Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw military drills Wednesday, including the simulation of a nuclear strike, more than 20 months since Moscow’s forces invaded Ukraine. 

The Kremlin’s announcement of the exercise, which simulated a nuclear strike in response to a nuclear attack and involved multiple practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, came hours after the upper house of the Russian parliament revoked the ratification of a global nuclear test ban in what Moscow has described as a move to establish parity with the United States. The bill to end ratification will now be sent to Putin for final approval. The lower house approved it last week.

Russian state television showed Putin directing the exercise via video call with top military officials.

The Kremlin said in a statement Wednesday that the Russian military has successfully tested its ability to deliver a massive retaliatory nuclear strike by land, sea and air, according to Reuters. The statement said a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was fired from a test site at a target in Russia’s far east, a nuclear-powered submarine launched a ballistic missile from the Barents Sea, and Tu-95MS long-range bombers test-fired air-launched cruise missiles, according to the outlet. 

‘Practical launches of ballistic and cruise missiles took place during the training,’ the Kremlin said. ‘In the course of the events, the level of preparedness of the military command authorities and the skills of the senior and operational staff in organizing subordinate troops (forces) were tested.’ 

‘The tasks planned in the course of the training exercise were fully accomplished,’ they added. 

Russia’s defense ministry published video of the exercise showing the land and submarine-based missiles and nuclear-capable bomber aircraft taking off from an airfield streaking into the night sky. Russia’s Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said the purpose of the drills is to practice ‘dealing a massive nuclear strike with strategic offensive forces in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy.’ While similar drills are held every autumn, Shoigu’s pointed comments came amid soaring tensions between Russia and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.

The vote to rescind the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the Russian Parliament follows a statement from Putin, who warned earlier this month that Moscow could revoke its 2000 decision to ratify the bill to ‘mirror’ the stand taken by the U.S., which has signed but not ratified the nuclear test ban.

The CTBT, adopted in 1996, bans all nuclear explosions anywhere in the world, but the treaty was never fully implemented, according to The Associated Press. In addition to the U.S., it is yet to be ratified by China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran or Egypt.

There are widespread concerns that Russia could move to resume nuclear tests to try to discourage the West from continuing to offer military support to Ukraine. Many Russian hawks have spoken in favor of a resumption of the tests.

With tensions the highest since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis as Moscow stands opposed to the West over the Ukraine war, Russia had indicated that despite its de-ratification, the country does not plan to abandon a 1992 moratorium on nuclear test blasts in line with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Moscow signed the treaty. Washington also signed but never ratified the same document, according to Reuters. Experts say Russia’s move is meant to evoke fear of a standoff with the West. 

Putin has noted that while some experts have argued that it is necessary to conduct nuclear tests, he has not yet formed an opinion on the issue.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier this month that Moscow will continue to respect the ban and will only resume nuclear tests if Washington does it first.

Ryabkov said Wednesday that the Russian Foreign Ministry had received U.S. proposals to resume a dialogue on strategic stability and arms control issues, but noted that Moscow doesn’t consider it possible in the current political environment.

‘We aren’t ready for it because the return to a dialogue on strategic stability… as it was conducted in the past is impossible until the U.S. revises its deeply hostile policy course in relation to Russia,’ Ryabkov told reporters in comments carried by Russian news agencies.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President Biden denied the accuracy of casualty numbers provided by the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry on Wednesday.

Biden made the comments in response to questions from reporters during a join press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Biden says he has ‘no confidence’ in the ministry’s claim that 6,546 Palestinians have been killed and 17,439 have been wounded since Oct. 7.

A reporter asked whether Hamas’ statistics suggest that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ignoring U.S. calls to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza.

‘What they say to me is that I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed,’ Biden responded. ‘I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s a price of waging a war.’

‘I think we should be incredibly careful – not we – the Israelis should be incredibly careful to be sure that they’re focusing on going after the folks that are propagating this war against Israel. It’s against their interests when that doesn’t happen, but I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using,’ he added.

Biden’s statement comes as Israel has been poised for a ground invasion of Gaza for more than a week. Israel and Hamas have spent the past 19 days exchange thousands of rockets, missiles and artillery barrages.

Israel says at least 1,400 people, including foreigners, were killed in Hamas’ surprise October 7 attack.

Biden offered his full support for Israel to root out Hamas terrorists from Gaza. He went say the war must end with a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, adding that there is ‘no going back.’

Tensions between Israel and the United Nations are heightened after a series of comments about Hamas led to U.N. visas being denied.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Tuesday during a meeting of the Security Council the terrorist attacks against Israel Oct. 7 ‘did not happen in a vacuum.’

Supporters of Israel took offense to the assertion, and critics claimed the U.N. was blaming the Jewish state for the slaughter of its own civilians by Hamas.

The Israeli government immediately demanded Guterres resign and further escalated the feud by denying visas to U.N. officials.

‘We will refuse to grant visas to U.N. representatives,’ said Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan. ‘We have already refused to give one to Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.

‘It’s time to teach them a lesson.’

Erdan, who described Guterres’ remarks as ‘shocking’ before calling for his resignation, doubled down Wednesday on his call for Guterres to step down.

‘It is a disgrace to the U.N. that the secretary-general does not retract his words and is not even able to apologize for what he said yesterday. He must resign,’ Erdan said Wednesday in a statement.

Over the 19 days of war since Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry claims at least 5,791 Palestinians have been killed and 16,297 wounded. 

More than 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas, and 222 Israelis and foreigners were taken captive in Gaza. 

Four people have been released so far.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

The Senate passed an amendment banning federal mask mandates on commercial airlines and public transportation in an appropriations bill Wednesday. 

In a 59-38 vote, senators — including several Democrats — voted in favor of the amendment brought forth by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, which restricts any federal funds from being used to enforce mask mandates on passenger flights, trains, transit buses, and other publicly funded transportation through the next fiscal year.

Vance called the passage ‘a massive victory for personal freedom’ in a statement Wednesday. 

‘We saw countless abuses of authority throughout the COVID pandemic, and the American people were justifiably enraged by unscientific mask mandates,’ he said.

Democrat Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, Jon Tester of Montana, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Mark Kelly of Arizona voted in favor of the amendment. 

Last month, Vance introduced the Freedom to Breathe Act, legislation that would prevent the government from reinstating mask mandates in response to COVID-19. It would prevent the enforcement of mask wearing on public transit, airplanes, elementary schools and other institutions. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order in January 2021 mandating travelers on public transportation hubs to wear a mask in tandem with President Joe Biden’s executive action mandating masks for any interstate travel. The order applied to airplanes, boats and ferries, buses and other public transit. 

On April 18, a federal judge from Florida ended the mask mandate in her ruling opinion in the Health Freedom Defense Fund v. Biden case. 

EXCLUSIVE: The FBI maintained more than 40 confidential human sources on various criminal matters related to the Biden family, including Joe Biden, dating back to his time as vice president, according to information obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

The confidential human sources ‘provided criminal information to the FBI relating to Joe Biden, James Biden, and Hunter Biden.’ Those confidential human sources were managed by multiple FBI field offices across the nation, including the FBI’s Seattle Field Office.

But Grassley learned that an FBI task force within the Washington Field Office sought to, and in some cases, successfully, shut down reporting and information from those sources by falsely discrediting the information as foreign disinformation. That effort ’caused investigative activity to cease.’

However, despite those efforts by the FBI task force, Grassley said in at least one instance, a confidential human source and its information had been vetted by multiple U.S. attorneys’ offices, which found ‘no hits to known sources of Russian disinformation.’

The revelations were laid out in a letter Grassley wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray late Tuesday night. The letter was exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital.

‘Based on the information provided to my office over a period of years by multiple credible whistleblowers, there appears to be an effort within the Justice Department and FBI to shut down investigative activity relating to the Biden family,’ Grassley wrote to Garland and Wray. ‘Such decisions point to significant political bias infecting the decision-making of not only the Attorney General and FBI Director, but also line agents and prosecutors.’

He added: ‘Our Republic cannot survive such a political infection and you have an obligation to this country to clear the air.’

Grassley has been investigating for years information, records, and allegations from multiple Justice Department whistleblowers that indicate ‘there is — and has been — an effort among certain Justice Department and FBI officials to improperly delay and stop full and complete investigative activity into the Biden family, including but not limited to FD-1023s referencing the Biden family.’

An FD-1023 is an FBI-generated form used to document confidential human source reporting.

‘An essential question that must be answered is this: did the FBI investigate the information or shut it down?’ Grassley wrote, noting that if those sources were ‘improperly shut down, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for the FBI.’

One critical FD-1023 in question was first reported on by Fox News Digital earlier this year. That form included reporting from a ‘highly-credible’ confidential human source who alleged a criminal bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden, and the founder and CEO of Ukrainian natural gas firm Burisma Holdings, Mykola Zlochevsky.

The form details multiple meetings and conversations the source had with a top executive of Burisma Holdings over the course of several years starting in 2015. Hunter Biden, at the time, sat on the board of Burisma.

The source told the FBI that Joe Biden and Hunter Biden allegedly ‘coerced’ Zlochevsky to pay them millions of dollars in exchange for their help in getting the Ukrainian prosecutor investigating the company, Viktor Shokin, fired.

The White House has denied the allegations.

But that form and those allegations are ‘part of an ongoing investigative matter,’ which Grassley says indicates ‘its investigative credibility and authenticity.’

In the letter transmitted to the DOJ and FBI late Tuesday, Grassley revealed that in December 2019, the FBI Washington Field Office closed a ‘205B’ Kleptocracy case into Zlochevsky. That probe had been opened in January 2016 by a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act squad based out of that same field office — a squad that included agents from FBI headquarters.

At the time of the closing of the probe, in December 2019, Hunter Biden’s role on the board of Burisma was heavily under the microscope amid the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump. The impeachment proceedings were based on a request from Trump to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate the Biden family’s business dealings in Ukraine and why the prosecutor investigating Burisma had been fired.

Months later, in February 2020, Grassley said a meeting took place at the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, which involved discussion about investigative matters relating to the Hunter Biden investigation and related inquiries. By March 2020, a ‘guardian’ assessment was opened in that office to analyze information about the Bidens provided by then-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

During the course of that assessment, DOJ and FBI officials located an FD-1023 from March 1, 2017, relating to the kleptocracy investigation of Zlochevsky. That document included a reference to Hunter Biden being on the board of Burisma, which ‘the handling agent deemed at the time non-relevant information to the ongoing criminal financial case.’ 

‘When that FD-1023 was discovered, Justice Department and FBI officials asked the handler for the Confidential Human Source to re-interview that CHS,’ Grassley said.

Eventually, that re-interview took place, Grassley said, and the aforementioned FD-1023 alleging a criminal scheme between then-Vice President Biden, Hunter Biden, and Zlochevsky was created in June 2020.

But federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh were ‘limited in their investigative abilities.’ Grassley said, because it was merely an ‘assessment.’ Prosecutors were not able to issue subpoenas and search warrants, but instead, only able to conduct ‘database checks.’

‘My office has been informed that the FBI agents and DOJ officials working the Pittsburgh Assessment had to pause their work for weeks at a time because the assessment had to be re-approved every 30 days by multiple DOJ and FBI officials,’ Grassley wrote in the letter.

Several months later, in August 2020, FBI Supervisory Intelligence Analyst Brian Auten opened an assessment, which was used by the Foreign Influence Task Force, to seek out confidential human source information at FBI field offices across the country relating to the Biden family. Grassley said he then worked to ‘falsely discredit them as foreign disinformation.’

The task force ‘attempted to shut down’ the investigative steps on the FD-1023 in question, saying it ‘was subject to foreign disinformation.’ 

‘It should be emphasized that the basis for trying to shut down the Biden family 1023 has been described to my office as highly suspect and is contradicted by other documents my office has been told exist within the Foreign Influence Task Force, FBI Seattle Field Office, FBI Baltimore Field Office, and FBI HQ holdings,’ Grassley wrote.

During that same time period, in August 2020, that task force traveled to Capitol Hill and ‘improperly briefed’ Grassley and Johnson on their investigation into the Biden family after ‘pressure from congressional Democrats.’

‘That improper briefing was used by Democrats and the partisan media to falsely claim our investigation, which was based on Obama/Biden administration records, was impacted by foreign disinformation,’ Grassley wrote.

The Pittsburgh assessment was ultimately closed weeks later, in September 2020, and a final report of its findings was transmitted by U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Scott Brady to the main Justice Department — specifically directed to Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Rich Donoghue.

The subject line of that report, dated Sept. 21, 2020, was: ‘VETTING.’

In that report, Brady noted that investigators ‘had limited ability to verify all information,’ due to their lack of authorization for a grand jury. Investigators were unable to issue subpoenas for relevant documents or for interviews. The report, though, included a recommendation that ‘additional investigative activity be done.’ 

Brady’s office, did, however, coordinate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in 2020 on the Biden FD-1023. Both U.S. attorneys’ offices ‘found no hits to known sources of Russian disinformation’ related to the FD-1023 in question.

The report was eventually transmitted to now-Special Counsel David Weiss, who has been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018. That probe was launched initially as a money laundering investigation and a Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) case. That investigation is ongoing.

Meanwhile, on a call in early October 2020, it became clear that FBI agents in Delaware ‘were in possession of email evidence that contradicted denials made by Joe Biden that he was never aware of or involved in Hunter Biden’s business arrangements.’

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Wolf was briefed in late October 2020 on the contents of the FD-1023 in question, but Grassley said she ‘prevented investigators from seeking information about Joe Biden’s involvement in Hunter Biden’s criminal arrangements.’ IRS whistleblowers involved in the investigation have also made that allegation.

Grassley also noted that in October 2020, an ‘avenue of derogatory Hunter Biden reporting was ordered closed’ at the direction of Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Thibault — a move that whistleblowers said was made ‘in furtherance of Auten’s assessment.’

Grassley said publicly released portions of Thibault’s interview with the House Judiciary Committee confirmed those allegations and reveals that an FBI headquarters and ‘Baltimore element wanted the Hunter Biden reporting closed which Thibault followed through on.’ 

The FBI declined to comment on Grassley’s letter. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Weeks later, after the 2020 presidential election, Grassley and Johnson made public their final report out of their probe, detailing their findings based on hundreds of Treasury Department Suspicious Activity Reports, interviews and thousands of pages of government records dating back to the Obama administration.

‘Our findings indicated potential criminal activity, to include money laundering, with respect to members of the Biden family and their business associates as well as strong financial connections to questionable foreign nationals and foreign government-linked corporate entities,’ Grassley wrote.

Since, Grassley has been in touch with Weiss’ team, and has provided hundreds of pages of bank records ‘connecting the Biden family to Chinese-government linked entities.’

Grassley demanded the FBI and DOJ provide answers to his letter by Nov. 17.

Republicans celebrated the election of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., after he ascended to the gavel on Wednesday.

Johnson was elected speaker via a vote of 220-209, taking over the gavel from Speaker pro-tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

‘It is the honor of a lifetime to have been elected the 56th Speaker of the House,’ Johnson posted on X Wednesday following his election. ‘Thank you to my colleagues, friends, staff, and family for the unmatched support throughout this process.’

‘It has been an arduous few weeks, and a reminder that the House is as complicated and diverse as the people we represent. The urgency of this moment demands bold, decisive action to restore trust, advance our legislative priorities, and demonstrate good governance. Our House Republican Conference is united, and eager to work.’

Johnson wrote that as speaker, he ‘will ensure the House delivers results and inspires change for the American people.’

‘We will restore trust in this body. We will advance a comprehensive conservative policy agenda, combat the harmful policies of the Biden Administration, and support our allies abroad,’ Johnson wrote. ‘And we will restore sanity to a government desperately in need of it. Let’s get back to work.’

Republicans were ecstatic about the election of Johnson, with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer — who secured the GOP’s speaker nomination on Tuesday before bowing out — writing his congratulations to the new speaker.

‘Congratulations to my friend and colleague, [Johnson], on being elected Speaker of the House!’ Emmer posted.

‘His strong convictions and commitment to conservatism will serve this body and the American people well,’ Emmer added.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who also ran for House speaker, wrote ‘servant leadership,’ with a picture of the new speaker’s nameplate.

‘God bless America,’ Donalds wrote.

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, congratulated the new speaker in a Wednesday post, calling Johnson a ‘good man and a friend.’

‘I look forward to working with him on passing conservative legislation, holding the Biden administration accountable, and delivering for the American people,’ Cruz wrote.

Mississippi Rep. Michael Guest, another Republican, lauded Johnson’s election on Wednesday, calling the new speaker a ‘humble, godly man who loves this great nation and who shares our conservative values.’

Additionally, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he looks ‘forward to sitting down with Speaker Johnson to discuss a path forward to avoid a government shutdown.’

‘I will tell him as I say over and over again,’ Schumer said. ‘The only way to avoid a shutdown, pass a supplemental, and do things for the American people is bipartisan.’

Meanwhile, ‘Squad’ Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., took a jab at Johnson, calling him a ‘MAGA extremist.’

‘House GOP has made MAGA extremist, Mike Johnson Speaker,’ Omar wrote, listing Johnson’s ‘notable achievements’ including being the ‘Architect of overturning election,’ seeking an ‘abortion ban,’ and gutting Social Security.

‘With this choice, Republicans have embraced the extreme MAGA playbook,’ Omar wrote.

Omar’s ‘MAGA’ comment echoed the House Judiciary Committee Democrats’ failed online attack on Johnson ahead of Wednesday’s speaker vote.

The House Judiciary Democrats’ attempt to blast Johnson in a post before Wednesday’s floor vote for the speaker’s gavel backfired when they claimed he was a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, when he is not.

Johnson pulled off his speaker bid on Wednesday, weeks after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ousting.

Fox News Digital’s Chad Pergram contributed reporting.

Sen. Josh Hawley called out George Washington University for allowing Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to project anti-Israel messaging on one of its campus buildings before the police shut them down Tuesday night.

‘Glory to our martyrs,’ ‘Divestment from Zionist genocide now,’ and ‘Free Palestine from the River to the Sea,’ were projected in large letters on the Gelman Library building in Washington, D.C 

Hawley, who introduced a Senate resolution last week to condemn antisemitism on college campuses last week, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: ‘Yet Senate Democrats BLOCKED my resolution last week condemning this filth.’

‘Will GW leadership condemn this?’ Hawley asked. 

Stop Antisemitism, a nonprofit organization, also condemned the students in a post to X Tuesday night. 

‘George Washington University – students are projecting horrifying messages onto a school library building glorifying Hamas terrorists that beheaded babies, raped teenage girls, and murdered 1400+ people. We call on President @PresidentofGW to immediately expel those involved.’

The resolution, for which Hawley sought unanimous consent, comes as pro-Palestinian protests have erupted on college campuses after the deadly surprise attack on Israel carried out by Hamas terrorists that killed and wounded thousands in Israel Oct. 7.

‘Students at Ohio State praised the heroic resistance in Gaza,’ Hawley said on the floor. ‘Heroic — it’s now heroic — to massacre Jews in cold blood. It’s now heroic to try and carry out a genocide against Jewish people.’

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., blocked the unanimous consent resolution, noting most of the protests were not violent, ‘as repugnant as some of them were in terms of the words.’ 

He said the resolution would ‘smear all of the students who engage in these protests,’ potentially violating First Amendment rights.

‘I would stand with my colleagues in standing up to hateful rhetoric, condemning antisemitism,’ Van Hollen said. ‘But what this resolution does is not that.’

Hawley called it a ‘failure of moral nerve.’ 

Earlier in October, Hawley sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate potential financial ties between anti-Israel student groups on college campuses and the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Students for Justice in Palestine previously told Fox News Digital in a statement: ‘National Students for Justice in Palestine has zero financial or political ties to Hamas or any other institution within Palestine.’

‘In addition, SJP chapters do not have a financial relationship with or receive funding from National SJP. These allegations are completely unfounded and are only used to further delegitimize student voices and infringe upon Palestinian-Americans’ First Amendment rights,’ a spokesperson said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to GWU and SJP for comment. 

Newly-minted Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., managed to unite one of the most fractured House Republican Conferences in modern history on Wednesday, but he was hardly considered a frontrunner to replace ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Johnson was elected by a unanimous House Republican caucus, ending three weeks of turmoil and multiple failed attempts to fill the speakership after McCarthy’s historic ousting. The GOP finally coalesced around Johnson Tuesday following a late-night conference vote behind closed doors. 

‘I think he has it,’ a GOP lawmaker who was in the room during the vote told Fox News Digital at the time. But it came after a marathon day of meetings where several lawmakers jostled for the title of speaker. Tensions, at times, ran high.

Two GOP lawmakers in the room said that McCarthy had objected to suspending conference rules to expedite making Johnson speaker-designate, after Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., dropped out of the race over seemingly insurmountable opposition. 

‘That’s not how you elect a speaker,’ the two lawmakers recalled McCarthy saying. One of the two lawmakers agreed with McCarthy, the other was opposed.

The latter described it as an ‘outburst’ and accused McCarthy of working behind the scenes against every speaker-designate thus far including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Emmer.

‘If you’ll notice, he’s endorsed all of them. They all got clobbered after that,’ the Republican said. ‘All [he wants] to do is get back in power.’

A source familiar with discussions said McCarthy attempted to block Johnson only when it became clear he had the votes to win.

The source also said McCarthy refused to endorse Scalise after he got the GOP nomination two weeks ago. And later, when Jordan began to lose support, the source said McCarthy worked behind the scenes to put his weight behind a resolution to empower interim Speaker Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

The possibility of a McCarthy return became tangible at one point on Tuesday — multiple sources confirmed to Fox News Digital that a plan was being floated to reinstate McCarthy and give Jordan some sort of assistant speaker position. 

A GOP aide told Fox News Digital of that plan ahead of the Wednesday speaker vote that it was McCarthy attempting to ‘seize power again last night by floating a dumb idea.’ 

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., fully blamed McCarthy for putting the House in a state of paralysis ahead of the vote on Johnson Wednesday. Mace was one of eight Republicans who voted along with Democrats to oust the ex-speaker.

‘He was orchestrating and manipulating the entire situation, including organizing people to vote against Mike Johnson last night. So I’m going to put that on the former speaker. I’m not going to put that on the conference,’ Mace said. 

During the second closed-door speaker election  the day, multiple lawmakers told reporters that dozens of holdouts not voting for the nominees were voting for McCarthy.

But Johnson nevertheless wound up scoring a decisive victory on Tuesday night when, during a roll call vote after he won the election, every Republican present vowed to support him behind closed doors. 

Fox News Digital reached out to McCarthy’s office but did not immediately hear back.

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report