In an apparent shift of rhetoric, President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered his most pointed expression yet of concern for Palestinian civilians affected by the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Biden said he continues to be alarmed about attacks by what he called extremist settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, likening the assaults to “pouring gasoline on fire.”

He made the remarks at the beginning of his joint press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was at the White House for a state visit.

“This was a deal. The deal was made, and they’re attacking Palestinians in places that they’re entitled to be,” Biden said, referring to the 1993 Oslo Accords. “It has to stop,” he implored. “They have to be held accountable. It has to stop now.”

According to the health ministry run by the Palestinian Authority, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers and in military raids since Hamas launched its incursion on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, an attack in which Israeli authorities said at least 1,400 people were massacred and 200 were taken hostage.

Biden did not mention the Israeli military’s role in the West Bank violence. Following Hamas’ attacks, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right settler with a history of anti-Arab incitement, distributed weapons to settlers, many of whom were already heavily armed.

Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, cited Israel’s decades-long occupation of the West Bank among its motives for attacking Israeli civilians and soldiers.

Israeli retaliatory airstrikes since October 7 have killed more than 5,000 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, and have displaced more than a million people who have followed Israeli evacuation orders.

Biden expressed skepticism on the death toll, doubting that “Palestinians are telling the truth.”

A senior administration official clarified to VOA the president is skeptical of Hamas-supplied figures given the limited ability of outside parties to verify them and because of the ministry’s “history of inflating death tolls.”

Robert McCaw, who leads the Government Affairs Department at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, mocked Biden’s skepticism.

“Would it make the president feel better if only 1,000 children were dead?” he said to VOA.

Still, Biden’s remarks were his most extensive and sympathetic toward Palestinians since the war broke out. He outlined a postwar vision in which Hamas – the organization that Washington designated in 1997 as a foreign terrorist group – is dismantled and the region is on a path toward a two-state solution.

He underscored the need for Israel’s Arab neighbors to come to diplomatic terms with Israel without brushing aside the Palestinian cause, and he suggested that progress toward “regional integration for Israel” was a motive for Hamas’ attack.

Shift in tone

Wednesday’s remarks marked a shift in tone for Biden. Days after the militants’ attack, in a forceful and emotional speech denouncing Hamas as “pure, unadulterated evil,” Biden made no mention of Palestinian casualties despite hundreds already killed in Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Fresh off his brief wartime visit to Tel Aviv, in an Oct. 20 speech requesting funding to support Israel and Ukraine, Biden said he was “heartbroken by the tragic loss of Palestinian life.”

In the same sentence, he backed Israel’s account that it was not responsible for the deadly hospital explosion in Gaza. U.S. officials say they have concluded Israel is not to blame for the explosion at the hospital.

 

As Israeli retaliatory airstrikes continue, with heavy tolls on civilians in Gaza and the threat of a wider war in the Middle East, some see a shift in Biden’s handling of the crisis.

The president’s rhetoric at the beginning of the conflict was “so decidedly one-sided” that the administration didn’t provide themselves with “a way out when they wanted to pivot,” said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.

“Is it a decisive enough shift to represent balance? Not yet,” Zogby told VOA. “The Israelis certainly still have a green light.”

As casualties grow, Biden is under increasing pressure from groups denouncing his “unwavering” support of Israel.

American Muslims have been “disturbed, shocked, disappointed, and distraught” by Biden’s policies, said Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

Al-Marayati noted that while Biden’s words have become more sympathetic, they are betrayed by his administration’s actions.

“They’re ready for a full-scale invasion of the Middle East, not just Gaza,” he told VOA. “God knows where this will take us.”

In response to a reporter’s question, Biden said he did not ask Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to delay the ground invasion that Israel is planning, to allow extraction of hostages including Americans out of Gaza.

“What I have indicated to him is that if that’s possible to get these folks out safely, that’s what he should do,” he said. “It’s their decision, but I did not demand it.”

Americans side with Israel

Several polls taken after the Hamas attack show most Americans side with Israel in the conflict. The numbers reverse a long-term trend where Americans’ sympathies toward Palestinians have gradually increased over the past several years, although still less than toward Israelis. A 2013 Gallup poll indicated that 64% of Americans sympathized with Israelis and 12% with Palestinians. Earlier this year, the gap narrowed to 54% to 31%.

Even with domestic pressure from Arab and Muslim Americans as well as Progressive Democrats, a year away from U.S. presidential elections, the bigger factor in Biden’s calculation is international condemnation, said Zogby.

Massive anti-Israeli and anti-American demonstrations have created tensions in the Arab world, risking greater instability and prospects of regional escalation that Washington and its allies are keen to avoid.

Washington is also keen to keep good relations with Global South countries, many of which side with the Palestinian cause, as the U.S. competes for world influence with China and Russia, said Richard Gowan, U.N. director of the International Crisis Group.

One way to let off a little steam in the crisis is to ensure humanitarian aid gets into Gaza, Gowan told VOA.

“I think the U.S. wants to show that – both in the region and at the U.N. – it is trying to get assistance to the Palestinians, with the hopes that that will lower the rising temperature in the region.”

That hope was dashed Wednesday at the U.N. when Russia and China vetoed a U.S.- sponsored Security Council resolution that called for a humanitarian pause in fighting, the protection of civilians and a stop to arming Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip. Days earlier the U.S. vetoed a draft from Brazil that would allow humanitarian aid but did not include Israel’s right to defend itself.

Misha Komadovsky contributed to this report.
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Fears that Hamas’ deadly terror attack on Israel could help spark a wider conflict or even terror attacks in the United States have yet to materialize into actual threats, according to U.S. officials, but that has not stopped concerns from spreading.

The focus on the potential threat has grown in recent days following the appearance online of an apparent Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, memo warning that operatives with links to Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad or Hezbollah might try to enter the U.S. along its southern border.

The U.S. has designated all three groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

“Individuals inspired by or reacting to the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border,” according to the memo, first obtained by The Daily Caller.

The document, from the CBP’s San Diego field office, further warns, “Foreign fighters motivated by ideology or mercenary soldiers of fortune may attempt to obfuscate travel to or from the U.S. to or from countries in the Middle East through Mexico.”

It then shows insignias associated with each of the groups and suggests questions that could help identify a foreign fighter.

CBP declined to confirm the authenticity of the memo but, in a statement to VOA, downplayed the threat.

“CBP has seen no indication of Hamas-directed foreign fighters seeking to make entry into the United States,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said CBP “provides frontline personnel a wide range of context for situational awareness in order to ensure they remain vigilant in fulfillment of our homeland and border security missions.”

“Situational awareness briefs are not threat assessments,” the spokesperson said.

Concerns that the Hamas terror attack and Israel’s subsequent military response could spill over into U.S. streets spiked earlier this month when a former Hamas leader called for a day of rage, urging Muslims “to join in the fight” and deliver a “message of anger” in support of the militant group’s fight against Israel.

Police departments in New York, Los Angeles and Washington heightened security as a precaution. And the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hosted a call for almost 4,000 law enforcement agencies across the country to review the security environment and share additional resources.

Despite the concerns, a homeland security official said at the time that the department had “no specific credible intelligence indicating any potential threat to the homeland at this time.”

“If any information is developed that would require that we adjust our security posture to protect the homeland, we are, of course, prepared to do that,” the official said.

DHS threat assessments have also warned, repeatedly, that the biggest danger is homegrown, not foreign, and “marked by lone offenders or small group attacks that occur with little warning.”

Officials expressed concern that the volume of videos and propaganda flooding social media could serve as an accelerant.

Some U.S. lawmakers have been raising concerns about the potential for terrorists to use the border with Mexico as a gateway into the U.S.

“The number of individuals with derogatory information in terrorist screening databases illegally crossing the southwest border has also skyrocketed during the Biden Administration,” the Republican chairmen of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Homeland Security committees wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month. The letter warned of an “elevated national security risk.”

CBP officials maintain that “encounters of known and suspected terrorists at our borders are very uncommon.”

But a spike in migration across the Americas has raised the stakes.

“We obviously are concerned that with that increase, you might have an increase in people who might come over with malign intentions, including potential terrorists,” the DHS undersecretary for intelligence and analysis told an audience in Washington last month. 

Kenneth Wainstein said the department was working closely with the FBI to better identify anyone potentially affiliated with terror groups. The department’s various entities have “significantly ramped up their operations to ensure that we’re identifying any such bad actors before they come across,” he said.

More recently, DHS officials said there have not been any signs that terror groups are seeking to exploit migration patterns.

“We just haven’t seen information at all that would suggest that at this stage,” an official said earlier this month, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Still, other eyes are also keeping watch, especially when it comes to Hezbollah, an Iranian-linked group known to operate in Central and South America.

The U.S. is “watching very, very closely,” the commander of U.S. Southern Command said during a forum in Washington earlier this month.

“Working with our partner nations, obviously they’re concerned, too,” Gen. Laura Richardson said in response to a question from VOA.
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After a career spanning three decades and just as many continents, the Wall Street Journal’s Paul Beckett has a new assignment that he hopes will be his shortest yet: freeing his colleague Evan Gershkovich.  

Since Gershkovich was detained in Russia in March, Beckett has been working on his case in an informal capacity in addition to his duties as Washington bureau chief. But in his new role as assistant editor, Gershkovich will be Beckett’s sole priority.

“The longer this goes on, the harder we need to work,” Beckett told VOA recently over coffee. “I couldn’t think of a greater cause to pile in on.” 

 Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich while he was on a reporting trip. Moscow accused the reporter of spying, which he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The U.S. has also declared Gershkovich wrongfully detained.  

The Journal’s response to the arrest has been lauded by media advocates for its relentless coverage and social media blitzes, high-profile events and full-page newspaper ads. News about Gershkovich’s case remains at the top of the outlet’s homepage. 

“If you were ever in Evan’s situation, what would you like to see your employer doing on your behalf?” Beckett said. That’s his guiding principle. 

Four main constituencies are involved in working to free Gershkovich, according to Beckett: the reporter’s family, his newspaper, the U.S. government and the public. 

Gershkovich’s older sister Danielle is part of that first group. Her brother’s plight, she says, has clarified the important role that reporters play.  

“It makes me just believe stronger that journalism must be protected, and journalists must be protected and be able to do their jobs,” she told VOA.  

Beckett is quick to add that he is part of a larger “Team Evan” composed of the Journal’s lawyers and top editors. But in his role, he plans to start by working closely with those key groups, adding, “This is all learning on the job.”

And while discussions for Gershkovich’s release will be government-to-government, Beckett said, part of the strategy is to keep the public’s attention on the reporter. 

People should care about Gershkovich’s case, Beckett said, because it underscores broader threats against journalists and press freedom around the world. 

“The countries that matter the most to the United States, at the moment, are also the same countries that are doing the most against press freedom,” Beckett said. “And if those countries are attacking press freedom, how do you know what is happening in the world? And, therefore, how do you know what’s happening to America’s place in the world?”  

Prolonged detention

Authorities have repeatedly extended Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention, most recently in early October when a court ordered the reporter to remain in custody until at least November 30.

Under Russian law, he can be detained for up to one year before a trial has to begin.  

That reality hits hard for Gershkovich’s family.

“Every single day he’s detained is a day too long,” said his sister, Danielle Gershkovich.  

Media watchdogs rank Russia among the world’s worst press freedom environments, noting it is one of the countries with the most journalists in prison. 

Gershkovich is one of two American journalists imprisoned there.

Authorities in mid-October detained Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Russia said Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian national, was arrested for failing to register as a foreign agent.  

Russia’s Washington embassy did not reply to VOA’s email requesting comment. 

Over the course of his career Beckett — who originally hails from Scotland — has worked in several places that now have repressive media environments, including Mexico, India and Hong Kong.

Since working on securing Gershkovich’s release, Beckett has found himself reflecting on another Journal colleague — Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped in Pakistan and killed in 2002. 

At the time, Beckett was covering terrorist financing and had met Pearl just a few months before Islamist militants captured him. 

“It was a huge shock to the Wall Street Journal,” Beckett said. Pearl and Gershkovich’s cases are very different, but Beckett admits the case has him thinking more about Pearl. 

Beckett didn’t know Pearl well, but he has never even met Gershkovich in person. Besides some emails here and there, they’ve never really interacted, Beckett said.  

He acknowledges the ironic one-sidedness of their relationship. The Scotsman spends most of his days thinking about Gershkovich. After many months of conversations with Gershkovich’s family, friends and close colleagues, Beckett knows more about the reporter than most people.  

“I have never met him, but I feel like I know him very well,” Beckett said. In turn, Beckett recognizes that Gershkovich barely knows who he is at all.  

None of that really matters, though, Beckett added.

“I think he would rather have me doing this than not.”  

Thinking about the moment when Gershkovich will be released is sensitive for Beckett. When asked about their eventual meeting, he averted his eyes.  

“I get pretty emotional,” he said after a long pause, still concentrating on the coffee shop door. “That would be an extraordinary time.” 
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Zara-owner Inditex, the world’s biggest clothing retailer, has agreed to buy recycled polyester from a U.S. start-up as it aims for 25% of its fibers to come from “next-generation” materials by 2030.

As fast-fashion retailers face pressure to reduce waste and use recycled fabrics, Inditex is spending more than $74 million to secure supply from Los Angeles-based Ambercycle of its recycled polyester made from textile waste.

Polyester, a product of the petroleum industry, is widely used in sportswear as it is quick-drying and durable.

Under the offtake deal, Inditex will buy 70% of Ambercycle’s production of recycled polyester, which is sold under the brand cycora, over three years, Inditex CEO Oscar Garcia Maceiras said at a business event in Zaragoza, Spain.

Garcia Maceiras said Inditex is also working with other companies and start-ups in its innovation hub, a unit looking for ways to curb the environmental impact of its products.

“The sustainable transformation of Inditex … is not possible without the collaboration of the different stakeholders,” he said.

The Inditex investment will help Ambercycle fund its first commercial-scale textile recycling factory. Production of cycora at the plant is expected to begin around 2025, and the material will be used in Inditex products over the following three years.

Zara Athleticz, a sub-brand of sportswear for men, launched a collection on Wednesday of “technical pieces” containing up to 50% cycora. Inditex said the collection would be available from Zara.com.

Some apparel brands seeking to reduce their reliance on virgin polyester have switched to recycled polyester derived from plastic bottles, but that practice has come under criticism as it has created more demand for used plastic bottles, pushing up prices.

Textile-to-textile polyester recycling is in its infancy, though, and will take time to reach the scale required by global fashion brands.

“We want to drive innovation to scale-up new solutions, processes and materials to achieve textile-to-textile recycling,” Inditex’s chief sustainability officer Javier Losada said in a statement.

The Ambercycle deal marks the latest in a series of investments made by Inditex into textile recycling start-ups.

Last year it signed a $104 million, three-year deal to buy 30% of the recycled fiber produced by Finland’s Infinited Fiber Co., and also invested in Circ, another U.S. firm focused on textile-to-textile recycling.

In Spain, Inditex has joined forces with rivals, including H&M and Mango, in an association to manage clothing waste, as the industry prepares for EU legislation requiring member states to separately collect textile waste beginning January 2025.
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Richard Roundtree, a trailblazing Black actor who played the private eye John Shaft in the “Shaft” films of the 1970s and also took on dramatic roles dealing with race relations in America, died on Tuesday aged 81, the Hollywood Reporter said, citing his manager.

Roundtree died at his home in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer, the Reporter said, citing his manager, Patrick McMinn.

Roundtree’s representatives did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for confirmation.

“Richard’s work and career served as a turning point for African American leading men in film. The impact he had on the industry cannot be overstated,” McMinn said in a statement, according to Variety, another show business trade publication.

Roundtree shot to fame with the 1971 Blaxploitation movie “Shaft” about a private detective in the Harlem section of New York, and he reprised the role in a number of sequels and a short-lived network TV series.

The rugged and streetwise character, who wore flashy leather jackets and who was accompanied by a catchy theme song from Isaac Hayes, helped define cool for a Black leading man and also gained acceptance from white audiences.

Roundtree also had a role in the groundbreaking ABC television slavery drama “Roots” in 1977 and other prominent projects of the era, playing motorcycle daredevil Miles in 1974’s “Earthquake.”

Among his more poignant films was 1996’s “Once Upon a Time … When We Were Colored”, the story a tight-knit Black community confronting the racism of post-war Mississippi.

He also played opposite Peter O’Toole’s Robinson Crusoe in “Man Friday” in 1975 and alongside Laurence Olivier’s depiction of General Douglas MacArthur in 1981’s “Inchon.”

Roundtree worked regularly until the end, with 159 acting credits to his name plus three upcoming projects yet to be released, according to IMDB.com.

He was married twice and is survived by four daughters – Nicole, Tayler, Morgan and Kelli Roundtree – and his son, James, Variety said.
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The United States is trying to rein in some of the outrage that inflamed tensions and sparked protests around the world following last week’s explosion at the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza.

Much of the anger has focused on Israel, with many protesters following the lead of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which accuses Israel of carrying out an airstrike, calling the incident a “genocidal massacre.”

But the U.S. has been pushing back, publicly sharing its initial intelligence assessments while also sharing more detailed findings with key governments.

“We have gone out and shared analysis with a lot of our partners around the world,” a senior U.S. intelligence official told reporters late Tuesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the incident.

“Thus far it’s been fairly robust in terms of what we’ve been able to provide,” the official added. “I suspect we will be updating it and sending additional information out as we move forward.”

It is unclear, at this point, how much of an impact the intelligence sharing is having. 

Jordan and Egypt last week called off a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden in Amman, blaming Israel for the blast. And the explosion continues to be featured prominently at pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world.

“One of the things that our diplomats have asked … is that the intelligence community do more to lay out our thinking,” the senior official said.

And it is not just U.S. diplomats. 

“There has been intense interest in the hospital explosion and conflicting accounts about what happened,” a second senior U.S. official told VOA. “The U.S. government has worked to be able to share as much information as we could in the interest of transparency.”

The tactic of declassifying and sharing this type of sensitive intelligence is increasingly part of the U.S. playbook.

U.S. officials used it most notably in the lead-up to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. 

Since then, however, the U.S. has used what the White House calls “strategic downgrades” to counter Chinese claims about a spy balloon that traversed much of the United States and to defuse a potential crisis in Mali.

And in the case of last week’s explosion at the Ahli Arab Hospital, U.S. intelligence officials believe there is compelling evidence to exonerate Israel.

Based on information culled from a variety of sources, including satellite imagery, data on missile activity and intercepted communications, as well as publicly available video and images, U.S. intelligence officials have concluded with “high confidence” that Israel was not responsible for the hospital explosion.

“There are two primary reasons,” said a second U.S. intelligence official, who like the other officials, spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“The first is what we see when we look at the blast effects,” the official said. “The damage at the hospital is consistent with what we would expect to see from a rocket and inconsistent with the larger craters and broader blast effects that we would expect to see were this an airdrop munition or an artillery round.

“The detonation of the warhead resulted in only light structural damage at the hospital,” the official continued. “There was no observable damage to the main hospital building, no large impact craters, only light damage to the roofs of the two structures near the main hospital building. And both of them remained intact.”

The second reason for high confidence that Israel was not involved, according to the official, comes from videos that captured the launch and explosion, from four different angles.

Based on two of the videos, U.S. intelligence determined the rocket was launched from within the Gaza Strip, traveling in a northeasterly direction.

Then, about 10 seconds into the rocket’s flight, the motor starts having trouble and becomes unstable.

“We can tell that in part based on the fluctuating intensity of the rocket’s plume,” the official said.

Five seconds later, the videos show a flash – “our assessment is that that is the rocket motor failing,” the official said, and five seconds after that, one object hit the ground followed by a second, a few seconds later, resulting in a large explosion.

“Our conclusion is that there was a catastrophic motor failure that likely occurred which separated the motor and the warhead,” the official said. “The warhead landed in the hospital compound.”

Gaza’s health ministry said the explosion killed about 500 people. But U.S. officials told VOA news last week that they assessed the number of deaths was likely between 100 and 300, with the actual death toll likely on the lower end of the scale.

Officials late Tuesday said getting a more accurate count will likely be difficult and cast doubt on the ability of Hamas authorities to keep track of casualties given that they themselves “are struggling to function at this point in time.”   

U.S. intelligence officials likewise pushed back on some theories, popular on social media, that seek to blame Israel for a Palestinian rocket falling in Gaza, including claims that the rocket was shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

“Our understanding is that the Iron Dome would not intercept a rocket that was still burning,” the U.S. intelligence official said. “Their SOPs [standard operating procedures] are that they would have to calculate where it’s likely to go. And until that rocket has finished burning through its propellant, it’s not going to be clear exactly how far it’s going to go.”

And the officials backed up Israeli claims that the failure rate for Hamas rockets is high. Israel in recent days has said that on Oct. 21 alone, as many as one in five Hamas rockets failed, hitting Gaza instead of targets in Israel.

One area in which U.S. intelligence is still trying to get clarity is the question of who fired the rocket that ended up striking the Ahli Arab Hospital.

The current U.S. assessment points to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, as the most likely culprit. But officials say they have “low confidence” in the finding because it is based, in part, on an intercepted communication between other militants thought to be part of Hamas. 

“They themselves are speculating about who’s responsible,” the U.S. intelligence official said, adding the audio examined by U.S. intelligence is different than audio circulated by Israeli officials last week, which has been subject to criticism.

“There is additional audio that was passed to us by the Israelis that has been carefully vetted and determined to be authentic communications of Palestinian militants. … The language patterns have been evaluated and determined to be authentic,” according to the official.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad has denied it launched the rocket that fell on the Ahli Arab Hospital.

But U.S. officials counter that, using geolocation techniques and other data, they are confident the rocket that caused the damage was fired from Gaza and suffered a catastrophic failure, causing the warhead to land by the hospital.

Still, they say if new information comes to light, they will examine it closely.

“This issue is not closed for us,” said the senior U.S. intelligence official. “If we get additional information that would point in a different direction, we would report that out, as well.”

 
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Republican Representative Tom Emmer withdrew his candidacy for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, the latest setback for lawmakers who have struggled for three weeks to fill one of the top leadership roles in the U.S. government.

The role of speaker of the House has been vacant since October 3 when Representative Kevin McCarthy became the first-ever speaker to be removed from his position. Eight Republicans joined with all 212 House Democrats for that vote. 

A right-wing faction of the Republican Party was displeased with McCarthy for passing a short-term measure funding the government to keep it open past a September 30 deadline.   

Emmer outlasted eight other candidates in rounds of secret balloting earlier Tuesday. The 62-year-old Emmer has served as majority whip, one of the top leadership posts in the House Republican Conference, since earlier this year. He has represented the Midwestern state of Minnesota since 2015.

Former President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social media platform early Tuesday afternoon that he did not know Emmer well and referred to him as a RINO – a term meaning Republican in Name Only.

“The Republican Party cannot take that chance, because that’s not where the America First Voters are. Voting for a Globalist RINO like Tom Emmer would be a tragic mistake!” Trump posted.

As many as 20 Republican House lawmakers said they would not vote for Emmer, and he withdrew later in the day.

Since McCarthy’s ouster, House Republicans have been unsuccessful in coalescing around a replacement. They first nominated Representative Steve Scalise of the southern state of Louisiana, who was not able to secure the needed votes.

The Republican caucus next gave its nod to Representative Jim Jordan of the Midwestern state of Ohio. Jordan is a conservative firebrand and staunch supporter of Trump. 

But Jordan also failed to gain a 217-vote majority in the House, falling well short on a first vote in the full House and then losing ground on two subsequent ballots.

The Republican infighting has left the role of speaker unfilled, leaving the House unable to respond to crucial budget matters. A November 17 deadline looms for budget issues to be resolved or a partial government shutdown will go into effect.

The U.S. Speaker of the House is second in the line of presidential succession.   
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