by MATTHEW BOYLE, 2 Aug 2015

House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) had been planning to call up on the House floor last week a measure from Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) that would have removed him as Speaker of the House if it succeeded—intending to embarrass Meadows—but abandoned the plan after his entire leadership structure learned that they did not have the votes to re-elect him as Speaker before the August recess.

“[House Majority Leader Kevin] McCarthy was making phone calls—he was whipping it—and so was [House Majority Whip] Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), ” a senior conservative movement leader who’s had many personal and direct discussions with various House GOP members about this told Breitbart News in an interview last week.

“I know members personally who were called by Steve Scalise. So they had the entire leadership whip team frantically making phone calls to members to whip the vote because they wanted to attempt to embarrass Meadows and call the vote [on Wednesday last week] so it’s not hanging over Boehner’s head.

“What they found out was the exact opposite. They found out bad things would happen, that literally they would be calling the vote without knowing what would happen. Therefore, they did not call the vote and now they have this issue hanging over John Boehner’s head for the next five weeks.”

“Yes, I can confirm at least three members were whipped: Two of whom voted against the Speaker and one of whom voted for the Speaker on Jan. 6,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)92%
, one of the cosponsors of Meadows’ measure, told Breitbart News in a phone interview. “I can confirm three of them were whipped.”

“Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) was calling around, and Steve Scalise and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC),” a House GOP member added. “All three of them were involved in the whipping process. Whipping can be trying to convince somebody and whipping can be taking a whip count. In this case, I think it was just a whip count—a sort of a barometer reading.”

Boehner’s office, McCarthy’s office, Scalise’s office and the offices of Reps. Steve Stivers (R-OH) and Patrick McHenry (R-NC)—allies of leadership and members of the “whip team”—have not responded to Breitbart News’ requests for comment in response to this matter.

Meadows, the public face of the rebellion, told Breitbart News that while he can’t confirm personally whether whipping occurred because leadership didn’t call him, he has heard the same from his colleagues and conservative movement leaders.

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http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/...aker-last-week/