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      Matt Gaetz introduces motion to oust Kevin McCarthy as House speaker

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      Congressman Matt Gaetz, a hard-right Republican of Florida, introduced a motion to remove Kevin McCarthy as House speaker on Monday, expressing outrage over the Republican leader’s successful efforts to avoid a government shutdown this weekend.“I have enough Republicans where at this point next week, one of two things will happen: Kevin McCarthy won’t be the speaker of the House, or he’ll be the speaker of the House working at the pleasure of the Democrats,” Gaetz told reporters after he filed the motion. “I’m at peace with either result because the American people deserve to know who governs them.”McCarthy responded minutes later on social media: “Bring it on.”The announcement comes two days after the House passed a stopgap spending bill to extend government funding through 17 November, averting a shutdown that could have forced hundreds of thousands of federal workers to go without pay. Both the House and the Senate passed the bill, known as a continuing resolution, with overwhelming bipartisan majorities before Joe Biden signed the bill late on Saturday evening.But Gaetz had warned that he would move to oust McCarthy if the speaker collaborated with Democrats to keep the government open and he followed through with that threat on Monday evening. Now that Gaetz has introduced a motion to vacate the chair, House leadership will have to schedule a vote on the matter within two legislative days.Moments after his much-anticipated move on the House floor, Gaetz held an impromptu press conference in which he acknowledged that his effort might fail – at least on the first try.“I think that’s the likely outcome,” Gaetz said. But in leaving open the prospect of repeated moves to get McCarthy fired, Gaetz predicted that support could grow and the initial vote on evicting McCarthy would be “the floor and not the ceiling”.McCarthy’s allies are expected to deploy some procedural tactics to derail Gaetz’s motion, but if those efforts fail, it will take only a simple majority of voting members present to remove the speaker.Because of House Republicans’ narrow majority, McCarthy can only afford to lose five votes within his conference and still hold the speakership, assuming every House member participates in the vote. Despite that tricky math, McCarthy has struck a defiant tone in recent days, insisting he has the votes to keep his gavel.“I’ll survive,” McCarthy told CBS News on Sunday. “So be it. Bring it on. Let’s get over with it and let’s start governing.”Previewing his motion in a House floor speech on Monday afternoon, Gaetz accused McCarthy of cutting “a secret side deal” with Biden to provide additional funding to Ukraine, which has become a source of outrage among hard-right lawmakers. The stopgap spending measure passed by Congress did not include additional money for Ukraine, but Biden said on Saturday that he did “fully expect the speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine” and soon pass a supplemental funding bill to address that omission.“It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling President Biden ‘feeble’ while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy’s lunch money in every negotiation,” Gaetz said in his floor speech. “Members of the Republican party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they heard what the speaker had to share with us about his secret side deal with Joe Biden on Ukraine.”Speaking to reporters after the floor speech, Gaetz indicated he would keep pushing motions to vacate until McCarthy is removed.“It took Speaker McCarthy 15 votes to become the speaker, so until I get to 14 or 15, I don’t think I’m being any more dilatory than he was,” Gaetz said.It remains unclear how many Republicans will join Gaetz in pushing for McCarthy’s ouster, but at least one other hard-right lawmaker, Eli Crane of Arizona, has indicated he will support the motion.In the hours leading up to Gaetz’s announcement, however, House Republican leaders lined up in support of McCarthy.“We have a lot of work to do. Now is not the time for distractions,” Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, said on Monday. “I’m committed to continuing to work with [McCarthy] and our entire leadership team on reducing spending, securing our border, and fighting for hardworking Americans.”Asked who he would support as a replacement for McCarthy, Gaetz said: “I think very highly of Steve Scalise. I would vote for Steve Scalise” as well as many other Republicans.Scalise currently serves as House majority leader, the No 2 job in the chamber.McCarthy’s fate may come down to attendance numbers and House Democrats’ strategy. Absences could potentially lower the threshold of a simple majority needed for McCarthy to keep his gavel, as some House members will be looking to travel to California in the coming days for Senator Dianne Feinstein’s funeral. Feinstein will lie in state at San Francisco city hall on Wednesday before funeral services will be held on Thursday.Several House Democrats late on Monday said they would await direction from party leader Hakeem Jeffries.Jeffries has not said so far if his caucus would join rightwing Republicans to help topple McCarthy or if Democrats might support him in exchange for political or legislative favors.Some centrist Democrats have also indicated they would vote “present” on a motion to vacate, which would similarly lower the threshold of a simple majority. Asked on Monday whether he would strike a deal with Democrats to save his speakership, McCarthy offered a vague response about protecting the integrity of the House.“I think this is about the institution,” McCarthy said. “I think it’s too important.” More

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      Trump rails against fraud trial as it appears legal team did not submit request for jury – live

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      From 27m agoDonald Trump, speaking after leaving the courtroom during the first day of his fraud trial, accused New York attorney general Letitia James of being a “disgrace” who “should focus on all of the violent crime and murders going on” in the state rather than on him.The former president insisted he has done “nothing wrong” and that the lawsuit was part of an effort to interfere with the 2024 election, NBC reported.He also complained that his time spent at trial was keeping him off the campaign trail.
      I’ve been sitting in a courthouse all day long instead of being in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or a lot of other places I could be at. This is a horrible situation for our country.
      Congressman Jamaal Bowman attempted to distance himself from a memo released by his office that referred to some Republican extremists as Nazis.In a memo obtained by Politico, Bowman’s office suggested several talking points his Democratic colleagues could use to defend him amid a GOP push to punish the New York congressman after he set off a House fire alarm during Saturday’s spending vote.One suggested response from Bowman’s office to questions about the incident:
      I believe Congressman Bowman when he says this was an accident. Republicans need to instead focus their energy on the Nazi members of their party before anything else.
      Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, Bowman condemned the use of the word “Nazi”, calling it “inappropriate”.Donald Trump, speaking after leaving the courtroom during the first day of his fraud trial, accused New York attorney general Letitia James of being a “disgrace” who “should focus on all of the violent crime and murders going on” in the state rather than on him.The former president insisted he has done “nothing wrong” and that the lawsuit was part of an effort to interfere with the 2024 election, NBC reported.He also complained that his time spent at trial was keeping him off the campaign trail.
      I’ve been sitting in a courthouse all day long instead of being in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or a lot of other places I could be at. This is a horrible situation for our country.
      New York City public hospitals will now offer abortion care via telehealth, placing them among the first public health systems in the US to do so.The city’s mayor, Eric Adams, announced on Monday that abortion pill prescriptions would now be available by telephone or online, adding that such access can happen from “the comfort of your home”.As a result of the move, New York City residents will now be able to connect with health practitioners for those prescriptions, building on previous legislations to protect abortions rights in New York.“If you are clinically eligible, that provider will be able to prescribe abortion medication that would be delivered to your New York City address within days,” Adams said during Monday’s announcement.“We will not stand idly by as these attacks continue and the far-rights seeks to strip our citizens of their basic rights,” Adams added, referring to abortion restrictions being legislated across the country.Abortion rights organizations celebrated Monday’s announcement as an essential step to protect reproductive rights.The first day of Donald Trump’s fraud trial has concluded, with proceedings expected to resume tomorrow morning.Judge Arthur Engoron heard testimony from the first witness in the trial, Trump’s former longtime accountant Donald Bender.A federal judge has scheduled the trial of US senator Bob Menendez and his wife on bribery and corruption charges to begin 6 May 2024.The New Jersey Democratic senator has pleaded not guilty and resisted calls for his resignation after he was indicted on charges of taking bribes from three New Jersey businessmen.Under the indictment unsealed last month, Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, were accused of using his seat in the Senate, as chair of the foreign relations committee, to benefit the government of Egypt.Prosecutors described how the large sums of cash were found at Menendez’s New Jersey home, as well as actual gold bars. A Mercedes-Benz car is also at issue. Three businessmen have also been charged.Gavin Newsom, the California governor, has named Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and former labor leader, to fill the Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein, who died on Thursday.The appointment fulfills Newsom’s pledge to appoint a Black woman to the Senate, while shirking calls to name Barbara Lee, a Black Bay Area congresswoman who is already running for the position in 2024.Butler, 44, will be the only Black woman serving in the US senate, and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent California in the chamber. She currently leads Emily’s List, a national political organization dedicated to electing Democratic women who support reproductive rights. She has also served as a strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and was a former labor leader of SEIU California, the state’s largest union, representing more than 700,000 workers.Butler currently lives in Maryland, according to her Emily’s List biography, but she owns a house in California and will re-register to vote in the state before taking office, according to the Newsom administration. She could be sworn in as early as Tuesday evening when the Senate returns to session.Democrats control the Senate 51-49, though Feinstein’s seat is vacant. The quick appointment by Newsom will give the Democratic caucus more wiggle room on close votes, including nominations that Republicans uniformly oppose.At the opening of Donald Trump and his family’s civil fraud trial today, an attorney for New York state said the defendants gained more than $100m by inflating the value of their properties, Reuters reports.The gains came through lower insurance premiums and better loan conditions, and in his opening statement, Kevin Wallace, an attorney for New York attorney general Letitia James, said the former president was “materially inaccurate” when he would describe his business to insurers and lenders.“This isn’t business as usual, and this isn’t how sophisticated parties deal with each other,” Wallace said. “These are not victimless crimes.”However, Trump’s attorney Christopher Kise denied any wrongdoing.“It is one of the most highly successful brands in the world, and he has made a fortune literally being right about real estate investments,” Kise said in his opening statement. “There was no intent to defraud, there was no illegality, there was no default, there was no breach, there was no reliance from the banks, there were no unjust profits, and there were no victims.”Kise also said that Trump’s valuations of his properties were understood to be estimates, and that just because people disagree with them does not mean they are fraudulent.But as evidence for his case, Wallace played from a deposition with Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, where he said he was told “to attain the number that Mr. Trump wanted.”Note: We first reported the figure as $1bn, citing Reuters. We have since corrected the figure to $100m.Axios reports that congressman Jamaal Bowman’s office is encouraging his fellow Democrats to step up and defend him after he pulled a fire alarm on Saturday:Meanwhile, the Capitol police says they are investigating the incident, and released a statement recounting what happened. It reads, in part:
      At approximately 12:05 p.m. on Saturday, September 30, a fire alarm sounded inside the Cannon Building. USCP officers evacuated people from the building, floor by floor, while DC Fire & EMS responded. The fire alarm only sounded in the Cannon Building, so that was the only building that was evacuated.
      On security video, a man was seen trying to exit the door in the Cannon Building and then pulling the fire alarm that prompted the evacuation. USCP officers had previously placed signs with clear language that explained the door was secured and marked as an emergency exit only.
      At approximately 1:30 p.m. the DC Fire Marshal determined there was not a fire and the building was safe.
      The USCP will continue to keep the public updated on the status of the investigation.
      Some House Republicans have already made up their mind, and will try to expel Bowman, Axios reports. However, expelling a House member requires the approval of two-thirds of the chamber, and has not been done since 2002:As lawmakers scrambled over the weekend in their surprisingly successful effort to avert a government shutdown, the show was almost disrupted when Democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman pulled the fire alarm in a House office building. There have been some new developments in that episode, but before we get into it, here’s a recap of what happened, from the Guardian’s Maya Yang:The New York Democratic congressman Jamaal Bowman denied that he pulled a fire alarm in a Capitol office building to delay a vote on the stopgap measure that ultimately stopped a government shutdown.In a statement on Saturday evening, the New Yorker said he mistakenly thought the alarm, which prompted the Cannon House office building to be evacuated, would open a door.“Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today was not open. I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door,” said Bowman.“I regret this and sincerely apologize for any confusion this caused.”He dismissed accusations from Republicans that he pulled the alarm in an attempt to delay the vote.“I want to be very clear, this was not me, in any way, trying to delay any vote. It was the exact opposite – I was trying to urgently get a vote, which I ultimately did and joined my colleagues in a bipartisan effort to keep our government open,” he said.An update on Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial, which has resumed in New York City.As the Messenger reports, the first witness to take the stand in the damages phase of the trial is Trump’s former accountant:Trump and his three children were named by their attorneys as witnesses, but that does not necessarily mean they will speak to the court.Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial isn’t the only court news happening today. As the Guardian’s Ed Pilkington reports, the supreme court is starting a new term today, giving its conservative majority another opportunity to hand down decisions that could have major impacts on American life: The US supreme court will gather on Monday at the start of a new judicial term that has the potential to catastrophically disrupt the functioning of government, expand the assault on reproductive rights and unleash yet more gun violence on an already reeling America.When the nine justices convene on Monday morning it will mark the start of the third full term in which the 6-3 rightwing supermajority created by Donald Trump is in command. Explosive rulings delivered over the past two terms have demonstrated the conservatives’ newfound muscle, stripping millions of Americans of fundamental rights from abortion to affirmative action.Three significant cases before the court this term cut to the core of the functioning of the US government itself. According to the co-hosts of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, at stake is no less than “the future of government as we know it”.On Tuesday the court will hear oral arguments in a case that poses the greatest threat to consumer protections for decades. Stephen Vladeck, an authority on constitutional law at the University of Texas law school, said that although CFPB v CFSA is technical in its framing, it has the potential to “bring down much of the American financial system”.Donald Trump, speaking in front of cameras during the break, said he attended the civil fraud trial against him so he could “watch this witch-hunt myself”.He slammed the “disgraceful trial” put forward by the “corrupt” New York attorney general, Letitia James, accusing her of wasting time when there are “murderers and killers that are all over New York killing people”. He added:
      We’re going to be here for months with a judge that already made up his mind. It’s ridiculous. He’s a Democrat judge a and operative and it’s ridiculous.
      “Other than that, things went very well,” Trump added.The former president also attacked Manhattan supreme court judge Arthur Engoron, who he said should be disbarred for “interfering with an election”.The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, was asked about Matt Gaetz’s comments on the House floor accusing Speaker Kevin McCarthy of making a secret side deal on Ukraine aid with Joe Biden.Speaking to reporters, she replied:
      What we know is that there is bipartisan support for this deal. Speaker McCarthy was on the air multiple times yesterday saying that he wants to continue support for Ukraine, to get the weapons that they need. So we are going to hold him to that.
      As we reported earlier, Donald Trump’s civil fraud case is being tried without a jury reportedly because the former president’s attorneys seemingly did not pay too close of attention to their paperwork.“Nobody asked for” a jury trial, Judge Arthur Engoron noted during Monday’s trial. According to the Messenger:
      Earlier this year, New York Attorney Letitia James filed a form with a checkmark next to the field: “Trial without a jury.”
      Trump’s legal team didn’t file a corresponding form, and the former president may have regretted his lawyer’s inaction ever since.
      In brief remarks as he arrived at the courthouse, Donald Trump claimed his financial statements were “phenomenal”, even though a judge last week determined he and his family had committed fraud over the course of a decade.Here’s a clip:The damages phase of Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial opened in New York City, which the former president attended in person. Though he blasted the case as politically motivated and insisted that his financial statements were “phenomenal”, despite already being found liable for fraud, he and his children are facing severe financial consequences, and could lose control of properties such as Trump Tower. Meanwhile, in Washington DC, Republican insurgent leader Matt Gaetz held off on formally attempting to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. Gaetz demanded answers from his fellow Republican, accusing him of cutting a side deal with Joe Biden. We’ll see if he gets them.Here’s what else has happened today so far:
      Gaetz said he delayed formally introducing his motion to vacate because not enough lawmakers were in town yet.
      Trump’s legal team did not ask for a jury to determine damages in the ex-president’s civil fraud trial, meaning the decision will be left to judge Arthur Engoron.
      New York attorney general Letitia James said “no one is above the law” just before Trump’s fraud trial was about to get under way. More

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      Matt Gaetz accuses Kevin McCarthy of cutting ‘secret side deal’ with Biden

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      Congressman Matt Gaetz continued to attack Kevin McCarthy on Monday over the House Republican speaker’s successful efforts to avoid a government shutdown, even as other hard-right lawmakers came to McCarthy’s defense.Speaking on the House floor on Monday, Gaetz railed against McCarthy, accusing the speaker of cutting “a secret side deal” with Joe Biden to provide additional funding to Ukraine. The stopgap spending measure passed by Congress on Saturday, which extended government funding through November 17, did not include additional money for Ukraine, but members of both parties have called for a supplemental bill to address that omission. Biden said on Saturday that he did “fully expect the speaker will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine” and soon pass a supplemental funding bill.“It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling President Biden ‘feeble’ while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy’s lunch money in every negotiation,” Gaetz said in his floor speech. “It is becoming increasingly clear who the speaker of the House already works for, and it’s not the Republican conference.”Gaetz had vowed on Sunday that he would soon introduce a motion to remove McCarthy as speaker, but he declined to outline a specific timeline for that effort in his floor speech. Calling on McCarthy to reveal the details of his alleged “secret deal” with Biden, Gaetz suggested the motion could be introduced as early as Monday.“There may be other votes coming today or later this week that could be implicated by the answers to these questions,” Gaetz said. “Members of the Republican party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they heard what the speaker had to share with us about his secret side deal with Joe Biden on Ukraine. I’ll be listening. Stay tuned.”Speaking to reporters after the floor speech, Gaetz reiterated his plans to introduce a motion to vacate the chair at some point this week, and he indicated he would keep pushing the issue until McCarthy is removed.“It took Speaker McCarthy 15 votes to become the speaker, so until I get to 14 or 15, I don’t think I’m being any more dilatory than he was,” Gaetz said.Gaetz’s threats come after McCarthy was forced to rely on Democratic votes to advance the stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution. Gaetz had threatened that he would move to oust McCarthy if he collaborated with Democrats to keep the government open, and he now appears ready to make good on that threat.Any single House member can force a vote on vacating the chair, and the motion requires only a simple majority for approval. Because of House Republicans’ narrow majority, McCarthy can only afford to lose five votes within his conference and still hold the speakership, assuming every House member participates in the vote.Despite that tricky math, McCarthy has responded to Gaetz’s threats with defiance, insisting he has the votes to keep his gavel.“I’ll survive,” McCarthy told CBS News on Sunday. “So be it. Bring it on. Let’s get over with it and let’s start governing.”Some of McCarthy’s allies have rallied to his defense, accusing Gaetz of jeopardizing House Republicans’ majority and empowering the Democratic minority. In a floor speech delivered just before Gaetz stepped up to the podium, Congressman Tom McClintock, a Republican of California, noted that the removal of the speaker would grind the House to a halt.“The immediate effect will be to paralyze the House indefinitely because no other business can be taken up until a replacement is elected … I cannot conceive of a more counterproductive and self-destructive course than that,” McClintock said. “I implore my Republican colleagues to look past their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views and to make a wise decision when it’s needed most at this critical moment in the life of our country.”McCarthy has also received some support from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the hard-right Republican of Georgia who has become one of the speaker’s most surprising allies since his election in January.In a 20-post thread shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, Greene argued that Gaetz’s proposed motion to remove McCarthy as speaker “gives the upper hand to the Democrats”.“I agree with Matt Gaetz that things must change,” Greene said, “but I don’t agree that a motion to vacate will effectively create the changes needed to solve the intentional systemic failure that create the annual never ending [continuing resolutions] and Christmas omnibus mega spending packages.”Even as she rallied around McCarthy, Greene simultaneously admonished her Republicans colleagues who have reportedly discussed expelling Gaetz, who is at the center of an ongoing ethics committee investigation involving allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign finance violations.“A Republican-led effort to expel Matt Gaetz absolutely will not be tolerated by Republicans across the country,” Greene said. “I can guarantee you that.” More

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      North Dakota state senator, wife and two children die in Utah plane crash

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      A state senator from North Dakota, his wife and their two young children died when the small plane they were traveling in crashed in Utah, a senate leader said Monday.Doug Larsen’s death was confirmed on Monday in an email that the Republican state senate majority leader David Hogue sent to his fellow senators and was obtained by the Associated Press.The plane crashed on Sunday evening shortly after taking off from Canyonlands airfield about 15 miles (24km) north of Moab, according to a Grand county sheriff’s department statement posted on Facebook. The sheriff’s office said all four people on board the plane were killed.“Senator Doug Larsen, his wife Amy, and their two young children died in a plane crash last evening in Utah,” Hogue wrote in his email. “They were visiting family in Scottsdale and returning home. They stopped to refuel in Utah.“I’m not sure where the bereavement starts with such a tragedy, but I think it starts with prayers for the grandparents, surviving stepchild of Senator Larsen, and extended family of Doug and Amy. Hold your family close today.”The crash of the single-engine Piper plane was being investigated, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a post on X, the social media website formerly called Twitter.A phone message left with sheriff’s officials seeking additional information was not immediately returned on Monday.Larsen was a Republican first elected to the North Dakota senate in 2020. His district comprises Mandan, the city neighboring Bismarck to the west across the Missouri river. Larsen chaired a senate panel that handled industry and business legislation.He was also a lieutenant colonel in the North Dakota national guard. He and his wife, Amy, were business owners.Moab is a tourism-centered community of about 5,300 people near Arches and Canyonlands national parks. More

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      Trump defends financial statements despite fraud liability ruling – video

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      In brief remarks as he arrived at the courthouse, the former president claimed his financial statements were ‘phenomenal’, even though a judge last week determined he and his family had committed fraud over the course of a decade

      Trump attends his New York civil trial after being found liable for fraud – live
      Trump in New York court for fraud trial that threatens his business career More

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      in Elections

      Biden says ‘brinkmanship has to end’ after US shutdown avoided but Ukraine aid left out – video

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      US president Joe Biden said that aid to Ukraine must keep flowing after a deal to avert a government shutdown dropped assistance for Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion. The president lambasted Republicans for holding up government spending talks and assured Ukraine that US support and aid were unwavering. ‘We cannot under any circumstances allow American for Ukraine to be interrupted,’ Biden said More

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      Republicans attacking Bowman but backing Santos should ‘check values’, AOC says

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      Republicans calling for action against the New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman for triggering a fire alarm in a congressional office building as a vote loomed on a deal to avoid a government shutdown should “check their own values”, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, citing the lack of action against a GOP New Yorker, George Santos, after he was indicted for fraud.“They are protecting someone who has lied to the American people, lied to the United States House of Representatives, lied to congressional investigators,” Ocasio-Cortez, widely known as AOC, told CNN’s State of the Union.“But they’re filing a motion to expel a member who, in a moment of panic, was trying to escape a vestibule? Give me a break.”Santos won his seat last year but saw his resumé taken apart and his background extensively questioned before being indicted on charges of money laundering and fraud. In May, he pled not guilty. Republicans sidestepped an effort to expel him from Congress, saying legal processes should run their course.Like Ocasio-Cortez, Bowman is a prominent New York progressive. In a statement on Saturday, he denied trying to delay the process that stopped a government shutdown.He said: “As I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today was not open. I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door. I regret this and sincerely apologise for any confusion this caused.“I want to be very clear, this was not me, in any way, trying to delay any vote. It was the exact opposite – I was trying to urgently get a vote, which I ultimately did.”Kevin McCarthy, the speaker under pressure from his own party over the deal with Democrats, likened Bowman’s behaviour to that of Donald Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol on 6 January 2021, trying to overturn an election in a riot now linked to nine deaths.Nicole Malliotakis, a New York Republican, said she was drafting a resolution to expel.Authorities were investigating. In Washington, falsely activating a fire alarm is a misdemeanour.Ocasio-Cortez told CNN: “I think there’s something to be said about, the government’s about to shut down, there’s a vote clock that’s going down, the exits that are normally open in that building were suddenly closed … Jamaal Bowman … he’s fully participating in saying there was a misunderstanding.“But what I do think is important to raise is the fact that Republicans like Nicole Malliotakis and others immediately moved to file motions to censure, motions to expel before there has even been conversations … to even see if there was a misunderstanding here.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“… What they did not do was to commit to the same when George Santos was actually found guilty after a thorough investigation of 13 federal charges.”Santos has reportedly negotiated with federal prosecutors, suggesting a plea deal might be on the cards. He has not been found guilty.Ocasio-Cortez continued: “He’s indicted on everything from wire fraud to actual lying to House investigators. And [Republicans] have been buddying up and giggling with him on the House floor.”Bowman, she said, “admits he’s embarrassed … he apologised. And they are protecting someone who has not only committed wire fraud, not only defrauded veterans, not only lied to congressional investigators, but is openly gloating about it.“[It] is absolutely humiliating to the Republican caucus. And I think that they should really check their own values.” More

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      ‘Let’s have that fight’: McCarthy and Gaetz go to war over shutdown deal

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      Simmering hostility between Republicans over the bipartisan deal that averted a government shutdown descended into open political warfare on Sunday, a rightwing congressman saying he would move to oust Kevin McCarthy and the embattled House speaker insisting he would survive.“We need to rip off the Bandaid. We need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy,” the Florida representative Matt Gaetz told CNN’s State of the Union, saying he would file a “motion to vacate” in the next few days.McCarthy, Gaetz said, lied about “a secret deal” struck with Democrats to later pass money for Ukraine that was left out of the compromise agreement, and misled Republicans about working with the opposition at all.The bill keeping the government funded for 47 days passed the House on Saturday night 335-91, 209 Democrats joining 126 Republicans in support. It cleared the Senate 88-9 and was signed by Joe Biden.In remarks at the White House on Sunday, Biden said the measure extending funding until 17 November, and including $16bn in disaster aid, prevented “a needless crisis”.But, Biden said: “The truth is we shouldn’t be here in the first place. It’s time to end governing by crisis and keep your word when you give it in the Congress. I fully expect the speaker to keep his commitment to secure the passage of support needed to help Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression.”Asked if he expected McCarthy to stand up to extremists, Biden replied: “I hope this experience for the speaker has been one of personal revelation.”McCarthy hit back at Gaetz, branding him a showman “more interested in securing TV interviews” than keeping government functioning.“I’ll survive,” McCarthy told CBS’s Face the Nation. “You know, this is personal with Matt. He wanted to push us into a shutdown, even threatening his own district with all the military people there who would not be paid.“… So be it. Bring it on. Let’s get it over with it, and let’s start governing. If he’s upset because he tried to push us into shutdown and I made sure the government didn’t shut down, then let’s have that fight.”Gaetz said he would no longer hold to an agreement made in January to support McCarthy in exchange for concessions including a hard position on federal funding. That deal included a loosening of rules to allow a single member to file a motion to vacate, the beginning of the process to remove a speaker.“The only way Kevin McCarthy is speaker of the House at the end of this coming week is if Democrats bail him out, and they probably will,” said Gaetz.“I’m done owning Kevin McCarthy. We made a deal in January to allow him to assume the speakership and I’m not owning him any more because he doesn’t tell the truth. And so if Democrats want to own Kevin McCarthy by bailing him out I can’t stop them. But then he’ll be their speaker, not mine.”McCarthy would need 218 votes to keep his job. Some senior Democrats said they would not vote to save him and would back the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, instead.“Kevin McCarthy is very weak speaker,” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York told CNN, saying she would support Gaetz’s motion.McCarthy “has clearly has lost control of his caucus. He has brought the US and millions of Americans to the brink, waiting until the final hour to keep the government open and even then only issuing a 4[7]-day extension. We’re going to be right back in this place in November.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSpeaking to reporters on Saturday, Jeffries said the deal represented a “total surrender by rightwing extremists”.Republicans loyal to McCarthy also attacked Gaetz and the rightwing House Freedom Caucus for their “destructive” pledge to oust the speaker.“What I just heard was a diatribe of delusional thinking,” Mike Lawler of New York told ABC’s This Week. “They are the reason we had to work together with House Democrats. That is not the fault of Kevin McCarthy, that’s the fault of Matt Gaetz. He’s mealy mouthed and, frankly, duplicitous.”Relations between the speaker and Gaetz reached a new low with a testy confrontation in a meeting on Thursday. Gaetz accused McCarthy of orchestrating a social media campaign against him, the speaker saying he did not rate the congressman highly enough to do so.On Sunday, Gaetz insisted “this is about keeping Kevin McCarthy to his word, it’s not about any personal animosity”.Gaetz claimed McCarthy reached a “secret deal”, promising to introduce a standalone bill to continue funding Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russian invaders.A growing number of Republicans object to the US helping pay for the war. Gaetz said: “However you think about [Ukraine funding], it should be subject to open review [and] analysis, and not backroom deals, so I have to file a motion to vacate against speaker McCarthy this week.”On ABC, Gaetz said he did not expect to have enough votes to remove McCarthy immediately, “but I might have them before the 15th ballot”, an allusion to the time it took to elect the speaker in January.“I am relentless, and I will continue to pursue this objective,” Gaetz said. “And if all the American people see is that it is a uni-party that governs them, always the Biden, McCarthy, Jeffries government that makes dispositive decisions on spending, then I am seeding the fields of future primary contests to get better Republicans in Washington.”Shalanda Young, Biden’s budget director, blamed Republicans for bringing the government to the verge of a shutdown, and urged Congress to take a longer-term view.“We need to start today to make sure that we do not have this brinkmanship, last-minute anxiousness of the American people,” she told ABC. “Let’s do our jobs to not have this happen again. Let’s have full-year funding bills at the end of these 47 days.” More