After former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from his leadership role on Tuesday, House Speaker pro-tempore Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) ordered former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to vacate her Capitol office by Wednesday.
According to Politico, an email to Pelosi stated her hideaway office was being reassigned “for speaker office use” and she must “vacate the space tomorrow.”
“The room will be re-keyed,” the email stated.
Pelosi slammed the eviction as “a sharp departure from tradition,” noting she gave former Speaker Dennis Hastert “a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished” while she was in the leadership position.
“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,” Pelosi said in a statement.
“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 continued, later adding, “Now that the new Republican Leadership has settled this important matter, let’s hope they get back to work on what’s truly important for the American people.”
With McCarthy voted out as House Speaker, the House will now have to choose a new leader, but it is unclear who McCarthy’s replacement will be. The vote came after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) filed a motion on Monday to remove McCarthy from the leadership role.
Just before the vote on Tuesday, Gaetz posted on X, formerly Twitter, “I don’t think voting against @SpeakerMcCarthy is chaos. I think $33 Trillion in debt is chaos. I think not passing single-subject spending bills is chaos. I think being governed by continuing resolutions and omnibus bills is chaos. Chaos is somebody we cannot trust with their word. That’s why I’ve moved to vacate the chair.”
