Kevin McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, faces a vote on his impeachment. On Tuesday evening, the proposal not to put his impeachment to a vote was rejected. The attempt to oust him was initiated by Matt Gates. The motion to postpone the vote was defeated by a vote of 218 to 208.
Live broadcast from the House of Representatives
This is a historic impeachment attempt that takes place in the House of Representatives when the Speaker's party decides to impeach him. Since 1910, no Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has been impeached.
The move followed McCarthy's compromise with Democrats to avert a government shutdown last week. Behind the impeachment is Congressman Matt Gates, from the conservative right of the Republican Party, who called for the process to begin and drew six Republicans who publicly admitted they would support the measure.
Before the vote, McCarthy said he was "optimistic" and earlier today deflected rumors of cooperation with Democrats who could, theoretically, help thwart the impeachment attempt.
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