier with Mexico was a priority of Donald Trump’s administration and remains so for many Republicans, but Joe Biden has opposed continuing the plan. His administration is however under pressure amid a surge in asylum seekers arriving at the southern border.
Here’s more on the wall construction, from the AP:
The Joe Biden White House announced it waived 26 federal laws in south Texas to allow border wall construction on Wednesday, marking the administration’s first use of a sweeping executive power employed often during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Homeland security department officials posted the announcement on the US federal registry with few details outlining the construction in Starr county, Texas, which is part of a busy border patrol sector seeing “high illegal entry”. According to government data, about 245,000 illegal entries have been recorded so far this fiscal year in the Rio Grande Valley sector, which contains 21 counties.
“There is presently an acute and immediate need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States in order to prevent unlawful entries into the United States in the project areas,” the homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, stated in the notice.
The Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act and Endangered Species Act were some of the federal laws waived by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to make way for construction that will use funds from a congressional appropriation in 2019 for border wall construction. The waivers avoid time-consuming reviews and lawsuits challenging violation of environmental laws.
Starr county’s hilly ranchlands, sitting between Zapata and McAllen, Texas, is home to about 65,000 residents sparsely populating roughly 1,200 sq miles (3,108 sq km) that form part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Although no maps were provided in the announcement, federal customs and border protection officials announced the project in June and began gathering public comments in August when they shared a map of the additional construction that can add up to 20 miles (32km) to the existing border barrier system in the area. The Starr county judge Eloy Vera said it will start south of the Falcon Dam and go past Salineño, Texas.
“The other concern that we have is that area is highly erosive. There’s a lot of arroyos,” the county judge said, pointing out the creeks cutting through the ranchland and leading into the river.
From the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly and Joan E Greve, here’s a look at two of the frontrunners who have emerged to replace Kevin McCarthy – both conservatives, but know for taking different approaches to governing:
Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana announced Wednesday they would seek 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.
Jordan is chair of the powerful judiciary committee, while Scalise is the majority leader. Both had been named as potential successors to McCarthy, and they confirmed their intentions to run for the top House job a day after the speakership was declared vacant.
Pitching his candidacy in a “Dear Colleague” letter, Jordan pledged to unify his fractious conference, which has repeatedly stumbled under the weight of a razor-thin majority.
“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,” Jordan said. “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.”
But Scalise argued he had the experience needed to unite the conference, after serving as part of the House Republican leadership team for the past decade.
“I have a proven track record of bringing together the diverse array of viewpoints within our Conference to build consensus where others thought it impossible,” Scalise said in his own “Dear Colleague” letter. “We have an extremely talented Conference, and we all need to come together and pull in the same direction to get the country back on the right track.”
Few expect House to have new speaker by Wednesday - reports
In theory, the House will be back to normal by next Wednesday, when lawmakers will vote on a new speaker.
In practice, few in the chamber believe the infighting that led to Kevin McCarthy’s overthrow will be resolved by then. Reports concluding this have been trickling out over the past day, and, this morning Axios revealed some of the dynamics behind this dysfunction.
“There are way too many potential blowup points for this leadership vacuum to be easily resolved, thanks to a rump caucus of Republicans who proved they’ll break with the overwhelming majority of their colleagues,” they write.
Conservatives are unlikely to vote for any candidate that would give more aid to Ukraine, while moderates want whoever is the new speaker to make it more difficult to remove the chamber’s head. And then there’s the fact that, with 435 members, there are plenty of people in the House who just don’t like each other.
We’ll get a sense of these dynamics over the days to come, and especially on Tuesday, when a candidate’s forum for those seeking the speaker’s post will be held.
McCarthy's ouster imperils Ukraine aid, threatens government shutdown
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Not 48 hours after the House of Representatives was paralyzed by a far-right revolt that ousted Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair, the broader implications are becoming clear. Leaderless, the chamber is in disarray, but lawmakers nonetheless have crucial work to do. One of McCarthy’s last acts was passing a deal to prevent a government shutdown that would have begun this last Sunday, but the bill funds the government only till 17 November. That is more than a month away, but Congress is riven with divisions over government spending, and the House’s present dysfunction robs lawmakers of time to address them.
Then there’s the prospects for continued American aid to Ukraine. That, too, must be approved by Congress, and while senators of both parties appear open to continuing to help Kyiv, House conservatives are opposed, with speaker candidate Jim Jordan saying he will not bring further aide to the floor, if elected. Joe Biden, meanwhile, said yesterday he is exploring other ways to assist Ukraine, and will make a major speech on it soon. We’ll be following these stories today.
Here’s what else is going on:
Biden will at 12pm eastern time receive a briefing on Ukraine from his national security team, which could perhaps lead him to reveal more details about his plan to continue aid.
Should Republicans continue holding debates, even though presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is not attending? Some party officials think the answer should be no, Politico reports.
Kamala Harris and a host of other politicians will be in San Francisco for senator Dianne Feinstein’s funeral. Harris delivers remarks at 4pm eastern time.
