A first in the history of the US House of Representatives

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s term was terminated following a motion by the far-right group within the Republican Party, of which he is also a member. US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was removed from office in a vote held in the House following the waning of his support among Republicans, becoming the first speaker in American history to be removed from office by the votes of members of his own party. The motion submitted yesterday by Republican House member Matt Gaetz to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is also a Republican, was put to a vote today. The motion was accepted with 216 yes votes, against 210 no votes. In addition to the Democrats, 8 Republicans voted yes to McCarthy’s removal. McCarthy was thus removed from his position as speaker of the House, but he will continue to be a representative. Republican Representative Patrick McHenry was appointed as the interim speaker of the House until a new speaker is elected. This is the first time a vote has been held in the US House of Representatives to remove a speaker from office in over 110 years. McCarthy became the first House Speaker in modern American history to be removed from office by members of his own party after support within his own party waned. McCarthy was elected speaker after 15 votes. Tensions between McCarthy and a far-right group within the Republicans in the House of Representatives had been ongoing for a long time. Republican Representative Gaetz of Florida, who was a member of this group, opposed McCarthy becoming Speaker of the House in January. McCarthy, who had to make some concessions to convince Gaetz and his group, was elected speaker only after 15 votes. Among the concessions McCarthy made to Republicans who did not support him to become Speaker of the House was that a motion from one representative would be enough to vote for his removal. Tensions increased further during the budget negotiations. Tensions between Gaetz and McCarthy have been increasing recently. Gaetz had implied that McCarthy was not a good leader by arguing that he was making "concessions" to Democrats. McCarthy, on the other hand, noted that Gaetz was busy giving interviews on television for his own personal benefit rather than doing anything for the country. Gaetz most recently claimed that McCarthy made a secret deal with US President Joe Biden and Democrats regarding aid to Ukraine as part of budget negotiations. Far-right members of the Republican Party are demanding more aggressive steps to resolve border issues and to reduce aid and spending for Ukraine as much as possible. Trump criticizes Republicans in Congress Former US President Donald Trump criticized the Republicans' internal conflict in a statement he made on his social media platform TruthSocial ahead of the vote. Trump said, "Why are Republicans always fighting among themselves? Why aren't they fighting the radical left Democrats who are destroying our country?"