Nancy Pelosi is evicted from her private Capitol Hill office by interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry

One of the first official acts of interim Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Patrick McHenry, in this temporary role, was to remove Nancy Pelosi from her honorary post in the Capitol while she was in California to pay tribute the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Pelosi, who was dubbed “Speaker Emerita” by the Democratic Caucus after the party lost its majority in the House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections, had maintained a coveted hideout in the complex.

McHenry, a Republican from North Carolina, was appointed acting speaker by his Republican ally Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the speaker’s seat on Tuesday by a rebel faction of the party.

Although McHenry will only lead the House until a replacement is voted in, he moved quickly to exercise his new powers by giving Pelosi less than 24 hours to relinquish her honorary office.

“Please leave the room tomorrow, the chamber will be rekeyed,” a top aide to the Republican-controlled House Administration Committee wrote in an email to Pelosi’s office, according to Politics.

A photo from the Capitol showed items from Pelosi’s office being packed up Tuesday evening while the Democrat was in California to attend Feinstein’s funeral.

The email added that the private office had been reassigned for “use for speakers’ offices” and she was ordered to vacate the space by Wednesday.

Pelosi characterized the move as “a sharp departure from tradition” in a statement to Politico, adding that she had given former Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican, “a significantly increased number of offices for as long as he wanted” during her term.

“Unfortunately, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time,” she said.

While private offices in the Capitol are quite common among senators, they are rare and sought after among lawmakers.

Pelosi, 83, served as speaker of the 52nd House from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023.

A photo from the Capitol showed items from Pelosi’s office being packed up Tuesday evening while the Democrat was in California to attend Feinstein’s funeral.

Feinstein’s body will lie in state in the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday, with everyone from elected leaders to city residents expected to bid their farewells.

She died Thursday at the age of 90 at her home in Washington, D.C., after a series of illnesses.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, RN.C., was named the House’s new interim leader, speaker pro tempore, and will serve in the office until a new speaker is elected

Kevin McCarthy says he won’t run for speaker again and ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’

McCarthy was voted out of office on Tuesday in an extraordinary confrontation with hardline rebels in his own party, throwing the House of Representatives and its Republican leadership into chaos.

The California Republican’s nemesis, Matt Gaetz, led a faction of eight Republican rebels who, enraged by McCarthy’s compromises to prevent a government shutdown, voted along with 208 Democrats to impeach him.

It means McCarthy has the ignominious title of the shortest-serving speaker since 1875, and the only one in US history to have been voted out of the leadership by his fellow members.

McCarthy told lawmakers in the evening that he would not run for president again, leaving the gavel up for grabs.

The next steps are highly uncertain and there is no clear successor to lead the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

Action in the House of Representatives is on hold until next week, when Republicans will try to elect a new speaker.

“I may have lost this vote today, but as I leave this chamber I feel fortunate to have served,” McCarthy said at a news conference at the Capitol.

Still, he said, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Gaetz orchestrated the rare vote on the obscure “motion to vacate” and quickly moved on to a dramatic afternoon roll call.

As the House of Representatives fell silent, Gaetz, a key ally of Donald Trump, stood up to introduce his motion.

Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz led the uprising against Kevin McCarthy

Leaders tried to overturn it, but the vote was 218 to 208, with 11 Republicans opposed to making the motion, a sign of trouble to come.

The House of Representatives then opened a floor debate unprecedented in modern times, and Republicans publicly debated each other for over an hour.

“It’s a sad day,” Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma said as the debate got underway, urging his colleagues not to plunge the Republican majority in the House of Representatives “into chaos.”

But Gaetz responded during the debate: “Chaos is Speaker McCarthy.”

As the fiery debate continued, many of the complaints against the speaker centered on his truthfulness and his ability to keep the promises he made.

Almost alone, Gaetz led his side of the debate, criticizing the debt deal McCarthy made with President Joe Biden and the vote to avoid a government shutdown, which conservatives opposed as they demanded sharper cuts.

But a long line of McCarthy supporters stood up for him, including Rep. Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican and leader of the conservative Freedom Caucus, who said, “He kept his word.”

Louisiana Republican Rep. Garret Graves waved his cell phone and said it was “disgusting” that hardline colleagues were raising money on the road in text messages asking for donations.

Silence fell as the presiding officer closed the vote, 216-210, saying the office of speaker “is hereby declared vacant.”

Moments later, McHenry, a key ally of McCarthy, took the gavel and, under House rules, was appointed speaker pro tempore, to serve in the office until a new speaker was elected.

The House then quickly deteriorated as lawmakers met privately to discuss the path forward.