Republicans moved swiftly to boot Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from her private office at the Capitol within hours of Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (CA) historic ouster.
McCarthy's temporary successor, Patrick McHenry (NC), notified Pelosi that her room was being vacated so McCarthy could use it. She was given a day to get out.
“Going to reassign h-132 for speaker office use. Please vacate the space tomorrow," an e-mail read.
It came after Democrats, acting as a unit, helped a small group of Republicans boot McCarthy from the Speaker's role in a historic vote Tuesday.
Pelosi's longtime deputy Steny Hoyer (MD) was also booted from his "hideaway." The special offices, conveniently located in the Capitol, are normally reserved for Senators and members of House leadership.
But an office has customarily been reserved for the "preceding speaker," which until Tuesday, was Pelosi.
With McCarthy's ouster, Pelosi has been unceremoniously swept out of the Capitol.
Democrats have cried foul, but Republican Rep. Garret Graves (LA) said Democrats brought this on themselves by voting to fire McCarthy.
"Look the deal is that the office that Pelosi is in right now is the office of the preceding speaker. Speaker Pelosi and other Democrats determined that they wanted a new … speaker, and it’s Kevin McCarthy. So, he’s getting the office,” he said.
Walked by this evening and the hideaway is being packed up -> pic.twitter.com/n0jWFhCHxP
— Nicholas Wu (@nicholaswu12) October 4, 2023
Pelosi was unable to make the move herself because she was away in California for the funeral of her longtime friend and ally Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA). Staff for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) helped with the move.
In a screeching statement, Pelosi called the loss of her special privileges a "sharp departure from tradition."
“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 wrote on Twitter.
"As Speaker, I gave former Speaker Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished. Office space doesn’t matter to me, but it seems to be important to them,” she continued.
Pelosi still has her normal office in the Cannon House Office Building, where she will have to rub elbows with all of the rank-and-file members - Pelosi being one herself, although she doesn't seem to accept that.
