©  Greg Nash

GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) on Monday teased an upcoming effort to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), saying “stay tuned” on the House floor.

Gaetz said over the weekend he’d force a vote after McCarthy worked with Democrats on a stopgap bill to keep the government funded through Nov. 17.

On Monday, Gaetz pushed McCarthy to answer questions about what he asserted was a “side deal” between the House leader and President Biden.

“Members of the Republican Party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they heard what the Speaker had to share with us about his secret side deal with Joe Biden on Ukraine,” Gaetz said.

• Ukraine funding, along with border policy, was a major sticking point in the recent government funding saga. Neither issue was addressed in the funding bill passed over the weekend.
  
  
• Biden alluded to the Ukraine issue on Sunday, saying, “I fully expect the Speaker to keep his commitment for the secure passage and support needed to help Ukraine as they defend themselves against aggression and brutality.”

McCarthy on Monday said he supports arming Ukraine but that the “American border takes priority.”

Welcome to Evening Report! I’m Amee LaTour, catching you up from the afternoon and what’s coming tomorrow. Not on the list? Subscribe here.

• A brief from the State Department’s internal watchdog said the Biden administration’s effort to project stability in Afghanistan harmed the U.S. Embassy’s push to carry out evacuations in August 2021.
  
  

• Former Sen. Dianne Feinstein‘s (D-Calif.) funeral will be held on Thursday in San Francisco. Vice President Harris, who was California’s junior U.S. senator from 2017 to 2021, will attend.
  
  

• The Vatican published a letter Monday in which Pope Francis appeared to open the door to alternate blessings for gay couples. The letter comes days ahead of a major meeting of bishops.

© AP

Former President Trump made a voluntary appearance in court in New York for the first day of arguments in state Attorney General Letitia James‘s (D) civil fraud case against Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization.

Trump on Monday called for Judge Arthur Engoron, who was responsible for a ruling in the trial without a jury, to be disbarred, saying the judge is “interfering with an election.” Trump has also said that the four criminal cases he’s been indicted in are political motivated. 

Donald Bender, an accountant who prepared Trump’s personal tax returns for years, was James’s first witness Monday afternoon.

Engoron already found Trump liable for fraud for inflating property values last week, stripping the former president of some of his business licenses. Engoron is now considering six remaining elements of the case.

Follow The Hill’s live blog here.

The Supreme Court declined to take up a case from John Castro, a little-known GOP presidential candidate who argues Trump is disqualified from running for office under the 14th Amendment.

Castro and others have filed several other lawsuits arguing the amendment’s provision barring those involved in insurrections from elected office disqualifies Trump. Legal experts are split on the issue. Read more here.

In other SCOTUS news: Justice Clarence Thomas recused himself from a case concerning lawyer John Eastman, with whom Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, had corresponded ahead of Jan. 6, 2021. The court on Monday declined to hear Eastman’s appeal of a ruling that he may have acted criminally with the advice he gave Trump.

Laphonza Butler, president of EMILYs List, will be sworn in Wednesday to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who died last week. Butler will be the first Black lesbian to openly serve in the Senate.

Learn more about Butler here.

Today’s number:

46

Days until the current government funding measure expires (Nov. 17).

Further reading:

©  AP/J. Scott Applewhite

Today is the first day of oral arguments in the Supreme Court’s current term. The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld walks us through the major cases currently on the docket, with topics ranging from social media to the Second Amendment.

Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) is stepping down as co-chairman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, a leadership position within the House, as he mulls a primary challenge to President Biden.

Hungarian American Katalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman, scientists whose discoveries made possible the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine.

“The fate of thousands depends on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the word ‘and'” — Eric Fish and Ryan Stitt, former federal public defenders. Fish is a law professor at University of California, Davis School of Law. Stitt is a partner at Stitt Vu Trial Lawyers APC. (Read here)

“You want Latino votes? Improve our children’s education” — Valeria Gurr, a senior fellow for the American Federation for Children and founder of la Federación Americana Para los Niños. (Read here)

37 days until the third Republican presidential primary debate.

Monday afternoon: The House Rules Committee meets to consider two appropriations bills (legislative branch appropriations and energy and water development/related agencies appropriations).

Tuesday: Hunter Biden will be arraigned in Delaware. Former Vice President Mike Pence participates in Georgetown University and The Associated Press‘s conversation series on national security and foreign policy at 4 p.m. 

Wednesday: The Senate Appropriations Committee receives a closed briefing on U.S. assistance to Ukrainian air defenses at 10 a.m.

Thursday: The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee holds a hearing on the nomination of Michael Whitaker for administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration at 10 a.m.

There a story you think should be getting more attention? Something people should be talking about? Drop me a line: ALaTour@digital-stage.thehill.com