Rep. Patrick McHenry, in one of his first actions as speaker pro tempore, directed former House speaker Nancy Pelosi to “immediately” vacate her hideaway office in the Capitol by Wednesday.
The eviction notice came just hours after the entire Democratic Caucus voted Tuesday to remove Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House, with eight GOP lawmakers providing the crucial votes needed for it to succeed.
Mr. McHenry also kicked out Mrs. Pelosi’s longtime sidekick in Democratic leadership, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, from his hideaway office in the Capitol.
Capitol Hill insiders viewed the evictions as paybacks for Democrats’ role in helping eject Mr. McCarthy from the speaker’s podium.
An email was sent to Mrs. Pelosi’s office on Tuesday saying the “room will be re-keyed” and reassigned for “speaker use,” Politico first reported.
Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, was allowed to keep her Capitol office despite no longer being part of her party’s leadership.
SEE ALSO: Hoyer is second Democrat kicked out of Capitol office after anti-McCarthy vote
“This eviction is a sharp departure from tradition,” she said in a statement from her office in response to this demand from Mr. McHenry. She added that when she was speaker, “I gave former Speaker [Dennis] Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
Mrs. Pelosi noted that because she is in California “mourning the loss of and paying tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein,” she would not be able to retrieve her belongings. Mrs. Feinstein, California Democrat, died last week at age 90.
Staffers of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat, helped move Mrs. Pelosi’s belongings out of the office late Tuesday evening. A television and bags were spotted by reporters outside the office before they were taken away.
“Office space doesn’t matter to me, but it seems to be important to them,” Mrs. Pelosi added. “Now that the new Republican Leadership has settled this important matter, let’s hope they get to work on what’s truly important for the American people.”
Mr. McCarthy said he confided in Mrs. Pelosi over the problems he had capturing the speaker’s gavel back in January. Mr. McCarthy faced difficult opposition from hard-line conservative members of his party.
“She said, ‘Just give it to them. I’ll always back you up,’” Mr. McCarthy recalled.
Mrs. Pelosi was not present and was in California for Mrs. Feinstein’s funeral, however, when the House voted to eject Mr. McCarthy as House speaker.
Mr. McHenry, North Carolina Republican, was named House speaker pro tempore after Mr. McCarthy’s ouster. He is serving in an emergency capacity to oversee the election of the next speaker. All House floor business has stopped until a new speaker is elected.
The speaker election is expected to occur next week.
Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Hoyer still have the use of their standard offices in the Longworth House Office Building.
• Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.