Principals

1. Scalise drops out
2. Israel tells civilians: Leave Gaza
3. U.S. pauses Iran funds
4. What’s left of the GOP primary
5. Menendez faces foreign agent charge

PDB: CNN poll finds voters sour on McCarthy, Gaetz, House GOP leadership

Biden in Philly, Lloyd Austin in Tel Aviv … Inflation rates hold steady … Washington Post: U.S. concluded in February that conflict between Israel, Hezbollah was ‘unlikely’

— edited by Benjy Sarlin, Jordan Weissmann and Morgan Chalfant

As Scalise sinks, Republicans float bipartisanship

As Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s gavel bid went down in flames Thursday, desperate House Republicans began publicly musing about working with Democrats to finally pick a speaker. But behind closed doors, there appears to have been little effort to hatch a bipartisan deal, writes Kadia Goba. “I don’t think there has been legitimate outreach,” from Republicans, a senior Democratic staffer said. “Sure, those members talk to the press, but not to Hakeem Jeffries or leadership.”

Scalise withdrew himself from the speaker’s race just one day after colleagues narrowly nominated him for the job, as it became clear he lacked the 217 votes necessary to secure the chair. But there are serious doubts that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Scalise’s top rival, can pull together the support necessary for a win — in part due to the bad blood over his contest against Scalise. Some GOP lawmakers suggested that they might not have any choice but to strike a bargain across the aisle, and said that they’d potentially be willing to make concessions to do so. “We’re willing to work with them, but they gotta tell us what they need,” Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, R-Ala. told Bloomberg. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of the chamber’s higher-profile moderates, told a press gaggle that “in the end a bipartisan way may be the only answer.” While there may not be serious backroom conversations yet, another senior Democratic aide said there might be space for cooperation — if Republicans were in fact willing to make some sacrifices.

Grim reports out of Gaza as Israel tells 1.1 million civilians to evacuate

Israel’s military told 1.1 million civilians to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza Strip, causing pushback from the United Nations, which warned that moving such a large number of people would have dire humanitarian consequences. The order signaled that Israel is soon likely to mount a wider offensive. Israel has cut off power and water to the area, hundreds of thousands are already displaced, and reports from crowded hospitals are growing increasingly grim. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported that about 447 children and 248 women were among nearly 1,500 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to Reuters. “Issuing an order like this does NOT absolve Israel of its responsibility to protect civilians under the laws of war,” Jeremy Konyndyk, the president of Refugees International and a former Biden USAID official, wrote on X. The offensive was unfolding as Secretary of State Antony Blinken received a warm welcome in Tel Aviv and conveyed a message of unwavering support for Israel in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while also telling Israel to avoid civilian casualties in its offensive in Gaza. “How Israel does this matters,” Blinken said. “We democracies distinguish ourselves from terrorists by striving for a different standard.”

Biden admin changes course on Iran funds

The governments of the U.S. and Qatar agreed to not allow Iran access to $6 billion in funds opened up for humanitarian needs as part of a prisoner swap agreement earlier this year. The decision, revealed by Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo during a closed-door meeting with Democrats on Thursday and confirmed by a person familiar with his comments, came as the U.S. assesses whether Iran, which supports Hamas, had any direct involvement in the terror attack on Israel. The funds were transferred from South Korea to a Qatari bank last month as part of the prisoner exchange agreement. The Biden administration had come under pressure (including from some Democrats) to freeze the funds, even as officials insist there is not yet direct evidence that Iran participated in the attack. Senate Republicans still plan to move forward with legislation to freeze the funds when they return next week, according to Punchbowl News. “We have strict oversight of the funds and we retain the right to freeze them,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Israel. Iranian state media, meanwhile, claimed the funds remained accessible.

What gets the 2024 Republican field out of bed in the morning

Remember the Republican presidential primary? It’s still going on and many candidates are, in fact, still running for president. That might strike some people as folly at this point given Trump’s ever-rising lead and the failure of any candidate to slow him down with debates, ads, or campaign appearances. So Semafor’s Shelby Talcott spoke to candidates, campaign officials, and their outside backers and asked them point blank why they still believed they had a path to victory. Some are hopeful there will be new opportunities to reach voters if (and it is an “if”) the field consolidates and a clear final Trump challenger emerges. They’re also closely watching Iowa, where Trump has a similarly large lead, but where voters often make late swings in favor of more conservative candidates. In New Hampshire, Chris Christie is hoping the opposite phenomenon will buoy him: Democrats and independents crossing over to the GOP primary just to vote against Trump.

Some outside anti-Trump groups are giving up hope, though: “We pulled out, because I didn’t see any other candidate who not only looked like they could beat Trump, but looked like they were really trying,” said Sarah Longwell, whose group Republican Accountability Project ran anti-Trump ads based on focus group research among GOP voters. They didn’t work. So far nothing else has either, but Republican candidates saw an opening yesterday to go after Trump over his grudge against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his take on the “very smart” Hezbollah, joining the White House in a rare joint pile-on.

Menendez faces expulsion calls after being charged as foreign agent

“I have been, throughout my life, loyal to only one country — the United States of America,” Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. declared on Thursday. That’s not how federal prosecutors in New York see it, who alleged in a superseding indictment earlier the same day that Menendez illegally acted as a foreign agent of the Egyptian government while chairing the powerful Senate Foreign Relations committee (he’s since stepped aside). They also asked a judge to seize Menendez’s New Jersey residence and a Mercedes-Benz, claiming that they were given to him as bribes. Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., who launched a primary campaign against Menendez that he told Semafor will feature the Egypt allegations prominently, called on the Senate to expel Menendez in response. He was joined by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa. who said it was “not a close call” after the latest accusations. “We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate,” Fetterman said. While many Senate Democrats have called on Menendez to resign, the calls for an expulsion vote mark a major escalation — it would take a two-thirds vote to approve, and there hasn’t been a successful one since the Civil War. Notably, one of the few Democrats who has so far stopped short of calling for Menendez’s resignation is Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, citing the need for the courts to weigh in.

Mike Rogers & Jeetu Patel on Cybersecurity in the age of AI

On Tuesday October 17, Semafor will convene top Washington officials, industry leaders, and key stakeholders to explore a clear-eyed approach to the future of cybersecurity, hacks, and cyber defense vs. offense.

Led by Semafor’s top editors, we will delve into the agenda-driving conversations around the challenges and opportunities AI presents to cybersecurity, protecting critical infrastructure, and the threats that are keeping top government officials and business executives up at night. RSVP to join us in the room.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: After his supporters engaged in a “determined backroom effort” to sabotage Rep. Steve Scalise’s speaker bid, Rep. Jim Jordan is making calls about throwing his hat into the ring again.

Playbook: Scalise supporters are now “hardening their opposition to Jordan” because of what they describe as ungracious treatment behind closed doors.

The Early 202: Some of the options being floated as alternatives to Jordan as speaker include bringing back Kevin McCarthy, backing House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and pushing to give Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-N.C. the power to govern.

White House

• President Biden is traveling to Philadelphia (again!) today to announce seven clean hydrogen hubs that the White House says will receive a combined $7 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure law.
• Biden filmed an interview with CBS’ Scott Pelley Thursday afternoon about Israel and Russia’s war in Ukraine that will air on “60 Minutes” this weekend.
• Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is leaving for Israel today to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and other officials.
• Biden is receiving support even among pro-Netanyahu media figures for his response to the Hamas attack. As Jewish Insider notes, a host of Israel’s equivalent to Fox News “gave a five-minute monologue apologizing to Biden for doubting his support for Israel.”

Congress

• Congressional offices are being warned of increased security around the U.S. Capitol due to the Hamas-Israel conflict and online calls about a “global day of rage.”
• House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash. demanded a briefing from Google parent company Alphabet, X, Meta, and TikTok about the spread of “illegal content” from Hamas on their platforms. — Fox News

Economy

The Treasury Department imposed the first sanctions on companies and vessels it says violated the Russian oil price cap agreed to by the G7 last year.

Polls

A new poll from CNN finds that Americans don’t like deposed speaker Kevin McCarthy and they don’t like the Republican who led his ouster much either. 49% of respondents approved of his removal and 46% have a negative impression of him, versus only 21% who have a positive one. But Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. doesn’t fare any better, with a 14-44 split himself. Republicans are evenly split 49-50 on whether they approve of deposing McCarthy, with a notable cleavage between Trump supporters — 56% of whom support the move — and Republicans backing other candidates — only 37% of whom feel the same. 74% of all respondents disapprove of Congressional GOP leadership and they’ve grown more pessimistic about their handling of major issues like the budget and immigration as well.

Blindspot

Stories that are being largely ignored by either left-leaning or right-leaning outlets, according to data from our partners at Ground News.

What the Left isn’t reading: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered his state to organize charter flights for Floridians stranded in Israel.

What the Right isn’t reading: A federal appeals court ruled that a Florida law punishing venues that allow children to watch drag shows cannot be enforced.

Mark Takano is a Democratic congressman from California. He was a high school teacher in Riverside County before running for Congress.

• A high-profile memestock CEO sent sexually explicit images and messages in a weeks-long text exchange with a woman who tried to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from him using fake identities.
• OpenAI has quietly changed its “core values.” The AI startup now says its singular goal is to build “safe, beneficial” artificial general intelligence, noting that anything else is “out of scope.”
• Three Hamas leaders have emerged at the top of Israel’s most wanted list. But targeting them will be a challenge for Israel.