House Freedom Caucus ‘Surprised’ but ‘Respects’ Kevin McCarthy Dropping out of

Thursday’s reveal was only the latest surprise announcement coming from a fractured Republican conference this fall, after Boehner, R-Ohio, said late last month that he would be stepping down from his position at the end of October.

McCarthy may not have had the votes to be elected speaker later this month. “But you can’t just coalesce around one little tiny segment of the party and win elections”. “Boehner has told Ryan that he is the only person who can unite the House GOP at a time of turmoil”. “But while he will have a very conservative agenda, it will be an an agenda that takes into account those who have different opinions, those who have better ideas and those without a voice”, she said. He said he would stay on in his current post as majority leader.

McCarthy had been under fire recently after he gave an interview seeming to suggest that the controversial special congressional committee investigating the Benghazi terrorist attacks were meant to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid. Boehner was seen walking through the halls of the Capitol flanked by reporters and heard saying “a wonderful day”, though he did not answer questions about why he resigned or how he was feeling. Basically House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy could have lost only 29 votes and reports were that more than 40 may have been planning to vote against him.

Paul Ryan and John Boehner.

Asked who could unify the party, Gowdy referred to Pope Francis when he said: “Either [Ryan] or the fellow who just went back to Italy”.

Not known as one to shy away from braggadocio, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump chose to claim a few credit for California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s decision to exit the race to become House speaker.

The Freedom Caucus had endorsed Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., for speaker, based on his commitment to ending the top-down approach that conservatives believe dominates the GOP conference. “He said the country is asking for a new face, new leadership, and he said I’m going to pull out”.

“It’s a tough caucus to unite right now”, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Lawmakers are also struggling with Obama on spending levels before government funding runs out on December. 11. Could ANYONE manage to glue together the battling factions within the House Republicans? He says it’s unrealistic to expect a new speaker will be so gifted that he can singlehandedly reconcile three warring Republican factions: centrists, traditional conservatives, and the hardline House Freedom Caucus. He has been majority leader since August 2014.

Conservative radio talk show host Sean Hannity announced Thursday night that he would endorse former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to reclaim the role of speaker.