House chaos: One vote short for speaker, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy asked the defiant Matt Gaetz to change his vote from 'present' to 'McCarthy.' Gaetz refused. There was a scuffle as McCarthy walked away, then an adjournment, but soon tempers cooled.
Then tempers cooled. And within the hour, McCarthy and his allies had persuaded his other remaining opponents to vote “present” as well, lowering the vote total necessary for McCarthy to win and handing him the speakership by early Saturday morning — after a historic, remarkable and somewhat astonishing week of repeated votes.
The chaos on the House floor came exactly two years after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. During a late-night session after that attack, McCarthy called it the “saddest day I’ve ever had” as a member of Congress. In the days afterward, McCarthy blamed then-President Donald Trump for encouraging his supporters who attacked the building and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden. But just a few weeks later McCarthy traveled to see Trump in Florida and made amends.
While the U.S. House is often raucous, the week’s events were almost surreal: vote after vote, defeat after defeat, and eventual success after picking off seemingly intransigent opponents.
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