Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was informed on Tuesday that she would be required to vacate her private Capitol office just hours after the vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as the speaker of the House.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) informed Pelosi (D-CA) in an email that she must move out of the office by Wednesday, as first reported by Politico.
“The Speaker pro tempore is going to re-assign H-132 for speaker office use. Please vacate the space tomorrow, the room will be re-keyed,” stated the email, according to NPR.
This eviction was one of the first actions taken by McHenry as the interim speaker, which Pelosi said in a statement was “a sharp departure from tradition.” She added that she “gave former Speaker [Dennis] Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
“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 her statement, per NPR.
“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.”
Since Pelosi is currently in California, she received assistance from House Minority Speaker Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) staff in moving out of the office.
“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,” Pelosi stated, as reported by Fox News.
McHenry’s decision to evict Pelosi from the office comes following the vote to oust McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker of the House.
Every Democrat lawmaker involved in the vote, along with eight Republicans, including Matt Gaetz, Eli Crane (AZ), Andy Biggs (AZ), Ken Buck (CO), Matt Rosendale (MN), Nancy Mace (SC), Tim Burchett (TN), and Bob Good (VA), voted to remove McCarthy, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
House rules required McCarthy to submit a list of names who could serve as the interim speaker if he were to vacate the position for any reason. Since McHenry’s was first on the list, he will serve as the interim speaker for an undetermined period.
