Antonia Hylton, investigative reporter for NBC News and co-host of the new podcast Grapevine, reports on the infiltration of far-right Christian ideology into classrooms in Texas and across America.
How deep are these red states willing to go in the authoritarian fascist rabbit hole? They are fast rushing into single party only allowed rule. They seem to hate democracy, free press, transparency, and government responsibility. They do not want to represent the people but to rule them. The scarcest part to me is anyone investigated can’t say anything, can not complain about constitutional violations. Yes they put it that way, they plan to violate the constitution and the target of their abuse can not even publican complain about it. You can not even get a lawyer or legal counsel if they come after you. WTF! Below is a quote from the article. Hugs
Any way you slice it, Gov Ops seems like a recipe for government overreach and abuse. If you find yourself under investigation by Gov Ops, you won’t be allowed to publicly discuss any alleged constitutional violations or misconduct by the investigators. All communications with committee personnel would be treated as “confidential.” Shockingly, you’d also be denied the right to seek legal counsel regarding your rights if Gov Ops were to search your property without a warrant, irrespective of whether it’s in a public or private space.
The euphemistically named “Gov Ops” is a civil liberties disaster waiting to happen.
Rotimi Adeoye
Republican state legislators In North Carolina are establishing a new investigative body that Democratic critics have aptly compared to a “secret police force.”
This new entity, formally known as the Joint Legislative Committee on Government Operations, or “Gov Ops” for short, will be chaired by Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R). It grants the state the authority to investigate various matters, including “possible instances of misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, mismanagement, waste, abuse, or illegal conduct.”
Gov Ops, a product of North Carolina’s most recent state budget, was established via a comprehensive bill passed in late September. Despite Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s refusal to sign the legislation, the Republican majority in the state legislature pushed it through just 10 days later, thanks to their veto-proof majority and the state’s laws restricting the governor’s ability to make line-item vetoes. Gov Ops is slated to take effect next week.
Any way you slice it, Gov Ops seems like a recipe for government overreach and abuse. If you find yourself under investigation by Gov Ops, you won’t be allowed to publicly discuss any alleged constitutional violations or misconduct by the investigators. All communications with committee personnel would be treated as “confidential.” Shockingly, you’d also be denied the right to seek legal counsel regarding your rights if Gov Ops were to search your property without a warrant, irrespective of whether it’s in a public or private space.
Nora Benavidez, a senior counsel with the nonprofit advocacy group Free Press, told The Daily Beast, “This is a question for the courts ultimately. But the powers granted to the Gov Ops appear to give them overreaching investigative authority, which invokes constitutionality questions.”
A critical aspect of Gov Ops development lies in the language within the statute itself. The key phrase, as highlighted by Republican state legislators, is the investigation of “possible instances of misfeasance.”
It’s unsettling that North Carolina’s Republican state legislators are poised to wield unchecked partisan authority, devoid of any form of accountability, to determine what qualifies as “possible instances of misfeasance.” This newfound investigative power threatens to have far-reaching repercussions on fundamental civil liberties, particularly those closely intertwined with the state legislature—such as voting rights and abortion.
Consider the 2020 election aftermath. Following the election’s conclusion, several North Carolina Republican lawmakers—mirroring Trump and other far-right figures nationwide—demanded access to voting machines, relying on dubious sources and unfounded claims of voter fraud.
Initially, North Carolina Republicans asserted that they would work with police to obtain warrants for such inspections. However, with the advent of Gov Ops, committee leaders could now allege “possible instances of misfeasance,” eliminating the need for a warrant and keeping the public in the dark.
With the 2024 election looming, Republicans in the state legislature will redraw voting maps after the new conservative majority on the state’s Supreme Court legalized partisan gerrymandering. (The Princeton Gerrymandering Project called North Carolina one of the most gerrymandered states in the country.)
The redistricting process in the state has been grueling; since 2011, six different versions of maps have been drawn. The process has been conducted mainly behind closed doors, and North Carolinians continue to express frustration over how they’ve been locked out of the process.
A provision of Gov Ops will likely permit lawmakers drawing the maps to bypass public records requests: “lawmakers responding to public records requests will have no obligation to share any drafts or materials that guided their redistricting decisions.”
Now, let’s look at abortion. During a legislative hearing, state Sen. Graig Meyer (D) asked lawmakers, in a hypothetical scenario, if Gov Ops could access personal health records (like ultrasounds) that are required by the state to receive abortion pills. Sen. Meyer found that Gov Ops, with its widespread ability to investigate with zero oversight, could release information like this “to the public in a hearing” if it wanted to.
Benavidez explained, “At the end of the day, Gov Ops actions and requests for information are all protected as confidential, adding a layer of opacity which means people in North Carolina will have largely no idea what the Gov Ops entity is really doing.”
The consolidation of power by Republicans in North Carolina through Gov Ops is not just a cause for concern; it is a stark warning sign. The ability of state legislators to wield unchecked authority—shielded from the scrutiny of the voters they are obliged to serve—strikes at the heart of democratic principles.
Transparency and accountability are not optional in a democracy; they are its lifeblood.
When the process of drawing voting maps becomes cloaked in secrecy, when mechanisms to hold our elected officials accountable are dismantled, we risk losing our most cherished rights to our legislators, who should be our staunchest defenders.
Government powers like Gov Ops can potentially erode the very foundations of our democracy—which can’t work if politicians refuse to work for the people and have any accountability.
It is terrifying how self entitled these maga white Christians are. They only accord rights and freedom to themselves, and deny them to everyone else. They see the world where ignorance and selfish denial of anything they do not agree with as the way it should be. They believe everyone must live as they live, do as they do, and no one has a right to a difference of opinion or a different lifestyle. They are the US republican Christian Taliban. Hugs
A group has been impersonating government officials, harassing New York residents at their homes and falsely accusing them of breaking the law, state officials have warned.
But what sounds like a scam aimed at people’s pocketbooks is actually part of a shakedown with a much different target: voters.
State prosecutors have sent a cease-and-desist order to a group called New York Citizens Audit demanding that it halt any “unlawful voter deception” and “intimidation efforts.”
It’s the type of tactic that concerns many state election officials across the country as conservative groups, some with ties to allies of former President Donald Trump and motivated by false claims of widespread fraud in 2020, push to access and sometimes publish state voter registration rolls, which list names, home addresses and in some cases party registration. One goal is to create free online databases for groups and individuals who want to take it upon themselves to try to find potential fraud.
The lists could find their way into the hands of malicious actors and individual efforts to inspect the rolls could disenfranchise voters through intimidation or canceled registrations, state election officials and privacy advocates warned. They worry that local election offices may be flooded with challenges to voter registration listings as those agencies prepare for the 2024 elections.
John Davisson, director of litigation at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the concern reflects the competing interests over voter data – a need to protect voter rolls from cybersecurity attacks against the desire to make them accessible so elections are transparent.
“It’s not surprising that this is a battleground right now,” he said.
Baseless claims of widespread voter fraud are part of what’s driving the efforts to obtain the rolls, leading to lawsuits over whether to hand over the data in several states, including Maine, New Mexico and Pennsylvania.
In New York, a warning from the state elections board preceded the cease-and-desist letter from the state attorney general’s office. Voters in 13 counties had been approached at their homes in recent weeks in an apparently coordinated effort by people impersonating election officials, in some cases wielding phony IDs, the board said. Residents were confronted about their voter registration status and accused of misconduct.
In one instance, people wearing identification badges accused a woman at her Glens Falls home of committing a crime by apparently being registered to vote in two counties, said Warren County spokesman Don Lehman. But the woman had already filed to change her registration and canvassers were apparently using out-of-date information, he said.
“She was quite shaken by the whole thing,” Lehman said. “She did nothing nefarious at all. Either these people don’t understand that or understand how the process works, but it seems like they were quite accusatory.”
State prosecutors found no evidence that any of the those contacted had committed voter fraud or any other type of crime, they said in their warning letter.
NY Citizens Audit emailed a statement that dismissed as “absurd” concerns that its canvassers might have impersonated an official or harassed anyone. Instead, the group urged election officials to investigate “each of these millions of suspected illegal registrations.”
“We train our people to do legal canvassing, and if ever verified, voter intimidation would be completely unacceptable and against our policy,” NY Citizens Audit Director Kim Hermance said in the statement.
One of the most ambitious groups, the Voter Reference Foundation, was founded after the 2020 presidential election by Republican Doug Truax of Illinois with a goal of posting online lists from every state. The VoteRef.com database so far includes information from 32 states and the District of Columbia and is run by Gina Swoboda, a former organizer of Trump’s 2020 campaign in Arizona.
A federal trial is scheduled to start later this month over the group’s fight to access and use New Mexico’s voter registration list.
The group also sued Pennsylvania, which refused to hand over the information and said that publishing it would put every registered voter at greater risk of identity theft or misuse of their information, said the state’s Office of Open Records.
Truax declined to speak to The Associated Press, but has said in a statement on the Pennsylvania case that, “We have a crisis of confidence in America when it comes to election results, and the answer is more transparency, not less.”
The head of elections in New Mexico, Democratic Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, fears many voters might withdraw from registration lists as personal data is posted online. Her office cites email inquiries about how to cancel voter registrations during a short-lived canvassing effort by election activists last year in southern New Mexico.
“Voters can and should expect a reasonable amount of privacy,” said Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat. “What Voter Reference is doing is saying, ‘If you have doubts about the election and who is registered to vote and who is voting, here is every voter’s information. Go out and figure it out for yourself whether these people are real.’”
The Voter Reference Foundation argues that federal law is on its side, citing public disclosure provisions of the National Voter Registration Act that require states to make a “reasonable” effort to keep the registration lists free of people who died or moved away. The foundation also invokes free speech and due-process rights.
Nearly every state prohibits the use or transfer of the lists for commercial purposes, while several confine access to political candidates, parties for campaign purposes and some government activities.
In March, New Mexico banned the transfer or publication of voter data online, with felony penalties and possible fines of $100 per voter.
Virginia data was removed from VoteRef.com after Republicans and Democrats united last year to ban online publication of registrations.
In Maine, an ongoing legal dispute over privacy and the use of voter lists is pitting state election regulators against a conservative-backed group that has been highlighting and litigating what it says are shortcomings in election systems for a decade. It has assembled voter rolls from multiple states.
The state historically provided voter registration lists to candidates and political parties before being sued in 2019 for failing to provide its voter list to the Public Interest Legal Foundation. In 2021, Maine’s governor signed a bill allowing the voter registration lists to be turned over to additional organizations, but with a stipulation that no voter names could be published in a way that compromises privacy.
The restrictions interfere with comparing lists across states, said the group’s president, J. Christian Adams, whose case against the state is scheduled for legal arguments Thursday at a Boston federal appeals court. Adams, a Republican, served on a commission Trump convened after his 2016 win to investigate voter fraud. The commission was disbanded without any finding of widespread fraud.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, said residents sharing details about voters, including addresses, is a bad idea.
“In an era of conspiracies and lies about our elections, integrity of voter information is hugely important,” she said. “We want to make sure that no voters are targeted or harassed or threatened because of their decision to register and cast a ballot.”
___
This story has been updated to correct the name of a law firm. It is the Public Interest Legal Foundation, not the Public Interest Law Foundation.
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Associated Press writers David Sharp in Portland, Maine, and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, also contributed to this report.
Franklin, Tennessee Alderman Gabrielle Hanson (Image from Hanson for Mayor campaign video)
Members of the white supremacist Tennessee Active Club provided security for Gabrielle Hanson, a Moms for Liberty-backed alderman in Franklin, Tennessee, and current candidate for mayor, at a recent candidate forum, according to local reporter Phil Williams of News Channel 5.
The Tennessee Active Club is one of the “prominent cells” in a rapidly growing network of groups that promote violent white supremacist ideology and provide training in combat sports, according to a recent report by The Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson. Like other far-right groups, Active Clubs “recruit with narratives of white victimhood” and see themselves as militias in training for future violent conflict.
Earlier this year, SPLC reported that the Tennessee Active Club has been training above the Lewis Country Store in Nashville, whose owner Brad Lewis responded to the report by declaring on Telegram, “I’m not a cuckservative, I’m an actual literal Nazi.” This week, Lewis told reporter Williams that he is a friend of Hanson’s and that the Active Club members were on hand at the forum because Hanson had received credible threats.
Alderman Hanson was cheered on by the Williamson County Moms for Liberty chapter this year when she led an unsuccessfuleffort to prevent the city’s annual Pride celebration from being held. Robin Steenland, head of Williamson County Moms for Liberty chapter, portrayed the campaign to stop Pride as a battle between good and evil, a struggle against a “social change agenda” that seeks the “destruction” of family, Christianity, and America itself. The county M4L chapter has also complained about curricular materials that teach students about the civil rights movement and seahorses.
M4L chapter president Steenland is also founder and chair of Williamson Families PAC, which claims to support candidates “that reflect our family values and demonstrate integrity, wisdom, and service to the community.” Whatever the PAC means by family values or integrity did not prevent it from endorsing Hanson, who has, to be generous, a checkered relationship with telling the truth.
A few weeks ago, Hanson was exposed for using women’s social media posts to falsely portray them as supporters of her campaign—and then repeatedly lying about it. News Channel 5 also caught her lying about her previous use of an alias. Hanson supporters tried to prevent from reporter Phil Williams from attending a Sept. 25 forum.
Back in April, Hanson claimed to have “full knowledge” from an inside source that a shooting at a Nashville Christian school involved a scandalous “love triangle,” and she stood by her claims even when she was called out for lying about the shooting. Her statements led to an ethics investigation, but the city’s ethics commission concluded that her comments were protected by the First Amendment and did not violate city ordinances.
The mayoral election will be held on Oct. 24; early voting begins Wednesday, Oct. 4.
Read the full article. Hanson recently appeared on JMG for her attempts to ban Franklin Pride, for being exposed for her history of arrests for facilitating prostitution, for using the photos of minority woman who don’t know her and claiming that they are her supporters, and for encouraging her husband to march in Chicago Pride wearing nothing but a Speedo.
At a candidate forum in Franklin, Tennessee, where members of the white supremacist group Tennessee Active Club are here, saying they are providing security for Gabrielle @HansonforMayor. 1/ pic.twitter.com/Yi6x7dDsey
I asked Ms. Hanson whether these are people with whom she should be associating as a candidate for Franklin mayor. She ignored the question. Then a couple of her supporters intervened. pic.twitter.com/G9cDsNifx3
Behind every man in a klan robe is a woman that washed and ironed it, fed and cleaned up after him, put up with his shitty sexual skills and raised his miserable spawn. It’s no wonder they are filled with nothing but hate, rage and christianity.
Just worried that what just happened to Josh Kruger in Philly could happen to another like him. Report on anti-LGBTQ+ violence, police violence and corruption, get shot in the chest seven times in your home.
This week, Lewis told reporter Williams that he is a friend of Hanson’s and that the Active Club members were on hand at the forum because Hanson had received credible threats. Hanson is afraid of protestors who might tell supporters the truth about her.
I’ve seen open Nazis since the 80s but mainstream politicians never associated with them this is a new thing. Its hardly a brain trust Tennesee has an economy less than half the size of major cities in the US.
Some news this morning: A pair of the supremacists and nazis who attended Tuesday's forum in support of Hanson went to Red Pony on Main Street that night and harrased a bartender. They proclaimed themselves as Nazis and started throwing Heil Hitler salutes.
It’s just idiots wanting ‘cred’ for bravely sacrificing for their belief in white supremacy, but without actually risking losing their jobs or being excluded from polite society if they were doxxed.
There’s another Dominionist racist loser. I didn’t know she was a prostitute (I actually don’t care if people are sex workers). Yet it’s rather hypocritical of her as the MAGAts will lap it up. Plus, she somehow will claim she’s being persecuted for being thought of poorly, just like Jesus and Trampy Trump.
Florida’s congressional Republicans are done with Matt Gaetz. They left the House chamber last night furious after Gaetz led seven other GOP members — and Democrats — to eject former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership post.
They called Gaetz divisive. Disrespectful. Selfish. No other Florida Republican voted to oust McCarthy. Florida’s GOP delegation see Gaetz as carrying out a personal vendetta, accusing him of an overzealous bid for attention and of trying to position himself to become the state’s future governor.
“Gaetz has very few friends in the conference,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez said. “Gaetz maybe has a couple of friends in the delegation. But I’m not one of them. He’s about clicks,” Gimenez said. “He’s about how many cameras he can get shoved in his face and he’s a historical figure because he caused for the first time in history and all that. I think he gets off on that.”
Notice, too, that they are criticizing Gaetz for doing the same stuff they praise from Trump…!??!
Florida’s GOP delegation see Gaetz as carrying out a personal vendetta, accusing him of an overzealous bid for attention and of trying to position himself to become the state’s future governor.
…Gaetz led seven other GOP members — and Democrats — to eject former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy
God, I hate sloppy reporting. Gaetz did not lead Democrats to do anything. Democrats voted to eject Kev because after they saved his ass on Saturday by supporting his bill to prevent the GOP shutdown, he blamed them for the shutdown in Sunday interviews.
In addition, it is the responsibility of the party in power to select their leader, speaker, whatever. Played more than a few years of sports ball (rugby). I never participated in the selection of the captain for the opposing team. SMH. McCarthy was not entitled to a vote from any democrats.
He had a very credible primary challenger in 2022: Mark Lombardo, a Marine combat veteran and former FedEx executive.
Lombardo was a self-identified conservative who called out Gaetz for basically being a sex-trafficking drama queen. Still, Gaetz got 70% in the primary. His constituents love that he’s as asshole.
“The people of Northwest Florida need a Congressman who will put them first,” Lombardo said in a released statement.
“Matt Gaetz is a professional politician who has dishonored his constituents with unnecessary drama, childish gimmicks, and is reportedly entangled in a federal investigation for sex-trafficking a 17-year-old girl to the Bahamas. Displaying the highest level of arrogance imaginable, he hired pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s attorneys and used the money from his hardworking America First donors to pay the bill. His actions are disgraceful and do not reflect or represent the conservative values of Northwest Florida.”
It is clear that Gaetz has ambitions for higher office. He has already hinted that he will run for Florida governor. So everything he is doing will set him up for that. But Florida Governor is term limited, so what then. Well historically governors have the best shot for president. Sometimes senators will win election, but it is rare. And I can not find in searches that representatives ever have. So Representatives have only two choices to advance, run for the Senate or run for governor. Gaetz has made his calculations and decision. tRump has already shown being a divisive disruption with extreme hate / bigotry positions was a way for republicans to get votes from the lowest of the lowlifes of the Republican Party. There are videos at the link I can not get to work on the post. Hugs.
They called him divisive and an attention-seeker.
Florida congressional Republicans called Rep. Matt Gaetz divisive and selfish. | Francis Chung/POLITICO
MIAMI — Florida’s congressional Republicans are done with Matt Gaetz.
They left the House chamber last night furious after Gaetz led seven other GOP members — and Democrats — to eject former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his leadership post.
They called Gaetz divisive. Disrespectful. Selfish. No other Florida Republican voted to oust McCarthy.
Florida’s GOP delegation see Gaetz as carrying out a personal vendetta, accusing him of an overzealous bid for attention and of trying to position himself to become the state’s future governor.
“Gaetz has very few friends in the conference,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez said. “Gaetz maybe has a couple of friends in the delegation. But I’m not one of them.”
As a sign of how unpopular Gaetz’ move to unseat McCarthy was, hours before yesterday’s vote, the GOP conference blocked microphones on the Republican side of the chamber, forcing Gaetz to debate from the Democratic side. But Gaetz was never known as a people-pleaser. The son of a prominent and wealthy former Florida Senate leader, Gaetz made headlines as a young Florida House member when he defended the state’s “stand your ground” law in 2013. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 2016 and, among other things, survived a federal sex trafficking probe.
McCarthy told his conference last night that he won’t be seeking the speakership again. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has become the interim speaker. Gaetz left that meeting toward the beginning while other Florida members exited it later with somber, defeated faces.
“You got to go one first down at a time,” Rep. Brian Mast said. “Matt Gaetz wasn’t happy with anything less than a Hail Mary 99 yard pass to the endzone.”
Members who are usually chatty had few words to say. Others looked visibly upset and appeared to be holding back tears.
Yet representatives from Florida said Gaetz probably won’t face expulsion from the chamber, even though some lawmakers on the Hill have already started talking about it.
They did, however, seethe over Gaetz fundraising off of removing McCarthy from his perch — many calling it “disgusting” and “inappropriate.” Only Rep. Cory Mills came to Gaetz’s defense, saying that he would need “monetary capital” to defend himself against “a lot of swampy people in D.C.”
Republicans further lamented that lawmakers weren’t closer to their goals of cutting the deficit and improving border security.
“It’s absolute horse s— that we’re jumping on a plane when our work isn’t done,” Rep. Kat Cammack said, referring to lawmakers returning to their home districts. The House will adjourn until Tuesday.
Rep. Michael Waltz, who is also eyeing a 2026 gubernatorial bid, said that he agreed with Gaetz’s frustrations but not his tactics. “At the end of the day, we’re doing this, we’re not passing appropriations bills,” he said. “We’re not dealing with the border. We’re not dealing with inflation.”
Gaetz remained defiant and described his colleagues’ criticisms as part of the “stages of grief.”
“It’s to the benefit of this country that we have a better speaker of the House than Kevin McCarthy,” he said. “Kevin McCarthy couldn’t keep his word.”
Christian Ziegler, chair of the Republican Party of Florida, perhaps summed it up best on X: “Some supported it and others opposed it, but no one can deny that FLORIDA — once again — is at the center of the political universe.”
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), after being removed as House speaker Tuesday, said that he won’t seek the position again. The vote to remove him was the first such action in congressional history. McCarthy’s ouster was sought by hard-right members of his own party. McCarthy was removed by a 216-210 vote, with eight Republicans joining all Democrats in favor of the removal. The move puts the House in uncharted territory as it searches for a leader.
The House will take no further votes this week. Republicans are expected to hold a speaker candidate forum Tuesday, according to sources familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
Following McCarthy’s ouster, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) was designated as speaker pro tempore. He presided over the chamber briefly before calling a recess to allow Republicans and Democrats to meet privately.
In one of his first moves as speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) ordered former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to “immediately” vacate her hideaway office in the Capitol by Wednesday.
While lawmakers who are not in leadership don’t usually have offices in the Capitol, Pelosi was allowed to keep one as former speaker.
In a statement, Pelosi said “this eviction is a sharp departure from tradition” and noted that, when she was speaker, she gave former speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) “a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
Pelosi said office space “doesn’t matter” to her, “but it seems to be important to them.”
“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,” Pelosi said. “Now that the new Republican Leadership has settled this important matter, let’s hope they get to work on what’s truly important for the American people.”
8:35 p.m. EDT Return to menu By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff Reporter covering national breaking news With no official candidates yet announced for speaker, some House members have begun to float their ideas.
That includes Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who wrote on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that he wanted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) for speaker.
8:34 p.m. EDT Return to menu By Mariana Alfaro Reporter on the breaking political news team In his remarks, McCarthy defended the House’s impeachment inquiry into President Biden, repeating many of the same allegations he and other Republicans have made before against the president.
“If you knew all of that, would you say, ‘Oh, I don’t have any more questions?’ Or would you at least, as a lawmaker. … Wouldn’t you at least say: ‘Okay, well, we’re going to have to go get some more documents?’” he told reporters.
The probe has so far shown no evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
8:22 p.m. EDT Return to menu By Colby Itkowitz Congress, campaigns, health policy, Pennsylvania politics Rep. Kevin McCarthy compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, saying that what is happening “looks a lot like the 1930s.” The ousted speaker, who agreed to a spending bill that did not include funding for Ukraine, warned that Hitler resented Germany’s defeat in World War I much like Putin resented that Russia “collapsed to the West” following the downfall of the Soviet Union.
8:15 p.m. EDT Constitutional expert: Acting speaker is not in presidential line of succession Return to menu By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.) was appointed speaker pro tempore Tuesday. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) A constitutional expert said it is likely that Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), now the speaker pro tempore, does not hold the title of speaker and, as a result, would likely not be in the presidential line of succession. It would instead probably go directly to Senate pro tempore, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
“The House is on untested ground,” said Sarah Binder, who studies congressional and legislative politics at the Brookings Institution.
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KEY UPDATE 7:56 p.m. EDT Return to menu By Mariana Alfaro Reporter on the breaking political news team It “was personal,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said of Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) move to remove him from the speakership.
“It had nothing to do about spending,” he said. “It all was about getting attention from [the media]. I mean, we’re getting email fundraisers from him.”
That, he said, “is not governing. That’s not becoming of a member of Congress.”
“And regardless of what you think, I’ve seen the texts,” McCarthy said. “It was all about his ethics.”
He appeared to be referring to the ethics investigation that Gaetz is under.
7:53 p.m. EDT Return to menu By Marianna Sotomayor and Kyle Melnick Republicans said privately before the motion-to-vacate vote that if Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) sought the speakership again, he would not get the necessary majority support to win unless he reached out to Democrats. That is no longer in question, as it’s expected whoever throws their hat in the ring will work to earn just GOP votes.
“If there’s a coalition government, I can assure you there’s enough of us that will slow down, logjam the House floor,” Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.) said. “This will only be a Republican vote. End of story.”
7:52 p.m. EDT Return to menu By Jacob Bogage Business reporter Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), asked whether he’ll stay in Congress, responded, “I’ll look at it.” The recently ousted speaker spoke to reporters after addressing his conference.
He later clarified his remarks to say he hasn’t thought about resigning from Congress.
7:51 p.m. EDT Return to menu By Marianna Sotomayor Congressional reporter covering the House of Representatives Former speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is bemoaning how the House as an institution is broken, remarks he has never made before but is making now that he’s out of his leadership role.
He just told a story that has never been relayed publicly of when he asked former speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for help on how to tweak the motion-to-vacate rule in January that led to his ousting. After years of hammering Pelosi and criticizing that she never treated him fairly as minority leader, it’s the first time he has ever truly discussed seeking her guidance.
By Marianna SotomayorCongressional reporter covering the House of Representatives
When Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced he would not seek the speakership, Republican members attending the conference meeting gasped. Several Republicans, including some who privately admitted they never really got along with McCarthy, said they greatly respected how McCarthy addressed the conference with a smile throughout his remarks.
Members in the room said many colleagues were crying as he spoke, men and women alike.
By Peter Montgomery | October 4, 2023 11:38 am
Franklin, Tennessee Alderman Gabrielle Hanson (Image from Hanson for Mayor campaign video)
Scottie's Playtime 