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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 24 OcTOber 2023
It’s Day 20 with no House speaker, and lower-level names seek

Trump’s support and race for the gavel

By LISA MASCARO a full-blown crisis of gov-
AP Congressional Corre- erning as dysfunction and
spondent dangerous, bitter infighting
WASHINGTON (AP) — On prevent the normal opera-
Day 20 without a House tions of Congress.
speaker, Republicans The federal government
found themselves starting again risks a shutdown in a
over on Monday bum- matter of weeks if Congress
bling ahead with few ideas fails to pass funding legis-
about who will lead, what lation by a Nov. 17 dead-
they are fighting over and line to keep services and
when they will get Con- offices running. And more
gress working again. immediately, President Joe
Nine lower-level Republi- Biden has asked Congress
can lawmakers are now to provide $105 billion in aid
running to be speaker, to Israel and Ukraine amid
leader of the House and the overseas wars and to
second in line to the presi- shore up the U.S. border
dency none with any clear with Mexico.
shot for the gavel. Senior- Federal aviation and farm-
most among the hopefuls ing programs face expi-
is Rep. Tom Emmer of Min- Rep. David Joyce, R-Ohio, upper left, confers with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., as ration without action. Yet
nesota, who is disliked by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, center, and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., far right, tabulate factional power plays are
Donald Trump, but who votes as Republicans failed to elect Jordan as speaker, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, running stronger on Capitol
reached out to the former Oct. 17, 2023. Associated Press Hill than any sense of urgen-
president as did others. cy to resolve the standoff
“They all called asking for your biggest fan.” Late Monday, House Re- whose majority is being as the House Republicans
support,” said Trump, the Trump downplayed, even publicans were retreating wasted away and for the are essentially eating their
Republican frontrunner in derided, Emmer, the third- behind closed doors, as U.S. government that can- own first by ousting McCar-
the 2024 presidential race ranking House Republican, they have most days since not fully function. thy just nine months on the
who was in New Hampshire while presenting himself as the ouster of Kevin Mc- What started as swagger- job, then rejecting the next
registering for the state’s a kingmaker who talks to “a Carthy, to hear from the ing bravado when a con- nominees to take his place,
primary ballot. lot of congressmen” seek- candidates ahead of in- tingent of hardline Repub- Majority Leader Steve Scal-
Of Emmer, Trump said: “I ing his stamp of approval. ternal party voting. McCar- licans led by Rep, Matt ise and hard-edged Judi-
think he’s my biggest fan “There’s only one person thy himself calls the whole Gaetz of Florida ousted ciary Committee Chairman
now because he called me who can do it all the way: spectacle “embarrassing” McCarthy at the start of the Jim Jordan.q
yesterday and told me I’m Jesus Christ,” he declared. for the House Republicans month has morphed into

Former NSA worker pleads guilty to trying to sell U.S. secrets to

Russia

By COLLEEN SLEVIN District Judge Raymond sensitive U.S. defense ca-
Associated Press Moore. He only spoke in pabilities, some of which
DENVER (AP) — A former answer to questions from relates to that same foreign
National Security Agency Moore about whether he country. He allegedly told
employee from Colorado understood the terms of the the undercover agent that
pleaded guilty Monday to deal. He acknowledged he had $237,000 in debts
trying to sell classified infor- that he has been taking and that he decided to
mation to Russia. medications for mental ill- work with Russia because
Federal prosecutors ness while being held in his heritage “ties back to
agreed to not ask for more custody for about a year. your country.”
than about 22 years in pris- Dalke was arrested on Before Dalke transferred
on for Jareh Sebastian Dal- Sept. 28, 2022, after authori- the classified information,
ke when he is sentenced ties say he arrived at Den- he sent a thank you letter
in April, but the judge will ver’s downtown train sta- that opened and closed
ultimately decide the pun- tion with a laptop and used in Russian and in which he
ishment. a secure connection set up said he looked “forward to
Dalke, a 31-year-old Army by investigators to transfer our friendship and shared A sign stands outside the National Security Agency (NSA)
campus, June 6, 2013, in Fort Meade, Md.
veteran from Colorado some classified documents. benefit,” according to Associated Press
Springs, had faced a pos- According to the indict- court filings.
sible life sentence for giv- ment, the information Dal- Dalke worked as an infor- purpose of intelligence During a hearing last year,
ing the information to an ke sought to give Russia mation systems security and counterintelligence. Dalke’s federal public de-
undercover FBI agent who included a threat assess- designer for the NSA, the After he left and gave the fender downplayed Dal-
prosecutors say Dalke be- ment of the military offen- U.S. intelligence agency classified information to the ke’s access to classified
lieved was a Russian agent. sive capabilities of a third, that collects and analyzes undercover agent, pros- information since he only
Dalke pleaded guilty dur- unnamed country. It also signals from foreign and ecutors say he reapplied to worked at the NSA for less
ing a hearing before U.S. includes a description of domestic sources for the work at the NSA. than a month.q