In his first act as interim House speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) ordered for Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) hideaway office to be vacated.
“Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” McHenry’s email to Pelosi read, according to Politico.
*BYE, NANCY!* https://t.co/L3zKkmMQSg
— Sean Hannity 🇺🇸 (@seanhannity) October 4, 2023
Pelosi later issued a statement slamming Republican leadership for going after her instead of addressing the national issues the U.S. faces.
“With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol,” the statement reads.
“This eviction is a sharp departure from tradition,” the statement continued. “As Speaker, I gave former Speaker Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
Pelosi pointed out that she was unable to retrieve her belongings from her office because, at the time, she was attending the funeral of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who recently passed away at the age of 90.
“Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time,” she said.
A spokesperson for Pelosi said that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) staff was helping move Pelosi’s items from the hideaway office, as reported by the Blaze.
McHenry currently serves as Interim House Speaker given that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was recently ousted from his position.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) initiated a motion to vacate McCarthy from the speakership, which was approved by a majority of the House.
Before McCarthy’s ouster, Gaetz told reporters outside Capitol Hill that either one of two scenarios would occur: McCarthy would be removed as speaker, or the California representative would be working “at the pleasure of the Democrats.”
To become speaker in January 2021, McCarthy made many concessions to his fellow Republicans, including allowing one member to file a motion to vacate the chair.
McCarthy had served as the 55th speaker of the House. He was ousted by a vote of 216-210.
