I find this both fascinating and comical. The first big collateral damage of McCarthy’s fall may be the bipartisan “problem solvers caucus”. This is the group organized by the No Labels folks. But it’s basically a centrist group with members from both parties. Axios reports that the Republicans are livid with their Democratic colleagues for letting Kevin McCarthy go down the tubes.
Continue reading “Amazing”Welp
That did not play out how I expected. No other way to put it. Kevin McCarthy was ousted and then within hours he self-ousted. He’s out. He won’t try to win back the gavel. (Someone in that position almost inevitably leaves Congress. But that’s a story for another day.) Now the race seems – at least for the moment – fairly wide open.
The whole drama is vaguely reminiscent of the day of chaos that launched the Speakership of Denny Hastert 25 years ago. People i’ve spoken to speak of confusion, chaos, uncertainty. All of that makes sense. The one thing that stands out to me is that the supposedly most hated guy in the caucus decided to throw down the gauntlet and he won. He made a decision and McCarthy is gone. It’s very hard for me to see how that doesn’t leave if not Gaetz himself then Gaetz’s crew much more powerful than they were. The next Speaker knows the price of crossing them.
McCarthy Loses Gavel In Far Right Mutiny
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Tuesday lost the job he endured 15 votes to secure back in January, as a faction of his own party forced his ouster.
Eight Republicans joined all the Democrats to oust the speaker.
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), a close McCarthy ally, will take over as Speaker Pro Tempore until another election is held.
After a very quick meeting late Tuesday evening, Republican members told reporters that McCarthy said he won’t run again, and that he didn’t name a successor.
After Clerical Error, 5th Circuit Still Gives Red States Bonus Win In Biden Social Media Case
A Fifth Circuit panel on Tuesday gave red states a win on barring additional government agencies from flagging misinformation to social media companies — a week after it accidentally published an order in error that arrived at a similar result.
Continue reading “After Clerical Error, 5th Circuit Still Gives Red States Bonus Win In Biden Social Media Case”Trial Judge Issues A Gag Order After Trump Launches Wild And False Attacks On His Court Clerk
On the second day of his civil trial in New York City, former President Trump and his campaign let loose a series of false and inflammatory attacks on Arthur Engoron, the judge presiding over the case, and his court clerk. The barrage went beyond even what we have previously seen from Trump, who has had a habit of making incendiary statements about prosecutors and others while being involved in multiple court cases.
Engoron responded with a gag order that specifically barred Trump from discussing the judge’s staff.
“Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting emailing or speaking publicly about any of my staff,” Engoron said, according to the Guardian. “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances.
Engoron further said a violation of the order would result in “serious sanctions.”
Trump’s wild series of attacks came as he and his lawyers were in Engoron’s courtroom. The former president is currently in the midst of four criminal prosecutions related to his efforts to stay in power, his handling of classified documents, and alleged hush money payments to cover up an affair. The former president’s comments have led federal prosecutors in the Jan. 6 case to seek a limited gag order due to what they have described as Trump’s “sustained campaign of prejudicial public statements” against witnesses and others involved in the trial. A judge is set to rule on that request later this month.
The civil case in New York, which was brought by state Attorney General Letitia James, is related to alleged fraud connected to Trump’s real estate company. Among other things, James has accused the former president of inflating the value of his assets to secure favorable terms on loans. Trump, who denies any wrongdoing, has repeatedly attacked James, accusing her of unspecified corruption and of being “a terrible person.” After the trial began on Monday, Trump briefly spoke to reporters outside the court and declared to reporters that someone “ought to go after this attorney general.”
James, Engoron, and the judge’s clerk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Along with leading to potential sanctions and setbacks in the courtroom, Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric creates a clear danger of threats against others involved in the cases. A slew of prosecutors and judges have faced threats from Trump and his followers amid the extensive legal drama that followed efforts from the former president and his allies to falsely question the results of his 2020 election loss. The dangers have led to stepped up security measures at some of Trump’s trials.
The barrage unleashed by Trump and his team on Tuesday included a social media post baselessly describing Engoron’s clerk as Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s “girlfriend.” Trump posted the claim, which mirrors a storyline that originated on a defunct conservative satire site, on his Truth Social platform along with a link to the clerk’s personal Instagram page, a move which increases the risk of targeted harassment. A spokesperson for Schumer did not respond to a request for comment. Trump appears to have deleted the post.
Along with Trump’s attack on the court clerk, his re-election campaign sent an email to their press list with a dossier that attempted to cast Judge Engoron as partisan, based in part on completely incorrect information. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment..
In New York, supreme and civil court judges are elected. As a result, they often receive endorsements from local political figures and clubs. The dossier sent out by the Trump campaign highlighted Engoron’s past donations to Democratic politicians and a message he sent expressing gratitude to local political clubs including Democratic organizations. In a stunningly poor example of opposition research gone wrong, the Trump campaign mistakenly characterized the list as showing “a list of Democrats including Barack Obama” receiving gratitude from Engoron. However, former President Barack Obama was not actually on the list. Instead, Engoron had thanked the “Barack Obama Democratic Club,” an organization based in Upper Manhattan.
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, a Democrat who founded the club, told TPM former President Obama has nothing to do with the group.
“In New York City it is very common for Democratic clubs to be named after former presidents, from Thomas Jefferson to JFK. I was proud to found the Barack Obama Democratic Club of Upper Manhattan in that tradition,” Levine said in a text message. “I’m not sure President Obama ever was even aware of the club’s existence. To imply that Obama himself endorsed Judge Arthur Engoron in a Manhattan judicial race in 2015 is laughably absurd.”
In a separate message, moments after he found out his club was the basis of an attack from the Trump campaign, Levine offered a raw reaction to the spectacle of a former president attacking a sitting judge.
“This is insane,” Levine said.
What’s Next
Kevin McCarthy lost the first procedural vote. It now seems almost certain that he’ll lose the real vote and be ousted from the Speakership. Then the House Clerk will reveal a letter in which McCarthy placed a list of names of people who could serve as Speaker pro tem if McCarthy could no longer serve. The first name on that list will almost certainly be a loyalist.
So we’ll have McCarthy ousted but almost certainly still determined to reclaim the chair. The temporary Speaker will be one of his loyalists. It’s unclear whether that new temporary Speaker will have to start holding elections for a new Speaker literally immediately or whether he has a bit of flexibility. That person will almost certainly make that choice in the interests of McCarthy regaining the Speakership.
Watching these speeches though you get a strong, strong sense that the overwhelming majority of Republicans not only don’t support this but are really pissed about it. I’m certainly not the audience for these speeches. But the Gaetz group’s speeches don’t seem terribly persuasive even in a Republican context – at least not to fellow members of Congress. The members speaking up for McCarthy span the whole ideological range of the caucus. Each speech basically amounts to “I wanted this cool thing but didn’t get it”. It’s Kevin McCarthy’s fault that he couldn’t get every Republican to support the Good/Bigg/Gaetz line.
Smart Point
Just a quick point while we’re in between votes on Kevin McCarthy’s speakership.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Congress expert Matt Glassman offered this very succinct explanation of the problem McCarthy has been saddled with since January:
Just like the speaker’s election in January, it doesn’t do any good to get a majority one time. … To run the House, you need an ongoing majority, day in and day out, in order to set the floor agenda.
That’s it. That’s the whole deal. By that way of thinking, McCarthy has arguably never had a real majority. We’re about to find it if he does now.
From California To D.C., Colleagues Mourn The Loss Of Sen. Diane Feinstein
Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA), a trailblazer and the longest serving woman in the Senate, passed away last night at her Washington, D.C. home, according to a statement her office released Friday morning. Feinstein was the Senate’s oldest serving member and was set to retire at the end of her term.
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The Latest (January Replay)
The latest news suggests that Kevin McCarthy simply does not have the votes to survive today’s challenge from Matt Gaetz. In other words, he’ll lose both the first procedural vote (pretty much a foregone conclusion) and the big vote that actually removes him as Speaker. So it looks highly likely that McCarthy will be out as Speaker today. But as we’ve said, that doesn’t end the story. They still have to elect a new Speaker.
Continue reading “The Latest (January Replay)”The (Like a) Dog Who Won’t Bark
A TPM Reader asked me last night how much of this is shaking out in the way it is because Donald Trump is distracted by his trials and thus not getting involved. My initial response was that it might be playing some role. But I figured the much bigger driver is the fact that unlike his own power, his own freedom and his own money, who runs the House Republican caucus just doesn’t affect him that much. What we know about Donald Trump is that if there’s nothing in it for him he basically doesn’t care. That’s got to be a big part of it. But as today has played out I wonder whether this may be having a bigger impact than I thought.
Continue reading “The (Like a) Dog Who Won’t Bark”