** Speaker Pick o' the Day. Clare Foran & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "House Republicans have picked Rep. Jim Jordan as their new speaker nominee, though it is unclear if the Ohio Republican can win enough support to secure the gavel in a full House vote as the conference faces a leadership crisis. There are already signs Jordan will encounter resistance as several lawmakers have said they would not vote for him." This is an update of a story linked earlier today. ~~~
~~~ Olivia Beavers & Jordain Carney of Politico: Jim Jordan "won with 124 votes, according to two sources..., but he'll need to meet a much higher bar of 217 to be elected speaker on the House floor. The timing of a [floor] vote is in flux, as several Republicans publicly speculate that Jordan won't be able to get there." As Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) suggested, if "moderates" reward the hardliners' bad behavior and cave to voting en masse for Jordan, they should expect more bad behavior.
~~~ The Washington Post is liveblogging developments: "House Republicans are holdilng a closed-door forum Friday afternoon at which they'll hear from at least two candidates for speaker: Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Austin Scott (Ga.). The conference is scrambling to find a nominee after Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) dropped out of the race Thursday night as he struggled to round up the necessary 217 votes to get elected by the full chamber. It's unclear when a vote for speaker could take place on the House floor." So then ... ~~~
"Although Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) clinched the majority to become speaker-designate, it remains unclear whether he has the 217 votes needed to actually wield the gavel." ~~~
"House Republicans on Friday voted to make Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) their next nominee for speaker, according to Rep. Elise Stefanik, the Republican conference chairwoman. Jordan, who was endorsed by ... Donald Trump, is chairman of the Judiciary Committee."
~~~ Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "A little-known Republican emerged on Friday to challenge Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio in the raucous party feud over selecting a new speaker, underscoring the G.O.P. divisions that have left the House leaderless and paralyzed for more than a week. Representative Austin Scott of Georgia, a mainstream conservative and ally of the ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, said he would seek the nomination. He effectively was putting himself forward as a protest candidate against Mr. Jordan, the hard-right Republican who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The surprise move promised to prolong the infighting that has raged among Republicans.... 'I think I can unite the conference,' Mr. Jordan told reporters.... 'When I woke up this morning, I had no intention of doing this,' Mr. Scott told reporters, adding: 'But I believe if we as Republicans are going to make the majority, we have to do the right things the righ way. And we're not doing that right now.'" ~~~
~~~ Broadwater's story has been updated to reflect the pick o' the day: “By a vote of 124 to 81, Mr. Jordan defeated Representative Austin Scott of Georgia, an ally of the ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had decided just hours earlier to seek the nomination."
~~~ Marie: You just have to love the depth of planning that House Republicans have demonstrated here. But, hey, if you suddenly realized right now that you'd like to be third in line to the presidency, don't hesitate. Submit your name now, and you have as good a chance as any of the bozos already sitting on the right side of the aisle. Here's a game plan. Oh wait, you don't need a plan. ~~~
~~~ Here's the Hill's liveblog of what-all House Republicans purport to be up to.
Amanda Marcotte of Salon: "... there's one historical claim made by fascists that gets accepted at face value by people who ought to know better: The idea that authoritarian regimes are models of order and discipline.... The belief that the far right is ruthlessly efficient and well organized terrifies its opponents and emboldens its supporters, then and now. If you still buy any of that, consider the Republicans in Congress who are behaving like a sackful of trapped weasels over what should be a simple task: Picking which one of the indistinguishable MAGA-monsters gets to be speaker of the House.... Veering hard toward the radical right hasn't made Republicans more cohesive or more disciplined. On the contrary, it's this rightward shift that is fueling the ugliness. Contrary to popular belief, authoritarianism brings chaos, not order."
As Democracy Crumbles. Mark Sherman of the AP: "The Supreme Court avoided a catastrophic accident last year when a piece of marble at least 2 feet long crashed to the ground in an interior courtyard used by the justices and their aides, according to several court employees. The incident, which the court still fails to acknowledge publicly, took place in the tense spring of 2022, as the court already was dealing with death threats and other security concerns and the justices were putting the final touches on their stunning decision overturning Roe v. Wade.... No one was injured when the marble fell, the employees said. The piece was easily big enough to have seriously injured someone, they said. It was much larger than the basketball-sized chunk that fell near the court's front entrance in 2005."
Israel/Palestine. Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: "A pair of classified C.I.A. intelligence reports issued in the days ahead of a major Hamas attack on Israel warned about a potential escalation in violence but did not predict the complex, multipronged attack that Hamas gunmen launched against Israel days later, according to U.S. officials. The first of the intelligence reports, dated Sept. 28, described the possibility that Hamas would launch rockets into Israel over a period of several days. The second report, dated Oct. 5, built on the first but was more analytical. The Oct. 5 report appeared in a daily C.I.A. summary of intelligence that is distributed widely to policymakers and lawmakers, the officials said. But intelligence officials did not brief either of the reports to President Biden or senior White House officials. Nor did the C.I.A. highlight the reports to White House policymakers as being of particular significance, officials said." CNN's report is here.
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** Chaos Party Still in Chaos, Ctd. Luke Broadwater, et al., of the New York Times: "Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana withdrew on Thursday from consideration for the speakership he was on the cusp of claiming after hard-line Republicans balked at rallying around their party's chosen candidate, leaving the House leaderless and the G.O.P. in chaos. After being narrowly nominated for speaker during a Wednesday closed-door secret-ballot contest among House Republicans, Mr. Scalise, their No. 2 leader, found himself far from the 217 votes needed to be elected on the House floor. Many supporters of his challenger, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the right-wing Republican endorsed by ... Donald J. Trump, refused to switch their allegiance.... [Scalise's] abrupt exit left Republicans back at square one, as fractured as ever over who should lead them and trading recriminations about the disarray in which they found themselves. They planned a Friday morning meeting to discuss how to move forward." (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Clare Foran & Jeremy Herb of CNN: "Republicans are confronting a deepening leadership crisis that has left the House paralyzed with no clear path to elect a new speaker, after an effort to replace Kevin McCarthy following his historic ouster was derailed by entrenched opposition and deep divisions within the party. By failing to coalesce behind a candidate, Republicans have plunged the House into uncharted territory and effectively frozen the chamber at a time when major international and domestic crises loom, from Israel's war against Hamas to a potential government shutdown in mid-November." ~~~
~~~ Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "The House GOP has entered an angrier and more bewildered phase in its leadership crisis.... While Republicans appear to be turning next to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), some are already airing open doubts that Jordan can pull off what the majority leader couldn't. The lesson Republicans have learned in the frenetic week since [Kevin] McCarthy's fall: They have no clear choice for leader who can unite their ranks -- no matter how long this drags out and their chamber of Congress is paralyzed.... There's mounting anger across the entire conference that no GOP speaker candidate, including Jordan, appears able to prevail under the current margins.... 'We're going to have the same problem with Jordan that we had with [Steve] Scalise,' said Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), even as he made clear that he supports the Ohioan. 'I think it's a math problem.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Wait a minute. "A math problem" is where you have to solve for X or figure out where two trains headed toward each other will meet (and crash?!) when they're traveling at different speeds. It is not a problem where Republicans will crash because they can't get their act together.
Help! Bloomberg News, via Balloon Juice: "... Representative Mike Rogers of Alabama, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, emerged from a contentious closed-door meeting of House Republicans to tell reporters that Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries should spell out what concessions he would require to help the GOP elect a speaker. 'They put us in this ditch along with eight traitors,' Rogers said, referring to hardline GOP dissidents who toppled Speaker Kevin McCarthy last week. 'We're still the majority party, we're willing to work with them, but they gotta tell us what they need.' Rogers said the Republicans' speaker nominee, Steve Scalise, is in the same situation McCarthy was in struggling to get the 217 votes needed for election. A lot of Republicans, Rogers said, would never vote for conservative firebrand Jim Jordan, who narrowly lost to Scalise on a secret ballot vote Wednesday. 'To limit ourselves to just getting 217 out of our conference I think is not a wise path forward,' Rogers said.... Democrats are ready to form a bipartisan coalition to lead the House, Jeffries said."
The Bickersons. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "House Republicans ... are consumed with an extended struggle of personal grievance, petty beefs, political payback and rampant attention-seeking that on Thursday night forced Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana to withdraw as his party's candidate for speaker. The tumult has sidelined Congress at a critical moment and rendered the Capitol a bastion of G.O.P. dysfunction. The spectacle of their infighting is even more glaring at a moment of international crisis, a fact not lost on Republicans themselves as they remain unable to settle on a speaker who could put the House back in business.... But there was no sign on Thursday that Republicans were ready to end their bickering despite the press of world events and it was unclear how they could right the ship after Mr. Scalise's wrenching decision."
Nate Cohn of the New York Times sounds an alarm: "... even if ... the rise and fall of Kevin McCarthy ... ultimately ends like any other Republican congressional drama in Washington over the last decade, something different and important has already happened: The right wing didn't just bring down a House speaker -- its members also made a credible bid at claiming the gavel for themselves. A founder of the House Freedom Caucus, Jim Jordan, won 99 votes in the House Republican conference vote Wednesday, good for about 45 percent of congressional Republicans.... The swelling congressional support for Mr. Jordan ... might ... herald the emergence of a new, alternative Trumpist governing elite -- one authentically loyal to Donald J. Trump's pugilistic brand of politics, and one that would pose a fundamental challenge to what remains of the beleaguered Republican 'establishment.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: For what it's worth, I think this was apparent on January 6, 2021, when eight Republican senators (out of 50) and 139 representatives (out of 218) voted to challenge certain state results -- and that was after the bloody insurrection. That's nearly 2/3rds of House Republicans.
** Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Senator Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat charged last month with taking bribes in exchange for lucrative political favors, faced a stunning new accusation on Thursday -- that he conspired to act as an agent of Egypt even as he served as the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Manhattan federal prosecutors filed the fresh charge against Mr. Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, as well as a third defendant, Wael Hana, accusing them of conspiring to have the senator act as a foreign agent without registering with the Justice Department. The prosecutors have asked a judge to seize the Menendezes' residence in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., as well as a Mercedes-Benz convertible that the government says was given to them as a bribe. The charge ... is certain to intensify pressure for him to resign from office. It accuses him of violating an explicit prohibition on public officials serving as agents of foreign powers and appears to be the first time a sitting senator has been charged under the World War II-era Foreign Agents Registration Act." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ The AP story is here. Politico's story is here. The updated indictment, via Politico, is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Tracey Tully & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "A week after a fatal car crash involving the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez, a prosecutor's office in New Jersey filed an official account of the incident that contained apparent factual errors quickly noted by relatives of the pedestrian who was killed. But the seven-page report, which concluded that the driver, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, should not be charged, was never corrected -- raising new questions about whether the incident was handled properly by the authorities.... The documents prepared by the Bergen County Prosecutor's office are among a trove of records seized in recent days by the New Jersey attorney general's office as it scrutinizes the actions of the local police in suburban Bogota, N.J., and the county investigators."
Marie: About that nasty stare Trump adopts because he thinks it makes him look tough and intimidating? Well, looks like he plans to employ it next week: ~~~
~~~ Return of the Scowler. Jonah Bromwich of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump plans to return next week to the New York courtroom where his civil fraud trial is slowly proceeding..., a reappearance that is likely to bring him face-to-face with his former fixer Michael D. Cohen.... Mr. Trump's return, first reported by The Messenger, is likely to coincide with the appearance of the most hotly anticipated witness so far: Mr. Cohen, whose congressional testimony in February 2019 that Mr. Trump inflated the value of his assets was the impetus for [New York Attorney General Letitia] James's investigation.... Mr. Trump may also be returning to New York for another reason: He is expected to sit for a deposition next week for a lawsuit brought by two former F.B.I. employees, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who say they were persecuted by his Justice Department...." The AP's story is here.
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The judge overseeing ... Donald J. Trump's coming trial on charges of mishandling classified documents scolded federal prosecutors on Thursday as she postponed a hearing on whether one of Mr. Trump's co-defendants understood that his lawyer might have conflicts of interest. 'I do want to admonish the government for frankly wasting the court's time,' Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Federal District Court in Fort Pierce, Fla., told David Harbach, a prosecutor working with the special counsel Jack Smith on the case. At issue was a request by Mr. Smith's team that Judge Cannon hold a hearing to make sure that Mr. Trump's co-defendants -- both of whom are employed by him -- understood that their lawyers, who are being paid by a political action committee affiliated with the former president and who have represented witnesses in the case, had possible conflicts....Judge Cannon rebuked Mr. Harbach as being overly vague in his request." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I might be wrong, but I find Cannon's pique immensely stupid -- and misplaced. It's up to the judge to decide how to address possible conflicts of interest, no matter who raises the issue in the first place. But since she failed to consider the co-defendants' rights, the prosecutor asked her what she wanted to do. Apparently she had no idea since she doesn't give a rat's ass about Trump's little co-defendants, so she railed at the prosector for failing to do her job for her. Just saying.
Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "On Wednesday, Ronald McAbee, 29, was found guilty of taking part in that assault on the West Terrace of the Capitol, the site of intense violence where in minutes multiple police officers were swarmed and beaten while trying to block a tunnel into the building. McAbee, a sheriff's deputy at a rural Tennessee jail at the time, was on medical leave on Jan. 6 because he had fractured his shoulder in a car accident six days before. McAbee pleaded guilty last month to assaulting another police officer, Carter Moore, in the tunnel. But he insisted at trial for the assault of Wayte that he was trying to protect the officer and alert police to the body of an unconscious protester. McAbee was found guilty on five charges, including assaulting, impeding or resisting an officer and civil disorder, as well as three related to having a deadly or dangerous weapon: his reinforced gloves." (Also linked yesterday.)
Lauren Sforza of the Hill: "A former IRS contractor pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of leaking tax information about former President Trump and others to news outlets between 2018 and 2020. Charles Littlejohn, 38, was charged by the Justice Department last month for disclosing tax return information on 'thousands of the nation's wealthiest individuals' to a news organization as well as passing along tax information associated with 'a high-ranking government official' to a different news outlet. He pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of unauthorized disclosure of tax return and return information." The DOJ's press release is here.
Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "The European Union launched a probe Thursday into X...-Twitter, over the handling of content about the war in Israel and Gaza. The move to investigate the platform owned by Elon Musk is the most significant action taken by the EU under its new Digital Services Act, which aims to restrict the spread of illegal content and disinformation across social media platforms.... The European Commission probe comes after the commission received 'indications' of the spread of illegal content and disinformation on X, 'in particular the spreading of terrorist and violent content and hate speech,' according to the announcement.... Critics and experts monitoring the situation said the changes to X under Musk have amplified concerns about the spread of disinformation during the conflict. Under Musk, certain content moderation measures were rolled back."
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Israel/Palestine
The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in the Israeli/Hamas war are here: "Frightened Palestinians packed belongings and left their homes in northern Gaza on Friday after Israel's military demanded that more than a million civilians move to the south of the blockaded coastal strip, a possible precursor to a ground invasion but one that the United Nations warned could be calamitous.... The United Nations, which said Israel's military had given civilians 24 hours to leave northern Gaza, pleaded for the call to be rescinded for fear of a humanitarian disaster." ~~~
~~~ CNN's live updates for Friday are here.
Jonathan Weisman & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Not long ago, Donald J. Trump occupied enormous psychological space in Israel and among American Jews: His face draped skyscrapers alongside Benjamin Netanyahu's during Israeli elections, and his politics drove a wedge between the Democratic Party and the Jews who have long called it their political home. But it is President Biden's face that now beams from a billboard over the main highway through Tel Aviv, and Mr. Trump's criticism of Israel's leaders that has left even Israeli conservatives stunned. The president is suddenly finding warm embraces for his response to the worst terrorist attack in the Jewish State's history in the most unlikely places.... Mr. Biden's speech condemning the 'evil' perpetrated by Hamas..., his swift offer of military assistance, and the presence of his secretary of state, Antony Blinken, on Israeli soil have all won remarkable plaudits." ~~~
~~~ Neil Vigdor, et al., of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump drew scorn from both sides of the political aisle on Thursday for remarks that he made one day earlier criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and referring to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, as 'very smart.'... Mr. Trump, who has frequently sought to cast himself as a champion for Israel, maligned Mr. Netanyahu on multiple occasions in recent days." The reporters give several examples of politicians criticizing Trump. MB: Once again, Trump finds there's a downside to his admiration for bloodthirsty dictators & torturers, and once again, it probably won't matter to his election prospects. ~~~
Washington Post Editors: "At a time when the United States, and the world, desperately need decency and moral clarity, President Biden has provided both. His words regarding the wanton atrocities Hamas has committed against hundreds of Israeli civilians, as well as many Americans and citizens of other countries, in the past week have been unequivocal.... In condemning the terrorism, and offering support to Israel's military response, the president also reminded the new emergency war government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of its responsibilities under 'the law of war.' These measured statements put the United States in just the right place: supportive of Israel but positioned, if need be, to influence and temper its response.... In a reckless category of their own, however, were the comments of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.... The former president went in a bizarre new direction Wednesday by heaping scorn on Israel itself for failing to anticipate the attack and lecturing the Jewish state to 'step up their game.'"
John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken invoked his Jewish ancestry on Thursday in a markedly personal appeal to the Israeli public aimed at offering solidarity as the country reeled from the deadliest assault in its 75-year history.... Blinken's unequivocal support for Israel came amid growing international calls to manage the deteriorating humanitarian situation stemming from Israel's airstrikes and shutdown of Gaza.... For Gaza, where resources are dwindling after Israel ordered a total blockade earlier this week, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres urged the allowance of 'rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access.... Crucial lifesaving supplies -- including fuel, food and water -- must be allowed into Gaza,' he said." A related ABC News report is here.
Michael Crowley & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "The United States and Qatar have agreed to deny Iran's access to $6 billion in funds recently transferred to the nation as part of a deal between Washington and Tehran that led to the release of five imprisoned Americans from Iran last month. Wally Adeyemo, the deputy Treasury secretary, told House Democrats on Thursday that Iran would no longer have access to the funds, according to a person familiar with the matter. The money was under close supervision and strict conditions that it be used only for humanitarian purposes. The move comes amid harsh criticism, mainly from Republicans, that the Biden administration gave Iran access to a vast sum that freed up other funds for Tehran to provide support to Hamas before its attack on Israel over the weekend." (Also linked yesterday.)
Dan Sabbagh of the Guardian & Agencies: "A senior US politician said Israel had received an official warning from Egypt of a possible attack from Gaza three days before Hamas launched its deadly cross-border assault on Saturday. Michael McCaul, the chair of the US House foreign affairs committee, speaking after an intelligence briefing to senior members of Congress, said it was not clear at what level the warning was given. 'We know that Egypt has warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen,' McCaul, a Republican, told reporters on Wednesday. 'I don't want to get too much into classified [details], but a warning was given. I think the question was at what level.'" Thanks to RAS for the lead. (Also linked yesterday.)
Fresh off his unintentionally rapid disembarkment from an aeroplane (see yesterday's Comments), Sen. Pototo Head (R-Ala.) expressed his ignorance of all things Middle East: Tommy Christopher of Mediaite: "Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is under fire for telling an interviewer that 'when you start picking sides in the Middle East, it can get really messy very quick' amid the violence in Israel spurred by Hamas." MB: I suppose this was meant to be a sideswipe at President Biden & his administration for supporting Israel, but it was about as adroit as a slip all the way down a set of boarding stairs.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Louise Glück, an American poet whose searing, deeply personal work, often filtered through themes of classical mythology, religion and the natural world, won her practically every honor available, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and, in 2020, the Nobel Prize for Literature, died on Friday at her home in Cambridge, Mass. She was 80."
CNBC: "Prices that consumers pay for a wide variety of goods and services increased at a slightly faster-than-expected pace in September, keeping inflation in the spotlight for policymakers. The consumer price index, a closely followed inflation gauge, increased 0.4% on the month and 3.7% from a year ago, according to a Labor Department report Thursday. That compared with respective Dow Jones estimates of 0.3% and 3.6%."
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