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Representative Jim Jordan's early-hour press conference appeared to leave Fox News confused about why he decided to address the press.
Jordan held a press conference early Friday morning ahead of the third floor vote for House speaker, urging members of Congress to quickly elect someone later in the day so lawmakers can begin legislating again on the Hill.
But Jordan's remarks about the status of the speaker race stunned Fox News anchors, who said the Ohio Republican's tone suggested that he was still struggling to conjure up enough votes to get to 217 on the House floor.
"Doesn't look like he has the support yet," Fox and Friends co-host Lawrence Jones told his fellow anchors after Jordan's remarks. "I'm not sure what the purpose of the press conference was. He took questions from the folks, but it looks like he's still just trying to rally the troops."
"OK...I don't know what the point was," co-host Brian Kilmeade said to chuckles in the Fox studio. "Everything that we just learned, we knew."
As of Friday, the House has been without a Speaker for 17 days. Jordan, the speaker designate, has lost two round of voting on the floor, with 20 GOP holdouts in the first round and 22 in the second.
Jordan failed the second vote on Thursday after moderates in his conference refused to back the Trump ally for the speakership. Shortly after the vote, it was reported that Jordan would not call a third vote and push to empower interim House Speaker Patrick McHenry until January. But Jordan's effort quickly collapsed after his divided conference insisted that a permanent speaker be elected, making it clear that a move to temporarily give McHenry speakership powers would not get enough support.
After a closed-door conference meeting, Jordan said the plan to "lower the temperature and get back to work" by empowering the North Carolina Republican was not "where we're going to go."
Jordan said he would continue to seek the gavel on Friday, bringing a third vote at 10 a.m.
During the press conference, Jordan also spoke about the Wright Brothers and used several American achievements, including Chuck Yeager's flight exceeding the speed of sound and Neil Armstrong's moon landing, to make a point about his speaker race. He reiterated that there were "all kinds of problems with the 2020 election" and defended emailing former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows a strategy to block the certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory.
During the questioning period, Jordan cut off a reporter at one point, telling them to "stop," and evaded as to whether he has been able to flip any additional votes in his favor.
After the press conference, Kilmeade said it was clear that "Jim Jordan is not quitting" and that no other House Republicans were going to mount a challenge to his bid.
"Right now, Jim Jordan says, 'I'm going to use the Bible's inspiration to push myself over the finish line,'" the Fox anchor said. "The problem is what Bible are the other 20 using because they believe that they're making their stand against Jim Jordan."
During the press conference, Jordan pointed to the 15 rounds of voting that former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faced in January, suggesting he was unafraid to keep lawmakers voting until a speaker is elected so that the House could begin work again, particularly on the U.S. response to the Israel-Hamas war.
"I think the American people are thirsty for change," Jordan said. "I think they are hungry for leadership and, frankly, they know that the White House can't provide it. They know the Senate won't lead and they're looking for House Republicans to step up and lead and make change on these important issues."
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About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more