Kevin McCarthy delivers first remarks after winning House Speaker: 'Our nation is worth fighting for'

Kevin McCarthy won the speakership just after midnight Saturday with 216 votes to Democrat Hakeem Jeffries' 212

Lawrence Richard, Chad Pergram / Fox News 

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy officially opened the 118th Congress early Saturday morning, holding the speaker’s gavel and conducting a chamber-wide swearing-in ceremony for new members.

His speakership followed a dramatic week of him slowly winning over 20 Republicans who initially did not support his speakership and defected their votes to other members.

After his victory in the 15th and final vote, McCarthy lauded: "I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. I will never give up for you, the American people. And I will never give up on keeping our Commitment to America."

"Our nation is worth fighting for," he added in his opening remarks.

Upon accepting the gavel as Speaker of the House, McCarthy thanked his colleagues for their support and shared his vision for uniting the legislative body. "You know – my father always told me: It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. And now we need to finish strong for the American people," he said. Read more and see video here. 

Kevin McCarthy Elected Speaker of the House on 15th Ballot

Spencer Brown / Townhall Tipsheet

Following a more-chaotic-than-usual conclusion to voting on the 14th failed ballot Friday night, the House of Representatives finally elected House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot in the early morning hours just before 1:00 a.m. on Saturday.

For McCarthy to finally win, GOP leadership convinced enough holdout members to change their votes to "present" for the 15th ballot after the 14th round failed. 

The final total on the 15th ballot: 216 votes for McCarthy, 212 votes for Jeffries, and 5 "present" votes.

As Friday night turned into Saturday morning, things were tense on the House floor, and Republicans ended up appearing to restrain their own from attacking fellow Republicans after the 14th vote didn't clinch McCarthy's bid for House Speaker — contrary to McCarthy's stated belief that he had the votes. Read more, see tweets and video here.

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GOP deal emerges late Thursday that could give McCarthy a path to the speakership

Peter Kasperowicz / Fox News

 

McCarthy may finally have a viable path to becoming the next House speaker.

It won’t be easy, automatic or immediate, according to House lawmakers who themselves were processing the information in real time as details of the deal emerged. But a written framework for rules in the 118th Congress was released on Thursday that McCarthy's allies hope will allow many of the GOP lawmakers who have been voting against McCarthy all week to eventually support him.

Lawmakers said the framework gives members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) who have been resisting McCarthy virtually everything they’ve been asking for. That includes a stronger HFC representation on key House committees, guardrails aimed at curbing excessive federal spending, and allowing just a single member of the House to make a motion to replace the speaker, lawmakers familiar with the framework told Fox News.

McCarthy had been resisting that last demand and was hoping to require at least five House members to make a motion to "vacate the chair." Read more and see video here. 

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Tonight, Friday, January 6th from 7 to 8:00pm EST, RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS Craig Andresen and Diane Sori discuss the Speaker of the House fiasco and other important news of the day. Hope you can tune in to RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on https://rspradio1.com. Click 'LISTEN LIVE' starting at 6:50 pm EST with show beginning at 7pm EST.

 

McCarthy Reportedly Makes New Concessions                                                                                                          Leah Barkoukis / Townhall Tipsheet 

After two days of deadlock in the battle for the speakership, Republicans on Thursday will once again convene for a seventh vote at noon. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who has failed to secure the 218 votes needed for the position, is reportedly making more concessions in an effort to bring at least some of his detractors on board.

According to Politico Playbook, he is now open to a rule change that would allow only one member to call for a vote to oust the speaker. Additionally, he would bring more House Freedom Caucus members onto the House Rules Committee, and has signaled an openness to voting on priorities among his opposition.

• A one-member “motion to vacate”: The GOP leader appears to have finally acquiesced to a demand to lower the threshold needed to force a vote ousting a speaker to just one member. While McCarthy originally indicated that restoring the one-member

Yet Another Batch of Twitter Files Released, This Time on COVID Cover-Up 

Rebecca Downs / Townhall Tipsheet

 

On Tuesday afternoon, Matt Taibbi released another edition of the Twitter Files, to do with "How Twitter Let the Intelligence Community In" with regards to Russian disinformation. Later that same day, Taibbi released another edition, this time to do with "Twitter and the FBI 'Belly Button,'" with the meaning behind the name revealed towards the end of the thread. This even longer and more intense batch has to do with COVID cover-up, with the virus having been covered before in previous editions. This time, however, Taibbi revealed how COVID tweets were flagged as misinformation associated with Russia.

 

Taibbi's thread provides evidence, including screenshots, of how the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which he describes as "a fledgling analytic/intelligence arms of the State Department," claimed to the media in February of 2020 that this was just one more thing to have to do with Russia. "Russian Disinformation Apparatus Taking Advantage of Coronavirus Concerns," the report's title read. Read more and see tweets here.