House speaker vote: McCarthy thanks Trump for final votes as fight nearly breaks out on floor

Matt Gaetz said he finally agreed to vote “present” after Kevin McCarthy agreed to all of his demands.

“I ran out of things I could even imagine to ask for,” Mr Gaetz told CNN reporter Melanie Zanona after Friday night’s dramatic vote.

After previously vowing to never vote for Mr McCarthy, Mr Gaetz was one of six holdout Republicans who changed their vote to present on Friday night.

Full story below.

George Santos, the freshman from New York who admitted lying about his professional and education history, has been sworn in as a congressman.

Mr Santos is the subject of a criminal enquiry over his “stunning” deceptions, which included claiming to run an animal charity, that he was Jewish, and that his mother died on 9/11.

But the freshman Republican has vowed to weather the storm of criticism and serve the people of New York’s third congressional district, who are not likely to have another shot at choosing their representation in the House for another two years.

John Bowden has the story.

Kevin McCarthy praised former president Donald Trump for helping to secure his election as Speaker of the House.

“I don’t think anyone should doubt his influence,” Mr McCarthy said after six GOP holdouts voted “present” in the 15th and final ballot.

“He was with me from the beginning. He was all in. What he’s really saying for the party and the country is we have to come together.”

A near-brawl broke out between Republicans on the House floor late on Friday night as four days of frustration at Matt Gaetz’s refusal to back Kevin McCarthy’s teetering bid for Speaker boiled over.

Republican House member Mike Rogers had to be physically restrained after lunging at Mr Gaetz amid chaotic scenes on Capitol Hill.

Congressman Richard Hudson, of North Carolina, grabbed Mr Rogers from behind around his face and shoulder and pulled the irate Alabama Congressman away.

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Representative-elect Marjorie Taylor Green boasted of “the perfect phone call” from former president Donald Trump shortly before Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker of the US House of Representatives early on Saturday.

The GOP member elected from Georgia shared a picture of herself holding out her smartphone to colleague Matt Rosendale, with “DT” flashing on the screen, likely referring to the former president.

He could be seen holding his hand out and waving it away, as Ms Greene attempts to hand the phone over to him.

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House Republican Kevin McCarthy’s numerous concessions to the most right-wing members of his conference risk setting the House of Representatives and Congress up for a series of crises over the next two years.

At the top of the list is the US debt ceiling, which far-right lawmakers may hold hostage to extract policy concessions and spending cuts, while endangering the full faith and credit of the US and global economy.

Mr McCarthy and Republican leadership released its proposed rules package on Friday evening ahead of another round of votes to elect a speaker of the House. This came after 14 Republicans who had previously voted against Mr McCarthy flipped their votes to support him during the 13th ballot.

Eric Garcia reports.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has told The Independent that Republicans’ chaotic efforts to elect a Speaker for the new Congress are serving to highlight how grounded and reasonable she and other members of the so-called Squad of progressive Democrats have been.

Throughout much of her time in Congress, the self-described democratic socialist has heard herself and other progressives described as “unreasonable.” Former-representative Stephanie Murphy even called the coterie of Democrats “the never enough caucus” during negotiations about the bipartisan infrastructure bill and passing Build Back Better.

Eric Garcia has the story.

Matt Gaetz said he finally agreed to vote “present” after Kevin McCarthy agreed to all of his demands.

“I ran out of things I could even imagine to ask for,” Mr Gaetz told CNN reporter Melanie Zanona after Friday night’s dramatic vote.

After previously vowing to never vote for Mr McCarthy, Mr Gaetz was one of six holdout Republicans who changed their vote to present on Friday night.

Full story below.

As Republicans bickered, blustered and nearly came to blows during Friday night’s chaotic House speaker elections, Democrat Katie Porter delivered a none-too subtle riposte.

The California lawmaker was pictured reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** in the House Chamber as heated arguments between warring factions of the GOP almost led to a fistfight between Mike Rogers and Matt Gaetz.

Photos of Ms Porter reading Mark Manson’s 2016 bestseller went viral on Twitter.

President Biden issued a statement congratulating Kevin McCarthy after his election as House Speaker.

The statement read: “Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House. As I said after the midterms, I am prepared to work with Republicans when I can and voters made clear that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well.

“Now that the leadership of the House of Representatives has been decided it is time for that process to begin.”