Democrats indicated they'd help save McCarthy before voting to oust him: sources

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., joined'Fox & Friends Weekend' to discuss Israel's decision to declare war and the GOP's efforts to determine a new House Speaker. Multiple House Democrats had indicated to GOP lawmakers that they would help former speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., avoid being ousted on Tuesday, two sources told Fox News Digital. A GOP member of the Problem Solvers Caucus indicated that right up until the final days, Democrats signaled they may at least be open to voting "present" to lower the threshold needed for McCarthy's political survival. The lawmaker pointed to Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., who is not a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus, but suggested early on that he could be open to helping McCarthy. "Even people like that were saying they were going to vote present. And something changed over the weekend. So yes, the members of the Problem Solvers gave absolutely no indication that they were going to side with [Rep. Gaetz introduced the motion to vacate against McCarthy on Monday evening. The next day, seven other Republicans joined him and every House Democrat to oust McCarthy from leadership. Acknowledging that Gaetz would likely pull the move again if it failed the first time, the Republican who spoke with Fox News Digital said he and other GOP Problem Solvers appealed to Democrats to vote "present" on the initial procedural vote in order to buy time to pull together a bipartisan proposal on a House Rules overhaul, which would have likely made it harder for members to topple the speaker. "We wanted them to vote present for the first round on the motion, to make the motion to table, so that they could have time to rewrite the rules package.