House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday seemingly brushed off Rep. Patrick McHenry’s (R-N.C.) decision to boot her from her Capitol “hideaway office” while acting as Speaker pro tem.
“That’s so incidental,” she told Elex Michaelson during a recent interview on “The Issue Is,” claiming she had more important concerns. “The office means nothing to me!”
McHenry, who became acting Speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from the role Tuesday, ordered Pelosi vacate the office by Wednesday, so he could take it over for official use.
A small number of senior lawmakers have “hideaway” offices inside the U.S. Capitol Building, giving lawmakers extra personal space to prepare for hearings, conduct confidential meetings or even nap.
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Pelosi initially denounced the demand, calling it 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,” she said Tuesday.
“This eviction is a sharp departure from tradition,” Pelosi continued. “As Speaker, I gave former Speaker Hastert a significantly larger suite of offices for as long as he wished.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) also commented on the decision in a Washington Post op-ed, calling it “petty, partisan and petulant.”
She wasn’t the only top House Democrat ordered to vacate their “hideaway” office, either; McHenry asked Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to be out of his space by Wednesday, as well.
The moves signal the anger among GOP leaders toward Democrats after the group joined with eight Republicans to remove McCarthy from the top leadership role in a 216-210 vote initiated by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.).
The House went on recess following the vote, as McHenry said Democrats and Republicans would need time to meet separately to discuss a “path forward.”
GOP sources told Punchbowl News on Wednesday morning that more office rearrangements could be coming.