The GOP has been little more than an embarrassing sideshow over the last four years – when they lost their trifecta hold on the government. Since then, it’s been a party of lies and outright obstruction as they’ve desperately sought back power. They barely managed to win back the House in November – despite projections of a “red wave” – but for all talk about Democrats wasting their majorities in the times they had it, right now Republicans are showing what that really means.

It’s bad enough they don’t have the votes for speaker – and even if Kevin McCarthy is handed the gavel this week, there’s no guarantee he has the job for a full term. Rather than win hearts and minds at a critical time, however, the House GOP thinks that this would be a great time to keep their own staffers from unionizing, a proposition that Democrats have widely encouraged and supported. The problem is – even this managed to fall apart as the efforts of House Republicans were struck down.

A rewriting of the rules would require them to actually write this legislation – that would of course never go anywhere beyond the House even if it made it out of committee. Rather than working on inflation as they promised, the GOP instead decided to go with their true colors – screwing and lying to everyday Americans – even the ones who work for them directly.

The post House Republicans are doing even more deranged things behind the scenes appeared first on Palmer Report.

As you all are no doubt aware, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during Monday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals. We wish Mr. Hamlin well and hope he makes a full recovery.

Of course, Reich wing conspiracy theorists wasted little time in using what happened to Mr. Hamlin to spread their anti-vax conspiracy theories. These included Charlie Kirk, Joey Gilbert, Lauren Witzke, and Stew Peters. All of them implied that Mr. Hamlin collapsed because of the COVID vaccination, and athletes never collapsed on the field before the vaccine was released to the public. Never mind there were documented occasions in the past of athletes collapsing and dying during games, such as Chuck Hughes back in 1971.

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger was having none of it though. He called Kirk, “the biggest piece of human garbage that can possibly exist right now” and called out the other anti-vax extremists using Mr. Hamlin’s medical condition for their sick purposes.

With QElon Musk in charge over at Twitter we can expect more anti-vax bullshit like this to be spread with no consequences other than being rightfully criticized by others. We can expect the likes of Kirk, Gilbert, Witzke, and Peters to use others to spread harmful disinformation and conspiracy theories while QElon and the media do little or nothing to stop the spread of harmful disinformation. It’s going to take decent people of all stripes calling out these anti-vax nut jobs and refusing to give the likes of QElon the time of day in order to stop this.

The post These people are sick appeared first on Palmer Report.

NEW YORK — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Tuesday to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits on his cryptocurrency trading platform as a judge set a tentative trial date for October.

Bankman-Fried, 30, denied charges accusing him of illegally diverting massive sums of customer money from FTX to make lavish real estate purchases, donate money to politicians and make risky trades at Alameda Research, his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm.

Read More: FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Charged With Fraud by SEC After Arrest in the Bahamas

Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, announced his client’s plea, saying: “He pleads not guilty to all counts.”

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Afterward, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan set a tentative trial date of Oct. 2, saying he might move it forward or backward a day or two. A prosecutor estimated it would take the government a month to present its case to a jury, while a defense lawyer projected putting on a case lasting two to three weeks.

Read More: Sam Bankman-Fried Could Face Up to 115 Years in Prison, If Convicted

Wearing a backpack, Bankman-Fried marched through a crush of cameras as he entered the courthouse on a rainy day to make his first appearance before Kaplan. In the courtroom, Bankman-Fried appeared relaxed through most of the half-hour-long proceeding, occasionally speaking to a lawyer next to him. When he left court, he did not speak to reporters outside.

After Bankman Fried pleaded not guilty, the judge discussed with lawyers a schedule for proceeding toward trial, setting April dates for defense lawyers to submit arguments challenging the validity of the charges and for prosecutors to respond to them. Oral arguments were set for May 18.

The judge also added to Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions by banning him from accessing or transferring cryptocurrency or assets of FTX or Alameda Research or any assets purchased with funds from the companies.

He did so after Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon said Bankman-Fried had worked with foreign regulators to transfer FTX assets to them after FTX declared bankruptcy and he knew U.S. bankruptcy authorities were also interested in those assets.

Sassoon said Bankman-Fried expressed to a co-conspirator that he knew there was competition between U.S. bankruptcy authorities and foreign regulators and he wanted to get the assets to the foreign regulators in part because he thought they’d be more lenient with him and he might be able to regain control of his business.

Read More: Sam Bankman-Fried’s Enablers Deserve Scrutiny Too

Cohen, though, insisted that Bankman-Fried had not personally transferred any assets and that anything that was moved came at the insistence of a court in the Bahamas that ordered it to occur.

Sassoon, noting FTX was the second largest cryptocurrency exchange, also told the judge that the government hoped to create a website for victims of the fraud, rather than notify them individually since they might number over one million.

Read More: Sam Bankman-Fried Is in Handcuffs, But No Crypto Crackdown in Sight

Prior to Bankman-Fried’s appearance, his lawyers sent a letter to the judge, saying Bankman-Fried’s parents — both Stanford Law School professors, in recent weeks have become the target of “intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats. They said the parents had received “a steady stream of threatening correspondence, including communications expressing a desire that they suffer physical harm.”

As a result, the lawyers asked that the names be redacted on court documents for two individuals who were lined up to sign Bankman-Fried’s $250 million personal recognizance bond. Bankman-Fried was released with electronic monitoring about two weeks ago on the condition that he await trial at his parents’ house in Palo Alto, California.

The judge allowed the names to remain secret for now, but he said he may reconsider his decision if members of the media or others object.

Carolyn Ellison, 28, who ran Alameda, and Gary Wang, 29, who co-founded FTX, have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and are cooperating with prosecutors in a bid for leniency. Both are free on bail.

Their pleas were kept secret until Bankman-Fried was in the air after his extradition from the Bahamas, where FTX is based, due to fears that he might flee.

Shortly before Bankman-Fried’s arraignment, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced that he was launching a task force made up of senior prosecutors in his office to investigate and prosecute matters related to the FTX collapse. He said the task force also will work to trace and recover victim assets.

“The Southern District of New York is working around the clock to respond to the implosion of FTX,” Williams said in a press release. “It is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We are launching the SDNY FTX Task Force to ensure that this urgent work continues, powered by all of SDNY’s resources and expertise, until justice is done.”

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines is trying to make travelers who were caught in its surge of canceled flights over the holidays feel a bit better about the airline by giving them 25,000 frequent-flyer points.

The airline says the points are worth more than $300 in flights.

Southwest included the offer in a letter — another apology for the meltdown — from CEO Bob Jordan.

“I know that no amount of apologies can undo your experience,” Jordan wrote. He added the airline is acting “with great urgency” to process refunds, return lost bags and handle requests for reimbursement of costs incurred by stranded travelers.

Dallas-based Southwest canceled more than 15,000 flights between Dec. 22 and Dec. 30, according to tracking service FlightAware. The flight disruptions began with a winter storm that swept across the country. While other airlines recovered after a couple days, Southwest continued to struggle with crews and airplanes that were stranded far from where they were supposed to be.

Southwest said people booked on flights from Dec. 24 to Jan. 2 that were canceled or “significantly” delayed received the 25,000 points. It has not disclosed how many passengers were booked on those flights.

LOS ANGELES — The two stars of 1968’s “Romeo and Juliet” sued Paramount Pictures for more than $500 million on Tuesday over a nude scene in the film shot when they were teens.

Olivia Hussey, then 15 and now 71, and Leonard Whiting, then 16 now 72, filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleging sexual abuse, sexual harassment and fraud.

Director Franco Zeffirelli, who died in 2019, initially told the two that they would wear flesh-colored undergarments in the bedroom scene that comes late in the movie and was shot on the final days of filming, the suit alleges.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

But on the morning of the shoot, Zeffirelli told Whiting, who played Romeo, and Hussey, who played Juliet, that they would wear only body makeup, while still assuring them the camera would be positioned in a way that would not show nudity, according to the suit.

Yet they were filmed in the nude without their knowledge, in violation of California and federal laws against indecency and the exploitation of children, the suit says.

Zeffirelli told them they must act in the nude “or the Picture would fail” and their careers would be hurt, the suit said. The actors “believed they had no choice but to act in the nude in body makeup as demanded.”

Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts are briefly shown during the scene.

The film, and its theme song, were major hits at the time, and has been shown to generations of high school students studying the Shakespeare play since.

The court filing says the Hussey and Whiting have suffered emotional damage and mental anguish for decades, and that each had careers that did not reflect the success of the movie.

It says given that suffering and the revenue brought in by the film since its release, the actors are entitled to damages of more than $500 million.

An email seeking comment from representatives of Paramount was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit was filed under a California law temporarily suspending the statute of limitations for child sex abuse, which has led to a host of new lawsuits and the revival of many others that were previously dismissed.

Hussey defended the scene in a 2018 interview with Variety, which first reported the lawsuit, for the film’s 50th anniversary.

“Nobody my age had done that before,” she said, adding that Zeffirelli shot it tastefully. “It was needed for the film.”

Global health officials tried to determine the facts of China’s raging COVID-19 outbreak and how to prevent a further spread as the government’s mouthpiece newspaper on Wednesday rallied citizens for a “final victory” over the virus.

China’s axing of its stringent anti-virus controls last month has unleashed COVID on a 1.4 billion population that has little natural immunity having been shielded from the virus since it emerged in its Wuhan city three years ago.

Funeral homes have reported a spike in demand for their services and international health experts predict at least one million deaths in China this year.

But officially, China has reported a small number of COVID deaths since the policy U-turn and has played down concerns about a disease that it was previously at pains to eradicate through mass lockdowns even as the rest of the world opened up.

“China and the Chinese people will surely win the final victory against the epidemic,” Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily said in an editorial, rebutting criticism of its tough anti-virus regime that triggered historic protests late last year.

As it now dismantles those restrictions, China has been particularly critical of decisions by some countries to impose a requirement for a COVID test on its citizens, saying they are unreasonable and lack scientific basis.

Health officials from the 27-member European Union are due to meet on Wednesday on a coordinated response to deal with implications of increased travel from China.

Most European Union countries favour pre-departure COVID testing for travellers from China, the European Commission said on Tuesday, following similar measures imposed by the United States, Britain, South Korea and others.

China, which has been largely shut off from the world since the pandemic began in late 2019, will stop requiring inbound travellers to quarantine from Jan. 8. But it will still demand that arriving passengers get tested before they begin their journeys.

Meanwhile, World Health Organization officials met Chinese scientists on Tuesday amid concerns over the accuracy of China’s data on the spread and evolution of its outbreak.

The U.N. agency had invited the scientists to present detailed data on viral sequencing and to share data on hospitalizations, deaths and vaccinations.

The WHO would communicate later, probably at a Wednesday news briefing, its spokesperson said after the meeting. The spokesperson earlier said the agency expected a “detailed discussion” about circulating variants in China, and globally.

Last month, Reuters reported that the WHO had not received data from China on new COVID hospitalisations since Beijing’s policy shift, prompting some health experts to question whether it might be hiding information on the extent of its outbreak.

China reported five new COVID-19 deaths for Jan. 3, compared with three a day earlier, bringing the official death toll to 5,258, very low by global standards.

But the death toll is widely believed to be much higher. British-based health data firm Airfinity has said about 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID.

Despite some countries imposing restrictions on Chinese visitors, interest in outbound travel from the world’s most populous country is cranking up, state media reported.

Bookings for international flights from China have risen by 145% year-on-year in recent days, the government-run China Daily newspaper reported, citing data from travel booking platform Trip.com.

The number of international flights to and from China is still a fraction of pre-COVID levels. The government has said it will increase flights and make it easier for people to travel abroad.

Thailand, a major destination for Chinese tourists, is expecting at least five million Chinese arrivals this year, its tourism authority said on Tuesday.

More than 11 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand in 2019, nearly a third of its total visitors.

But there are signs that an increase in travel from China could further spread the virus abroad.

Health authorities in South Korea, which began testing travellers from China for COVID on Monday, said more than a fifth of the 2,189 arrivals had tested positive.

Brittany Chang/Insider // Courtesy of Noam Littman

• A Wisconsin family spent months planning for a Royal Caribbean Cruise. 
• After a series of canceled flights, they ended up stranded in New Jersey. 
• Noam Littman told Insider that his family is now “hesitant” to plan a trip like this again.

A family trying to make it to Florida to spend the holiday season on a Royal Caribbean cruise instead spent Christmas in the freezing New Jersey weather without their luggage after a series of canceled flights from Southwest and United airlines. 

Noam Littman, from Appleton, Wisconsin, told Insider that he and his wife Julie spent months planning a “big trip for the year” for their three sons and their two grandparents. The couple dropped around $17,000 on tickets and even arranged a surprise for their sons, waiting until they reached Florida to let them know that they would be heading out on a cruise. 

“We had like this elevated sense of excitement knowing that we were going to be surprising them as well,” Julie told Insider.

However, 24 hours before they were due to fly out of Milwaukee on Dec. 23 on Southwest Airlines, they were notified that their initial flight was canceled. The Littmans said they did not receive a reason as to why.

“We just found out via a text that our flight was canceled,” Noam told Insider. “Nobody said anything. And we had to try and figure out what to do. So it’s been a nightmare.”

After Southwest rebooked and canceled their flight multiple times, the Littmans decided to play it safe and booked the only flight to Orlando, Florida, they could find out of General Mitchell International Airport — a United Airlines flight. According to a flight ticket reviewed by Insider, the cost of the round-trip tickets was around $6,500 for the whole family.

The Littmans said they arrived in Newark, New Jersey at 3 p.m. following the first leg of their flight. Around 6 p.m. they boarded their flight to Orlando. That’s when staff announced on the plane that United had no pilots available to fly. 

The Littmans said they were notified via text around midnight that the flight was canceled and were offered lodging from United after inquiring, but they said they had no way to get there. Additionally, they couldn’t access their luggage and were without jackets and warm clothes in the winter weather. 

The family told Insider they eventually found a suitable place to stay, but had to spend Christmas flying back home — still without their luggage — and missed their vacation.

Courtesy of Noah Littman

Now, the family is looking for refunds— from Royal Caribbean, from whom they purchased trip insurance, and United Airlines. The family said they were able to get a refund from Southwest.

Noam said that after being on hold with United for hours, the family was able to get only about $270 from United. United Airlines could not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

As to whether or not they would plan a trip like this again, Noam said that the family was now “hesitant” knowing how much could go wrong.

“[United] can’t control the weather, but they can control how customers are treated,” Noam told Insider. “And to just send you a text if you’ve been waiting in the airport with kids for six hours… and then leave you completely hanging. You don’t know where your luggage is. You don’t know where you’re going to stay, knowing that you’re not you’re gonna get back home. Nothing. That’s ridiculous. That’s completely on United.”

Royal Caribbean did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. 

Across the US, hundreds of cruise ship guests have missed their departures this winter season after severe winter storms began across the country have resulted in the cancellation of thousands of flights across airlines. Many say they are struggling to secure refunds for their flights.

Another set of Wisconsin travelers missed their $4,000 Royal Caribbean honeymoon after Southwest canceled their flights.

Republican Party of Florida

• Ron DeSantis kicked off his second term as Florida’s governor with festivities in Tallahassee.
• The DeSantises danced before the crowd to the song “Sweet Florida.” 
• Casey DeSantis wore a gold embellished gown. 

TALLAHASSEE — Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida’s inaugural ball featured a live band, pink and purple lights, and a photo station, according to guests who were leaving the party on Tuesday evening.

As the crowd watched on, the governor danced with his wife Casey DeSantis — who wore a gold embellished gown — to Van Zant’s song “Sweet Florida,” according to a dozen guests in attendance. The lyrics are specifically about DeSantis and say the governor is “the only one fighting for you and me” and “knows how to lead.” DeSantis would often play the song at campaign rallies. 

The event was closed to the press, but Insider spoke with attendees as they exited the facility. A copy of the program viewed by Insider showed sponsors for the event included tobacco giant Altria, ABC Fine Wine and Spirits, CVS Health, Lockheed Martin, health insurance giant Humana, and managed care organization Molina Healthcare. 

Tuesday’s event received national attention because DeSantis is widely considered a GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election — should he decide to run. So far, only former President Donald Trump has formally declared his candidacy. 

The governor has been mum about his plans but has dodged the question if he’ll serve out all four years as governor.

On Tuesday, he took a victory lap after coasting to reelection in November. The ball was the final event of the two-day inauguration extravaganza. One guest who attended multiple inauguration events overheard people on the plane to Tallahassee calling the festivities “DeSantis-Palooza.”

Beginning around 6 p.m. local time, roughly 4,000 guests dressed in ballgowns, sequins, and tuxedos made their way to the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center for the ball, which featured a brass band with two female and two male singers, multiple guests exiting the event told Insider.

Songs included “My Girl” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” two guests leaving the event told Insider. The governor did not deliver any remarks. 

The Republican Party of Florida also put out a statement confirming the Van Zant song and said the DeSantises also danced to Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon.” 

—Matt Braynard (@MattBraynard) January 4, 2023

The dance floor was in a basketball arena and had a VIP section — which had an open bar — and a general admission that was more crowded. Guests received koozies as party favors, and those in the general admission area said they snacked on finger foods including empanadas and chicken and waffles. 

Guests were able to pose at a photo station that had the governor’s seal in the background. 

—Katelyn Caralle (@Katelyn_Caralle) January 4, 2023

Bill Diamond of Palm Beach told Insider the food was “very good and very inventive” and raved about the lamb. He called himself a “very big fan” of the governor. Asked what he would think of him running for president, Diamond predicted the governor would win and called him “the future of this country.” 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, right, is sworn by Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muniz, left, to begin his second term during an inauguration ceremony outside the Old Capitol Tuesday, January 3, 2023, in Tallahassee, Florida. Looking on is DeSantis’ wife Casey, second from right, and their son Mason.

Lynne Sladky/AP Photo

Several events preceded the ball 

At the swearing-in ceremony, Casey DeSantis wore a regal ensemble with white gloves and a satin, lime-green cape dress from Australian designer Alex Perry. The dress is listed for $2,600 at Bergdorf Goodman, the Daily Mail first reported, and people in attendance said the outfit reminded them of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

“I have had clients coming back and saying that was very Kennedy-ish,” one source who attended multiple inauguration events told Insider.

DeSantis, 44, gave a speech geared toward a national audience. Asked about the remarks ahead of the inaugural ball, Florida Rep. Thad Altman, a Republican, said DeSantis was a “national figure.” The Florida House member said he was looking forward to working with DeSantis on conservation and environmental policy to “keep Florida as a beautiful place to live.” 

Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, between 80 to 100 people from the faith community prayed with the governor in the Historic Capitol, Demetrius Minor, minister and public affairs liaison for Tampa Life Church, told Insider. Casey DeSantis and the couple’s son, Mason, were also present, he said, as were Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez and her husband Adrian Nuñez. 

The group “prayed for his protection, prayed for continued strength, prayed for wisdom and guidance,” Minor said. 

Following the ceremony, Casey DeSantis hosted a “Toast to 1 Million Mamas” at the Governor’s Mansion, as a thank-you to the 1.1 million women she mobilized in support of her husband. 

People took tours of the mansion, and both the governor and first lady gave remarks focused on education policy, in which they warned about the influence of the “woke left,” said a source who attended.

DeSantis in the months ahead is expected to double down on policies begun during his first term, in which he limited discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity, particularly in classes up to third grade, and about race.

The festivities officially kicked off earlier, on Monday evening, with dinner at Florida State University that was catered by Carbone, a trendy restaurant started in Greenwich Village, New York, whose parent company has opened up more restaurants in Florida. Carbone’s Miami Beach location is one of the hottest restaurants in the area. 

Jeff Zalaznick, co-owner of Carbone’s parent company Major Food Group, talked about how his business was able to expand in Florida while other states closed businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, said one attendee at the dinner. The theme of the weekend was “The Free State of Florida,” and the Monday-night menu was a nod to the couple’s Italian heritage. 

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Nathan Howard/Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was spotted chatting with Matt Gaetz on the House floor on Tuesday.
• She was also seen talking to Paul Gosar, who in 2021 posted an anime clip of himself killing her.
• Ocasio-Cortez told reporters their conversations were regarding the speakership vote.

In a rare display on Tuesday, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was spotted speaking with the unlikeliest of her congressional colleagues: Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, and Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar. 

Ocasio-Cortez was seen on Tuesday speaking to Gaetz briefly on the floor of Congress. The conversation between the two came as a surprise, considering how they have clashed and how ideologically different the progressive congresswoman and the House Freedom Caucus congressman are. 

—The Recount (@therecount) January 3, 2023

Speaking to The Intercept, Ocasio-Cortez said Gaetz told her that House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy — who is currently vying for the role of House Speaker — is trying to convince the GOP he can cut a deal with the Democratic Party to get the job. 

In response, Ocasio-Cortez says she told Gaetz that the Democrats will not help McCarthy out. McCarthy failed to get the votes he needed to secure the speakership on three separate ballots on Tuesday. And by the third vote, the number of people voting against him had gone up. 

“McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower his threshold,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. “And I fact-checked and said absolutely not.”

In another strange turn of events, Ocasio-Cortez was also seen sitting next to Gosar and talking to him, nodding, and smiling.

—The Recount (@therecount) January 3, 2023

Ocasio-Cortez told Semafor on Tuesday that Gosar, too, had approached her to ask if the Democrats were willing to help McCarthy secure the speakership by exiting the chamber and lowering the vote threshold. Ocasio-Cortez added to Semafor that she told Gosar the same thing she told Gaetz: that her party would not be helping McCarthy out.

ABC reporter Gabe Ferris also spoke to Ocasio-Cortez about the conversation between her and Gosar. The New York congresswoman told Ferris she would “never” walk away to clear the path for McCarthy, and that she would back Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. 

The congresswoman has had a storied history with Gosar. In November 2021, he posted a violent anime clip depicting himself killing her. The video prompted Ocasio-Cortez to call Gosar a “creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups” who shared a “fantasy video” of himself killing her. That month, Gosar was stripped of his committee positions by a Democratic-led Congress. He then refused to apologize for posting the video, comparing his censure to Alexander Hamilton’s. 

Ocasio-Cortez told Semafor on Tuesday that Gosar did not apologize for the video during their conversation on Tuesday. 

For his part, Gosar joked about the exchange, posting a screenshot of him and Ocasio-Cortez smiling during their conversation. 

“So then I says ‘The combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today…'” Gosar tweeted. 

—Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) January 3, 2023

AOC’s Gaetz-Gosar huddle sparks intrigue and ire

Ocasio-Cortez’s conversations with Gaetz and Gosar sparked intrigue. The liberal Twitter account Meidas Touch tweeted on Tuesday that someone should get a lip reader to decipher the conversation between Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez.

Meanwhile, the conversations attracted the ire of right-wing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has broken with her House Freedom Caucus and supported McCarthy’s speakership bid.

Rebuking both Gosar and Gaetz, Greene tweeted on Tuesday that “making plans with Democrats is not what any Republican should be doing.” Greene also expressed concern that Gaetz, Gosar, and Ocasio-Cortez had found something in common in not supporting McCarthy, tweeting on Tuesday: “First Gaetz and Good, now Gosar. They never talk to her.” 

Representatives for Gaetz, Gosar, Greene, and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

Meanwhile, the House failed to elect a speaker on Tuesday after right-wing Republicans mutinied against McCarthy and refused to back his speakership bid. This is the first time in a century that the House has not picked a speaker on the first vote. 

Voting is now expected to continue on Wednesday. 

Republican Kevin McCarthy vowed on Tuesday to remain in the race to be the powerful U.S. House of Representatives speaker, hours after hardline members of his party repeatedly blocked his bid to lead their brand-new majority.

In the first day of what could prove to be a brutal showdown between about 20 hardliners and the other 202 members of the Republican caucus, McCarthy failed in three ballots to achieve the 218 votes needed to become speaker, a role second in line to the Oval Office after the vice president.

It was a disconcerting start for the new Republican majority and highlights the challenges the party could face over the next two years, heading into the 2024 presidential election. Their slim 222-212 majority gives greater clout to a small group of hardliners, who want rule changes that would give them greater control over the speaker and more influence over the party’s approach to spending and the debt.

Late on Tuesday, McCarthy told reporters that former President Donald Trump had called him and reiterated his support. Trump has backed McCarthy in the race and remains a powerful figure in the Republican Party.

McCarthy, 57, from California, knew he faced an uphill climb heading into Tuesday’s vote and had vowed to continue to force votes. But the chamber voted on Tuesday evening to adjourn until noon ET (1700 GMT) on Wednesday, a move that would give Republicans time to discuss other candidates.

Conservative Representative Jim Jordan, 58, from Ohio, won 20 votes in the last ballot of the day, far from the threshold of 218 to become speaker but enough to stop McCarthy.

“I think that Kevin knows that this is his last shot,” said Representative Kenneth Buck, who had voted to support McCarthy. He noted that McCarthy previously tried in 2015 to become speaker and failed in the face of conservative opposition, adding, “He’s not gonna have this chance again.”

A protracted speaker election could undermine House Republicans’ hopes of moving forward quickly on investigations of Democratic President Joe Biden and his administration, and legislative priorities that include the economy, U.S. energy independence and border security.

The chamber’s top Democrat, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, bested McCarthy in all three votes. In the day’s final tally, Jeffries led McCarthy 212 to 202 votes. A majority of those voting, not a plurality, is needed to determine a speaker.

A standoff would leave the House largely paralyzed and could force lawmakers to consider another Republican candidate. In addition to Jordan, incoming Majority Leader Steve Scalise, 57, from Louisiana, was seen as a possibility.

The last time the House failed to elect a speaker on the first ballot was 1923.

Jordan himself had spoken in support of McCarthy before he was nominated, and all three times voted for him.

“We need to rally around him,” Jordan had said in an impassioned speech on the House floor. “I think Kevin McCarthy’s the right guy to lead us.”

Jordan is a staunch ally of Trump and a co-founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.

A former college wrestler, Jordan is preparing to oversee the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation of the Justice Department and FBI under Biden.

McCarthy’s hardline opponents are concerned that he is not deeply invested enough in the culture wars and partisan rivalries that have dominated the House – and even more so since Trump’s White House years.

Before the vote, McCarthy tried to persuade the holdouts during a closed-door party meeting, vowing to stay in the race until he gets the necessary votes, but many participants emerged from the gathering undaunted.

McCarthy suggested to reporters later on Tuesday that the path to him becoming speaker lay in members voting “present” – neither for nor against him – which would lower the threshold needed to secure the job.

McCarthy has spent his adult life in politics – as a congressional staffer then state legislator before being elected to the House in 2006. As speaker, McCarthy would be well placed to frustrate Biden’s legislative ambitions.

But any Republican speaker will have the tough task of managing a House Republican caucus moving ever rightward, with uncompromising tendencies and – at least among some lawmakers – close allegiances to Trump.

Struggles with the party’s right flank cut short the careers of the last two Republican speakers, with John Boehner resigning the post in 2015 and Paul Ryan opting not to run for re-election in 2018.

The record number of voting rounds to elect a House speaker is 133 over a two-month period in the 1850s.

The Democrats picked Jeffries to serve as minority leader after Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as speaker, announced that she would step down from her leadership role. She will remain in office as a representative.

Related Galleries: