(UnitedVoice.com) – On Tuesday, October 3, MAGA Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) entered a motion to vacate the speakership. The measure passed after eight Republican lawmakers (including Gaetz) joined all 208 Democrats in attendance to oust then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), a historic first. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) took over as speaker pro tempore and promptly ordered former Speaker Nancy Pelosi to vacate her office.
POLITICO reported that McHenry emailed the former speaker advising her of the eviction. Reportedly, the notice instructed Pelosi to “vacate the space” by Wednesday. The message warned that the “room [would] be re-keyed” then. The email also noted that the temporary speaker would use the office at his discretion.
Later reports indicated that the order to toss Pelosi from her office came directly from McCarthy, a longtime friend and associate of McHenry.
CNN reported that Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) told reporters that McCarthy would take Pelosi’s hideaway office, an unlisted unofficial office in the US Capitol Building. They are only marked with room numbers and are typically reserved for high-ranking Senators. However, a few are allocated for distinguished House members.
Graves noted that the office had been designated by prior agreement for use by the preceding speaker. He explained that due to McCarthy’s recent ouster, he assumed that role and the office belonged to him.
Pelosi was in California attending to details related to the funeral of the late-Rep. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and was unable to move her items out of the office. Her Democratic successor, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), reportedly dispatched workers to clear the space for her.
Pelosi issued a brief statement criticizing her loss of the office as a “sharp departure from tradition.” She explained that she gave former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) a “significantly larger” office suite “for as long as he wished” to keep it.
Pelosi concluded her statement by taking a shot at House Republicans. She said she hoped that lawmakers would get back to important work now that Republican leaders had sorted out the allocation of office spaces.
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