Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., denied on Friday that she had pledged to support fellow Californian Rep. Kevin McCarthy as he was ousted as speaker.
“Kevin McCarthy said you actually broke a promise he made to keep the Democrats with him if there was a vote against him. Isn’t that true?” FOX 11 Los Angeles anchor Elex Michaelson asked Pelosi in a recent interview.
Shaking her head, Pelosi said she had not promised to help McCarthy, R-Calif., stay on as speaker.
“Absolutely not. I have no commitment to him,” Pelosi told FOX 11. “Our Democratic members made that decision.”
GOP LAWS REJECT RETALIATION AGAINST PELOSI WITH FIRES FROM OFFICE AFTER MCCARTHY’S DEFEAT
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivers remarks at the funeral service for US Senator Dianne Feinstein at San Francisco City Hall on October 5, 2023 in San Francisco, California. (LOREN ELLIOTT/AFP via Getty Images)
McCarthy lost his speaker’s mustache this week after a number of hardliners at the Republican conference led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., was forced to vote to vacate the seat. Eight Republicans and every Democrat voted together to remove McCarthy as House speaker.
In a press conference after the vote, McCarthy blamed Democrats for his ouster, arguing that they should have voted against the motion to vacate the seat for institutional reasons.
McCarthy said he had a discussion with Pelosi in the days leading up to the vote and told reporters he pledged his support.
But Pelosi said Democrats had plenty of reasons to vote to oust McCarthy, citing the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into President Biden and McCarthy’s support for former President Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. .
NANCY PELOSI USED OUT OF HER PRIVATE CAPITOL OFFICE BY INTERIM HOUSE SPEAKER
Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (left) led a rebellion against former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy that saw McCarthy nearly ousted in a 216-210 House vote. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP, Al Drago/Bloomberg)
“If you don’t respect the institution, don’t expect us to bail you out,” he said.
McCarthy has since said he will not run for speaker again. On Friday, he denied reports that he would resign from Congress, saying, “I’m not resigning. I still have a lot to do.”
McCarthy was succeeded by the Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, RN.C., is a temporary replacement until the House votes on a permanent one next week. Among his first acts as speaker pro-tempore, McHenry fired Pelosi from her private Capitol office in what he said was an act of revenge after McCarthy was ousted.
However, several GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital that the firings were not rooted in revenge, but rather because the office was reserved for the immediately preceding speaker.
WHO IS PATRICK MCHENRY, SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE OF HOUSE FOLLOWING MCCARTHY’S OUSTER?
“It was Speaker Pelosi’s decision to remove because that was the office for the former speaker,” said Louisiana GOP Rep. Garret Graves on Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
“He was no longer the first to speak so that was a decision he made by firing Kevin McCarthy,” Graves continued. “That was his own decision.”
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House Freedom Caucus chairman Scott Perry, R-Pa., said the firings were not done in retaliation but that it seemed to him “unfortunately that we have an unexpected recent vacancy here in the speaker’s office and the speaker who was recently the speaker today. there has to be a place according to the rules.”
“That’s why [place] need to be reoccupied or occupied by somebody different,” Perry said. “That’s just the flow of business here.”
Fox News’ Houston Keene contributed to this report.
