The Hill’s Morning Report — High drama as McCarthy ousted: Who will be next Speaker?

The House of Representatives does not have a Speaker. 

In a historic turn of events, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from his post Tuesday by a small group of House Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) — along with Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Ken Buck (Colo.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Eli Crane (Ariz.), Bob Good (Va.), Nancy Mace (S.C.) and Matt Rosendale (Mont.) — who joined with Democrats to remove him in a 216-210 vote. 

IT’S THE FIRST TIME the House has voted to remove a sitting Speaker, a development that will catapult the chamber into another chaotic Speaker’s race, following January’s marathon election of McCarthy. The chamber is now in uncharted territory . 

The far-right conservatives who voted to remove McCarthy have been a thorn in his side since he assumed the Speakership, demanding concessions that put his gavel in a more fragile position. During the debt limit fights this summer, House Freedom Caucus members were able to bring the House floor to a standstill by using procedural maneuvers. The situation came to a head last weekend, when McCarthy ended up working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown — a move the handful of conservative rebels stringently opposed.  

Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.), who was presiding over the chamber Tuesday, said McCarthy’s ouster will put a “stain on the institution.” 

“The office of Speaker of the House of the United States House of Representatives is hereby declared vacant,” he announced. 

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), a key McCarthy ally, was declared acting Speaker — Speaker pro tempore — chosen from a list designated by McCarthy and shared with the House clerk. Members in both parties expect that the Speaker pro tempore has the chief responsibility of presiding over a new Speaker election (The Hill and The New York Times).  

McCarthy told his fellow House Republicans Tuesday that he would not seek reelection to the Speakership, and it remains unclear who the conference will nominate to succeed him. The House adjourned for the week Tuesday night, and the GOP conference is expected to hold a candidate forum next Tuesday to select their pick for the job (The Hill and Politico).  

The former Speaker let loose during a press conference late Tuesday, airing his grievances about his defectors, singling out Gaetz (The Hill).  

“You all know Matt Gaetz,” McCarthy said. “You know it was personal. It had nothing to do about spending, it had nothing to do about everything he accused somebody of he was doing. It all was about getting attention from you.” 

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The House is effectively leaderless, and as acting Speaker, McHenry doesn’t have all the powers an elected Speaker does. It’s putting the chamber in limbo weeks ahead of the new government funding deadline Congress agreed upon over the weekend. 

And while the members who voted to oust McCarthy are united in their opposition to the California Republican, they’re less than united in who they want to see succeed him. That there isn’t an obvious answer to the question was part of McCarthy’s ability to win the long battle for the job in January — he never let a serious alternative emerge (The New York Times). 

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Morning Report’s Alexis Simendinger is on leave. 

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LEADING THE DAY 

Former President Trump’s latest White House campaign appears more disciplined than his previous bids for the Oval Office, strategists say, even as the GOP front-runner faces legal battles that could derail his run. Trump’s 2024 presidential bid was initially criticized as sluggish and disorganized after his launch last November, but he’s since then surprised observers with a fairly streamlined and at times savvy campaign. The former president took many off guard when he preempted President Biden with plans to visit Detroit amid the auto strike, The Hill’s Julia Mueller reports, and he has beefed up his ground campaign considerably in Iowa and other early-voting states in the hope of undercutting top rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).  

“His approach is still that renegade cowboy, loose cannon approach — it’s still what makes Trump Trump — but the fact that there’s an infrastructure beneath him that is following up, making sure they do all the detail work, handle all those details is a very important factor,” said GOP strategist Saul Anuzis.  

CALIFORNIA SENATE DREAMIN’: Newly sworn in Sen. Laphonza Butler’s (D-Calif.) appointment to fill the vacancy left by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is throwing a wrench into the high-stakes California Senate primary as questions surround whether she will add herself to the crowded field in the coming months. Butler has for years served in the background of the political scene, but has suddenly found herself at the forefront after California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) tapped her to fill the final stretch of the longtime California senator’s term and will now have to weigh whether to run in next year’s primary (The Hill). 

The Hill: Black lawmakers praise Butler, don’t want her pitted against Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), a candidate for Feinstein’s seat. 

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The judge overseeing Trump’s New York fraud trial issued a limited gag order for all parties Tuesday. As The Hill’s Ella Lee reports, Judge Arthur Engoron issued the gag order barring Trump and any party in the case from posting or speaking publicly about members of his staff, after Trump released personally identifying information about the principal clerk on Truth Social while the hearing was underway. 

“Personal attacks on members of my court staff are not appropriate, and I will not tolerate it under any circumstance,” Engoron said, adding that he warned counsel off the record about the former president’s comments yesterday, but the warning went unheeded. 

In a Truth Social post that went up while Trump was sitting in the courtroom Tuesday, Trump targeted Engoron’s principal law clerk — who was sitting just a few feet away — calling her “Schumer’s girlfriend” and reposting a picture of her alongside the Senate majority leader. 

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The U.S. and European coalitions supporting Ukraine are showing significant cracks nearing 20 months of Russia’s invasion, worrying officials in Kyiv and its backers that Russian President Vladimir Putin could succeed simply by waiting out the war. Ukraine aid is at the center of partisan spending fights in Washington; meanwhile, Polish officials anxious over elections are lashing out at Kyiv. And in NATO ally Slovakia, a party headed by a pro-Kremlin politician came out on top in parliamentary elections. The Hill’s Laura Kelly reports that while Russian officials are not yet celebrating, they are optimistic that time is on their side.  

Meanwhile, the succession of the Russian private military company Wagner Group is creating another clash between the Kremlin and the organization’s senior officers. Wagner’s next leader has been up in the air after the death of the company’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in an August plane crash. Putin wants to exert more oversight of Wagner after the company led an aborted rebellion against him in June, but Wagner fighters are still trying to hold onto their influence. The Hill’s Brad Dress reports there are rumors they may end up backing Prigozhin’s son, the 25-year-old Pavel Prigozhin, or someone else connected to Wagner’s old guard to lead the military company.  

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COURTS  

The Supreme Court appeared hesitant to upend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Tuesday by finding the agency’s funding mechanism unconstitutional. The case marks one of the biggest legal threats to the CFPB since its inception just over a decade ago, but the high court’s liberals and several conservatives voiced skepticism over two lender trade associations’ arguments that the funding setup violates Congress’s power of the purse. The agency, first envisioned by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), was established as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law to crack down on predatory lending and enforce consumer protection laws in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis (The Hill). 

Tuesday’s battle over the CFPB is just the first in a string of Supreme Court cases that could dramatically reel in bureaucratic power. The court is taking on the authority of federal agencies in earnest this term, with several high-profile arguments implicating the administrative state still to come (The Hill). 

Roll Call: The Supreme Court sounds skeptical that Congress overstepped its spending power. 

The president’s son, Hunter Biden, pleaded not guilty to three firearms charges during his arraignment in a federal court in Delaware on Tuesday, amid a high-profile legal battle that has pitted him against the Justice Department as the 2024 presidential campaign gets underway. His plea comes after a plea deal in the same court fell apart in July (NBC News). 

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OPINION 

■ McCarthy’s gone. Republican dysfunction is here to stay, by Dana Milbank, columnist, The Washington Post. 

■ The new isolationist Republicans are taking a page from the old antiwar Democrats, by Joseph Bosco, opinion contributor, The Hill.    

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And finally … 🐻 Fat Bear Week is upon us. Starting today, bear fans will turn their attention to the furriest vote around: the annual contest for the big lugs of Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. 

For the uninitiated, Fat Bear Week is a celebration of the brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve as they binge before their annual hibernation, who compete in a March Madness-style bracket that shows off their tonnage. Katmai media ranger Naomi Boak told The Washington Post she hopes fans will appreciate the mix of this year’s contenders. 

“As we put a bracket together, it’s really easy to have just the big guys,” she said. “But what we really want is to tell the story of this incredible ecosystem, the success of the bears and their many successes.” 

The 12 contestants were revealed Monday, and the public can start voting at noon today, with polls closing on Oct. 10 (CNN). Check out some supremely fat bears and cast your votes HERE.