WEF did not appoint McCarthy as House speaker

The organization has “selected” Rep. Kevin McCarthy as the next speaker of the House, asserting that a page on the World Economic Forum’s website serves as proof.

The Associated Press informed the spokesperson of the organization that these pages are established for individuals who have participated in a WEF event or authored a blog post featured on the WEF website. This contrasts with the position of speaker, which McCarthy served as between 2013 and 2019 and is listed as the “Majority Leader of the US House of Representatives” on the WEF website page. The speaker is elected by members of the House. AP’S EVALUATION: Inaccurate.

House Speaker McCarthy was embroiled in controversy on the third day of voting, as some social media users were already alleging false claims of spreading. Additionally, he had already appointed a new speaker to the position.

On Thursday, the website of the World Economic Forum (WEF) stated in a tweet that McCarthy has been appointed as the speaker for the forum. The tweet also mentioned that there is no need to worry about winning elections, as McCarthy already has more than 1,000 shares and 3,000 likes on his page. Along with the tweet, there was a link to McCarthy’s page on the WEF website.

Other widespread posts claimed more broadly that the WEF had picked McCarthy to be the “leader” of the House or “endorsed” him.

McCarthy’s tweet, which linked to another page, stated that the leader of the US House of Representatives has already been chosen and received more than 26,000 shares and nearly 55,000 likes on Thursday. The Economic World Forum, an unelected organization representing the interests of thousands of the largest companies in the world, also mentioned this.

However, the page is simply an artifact with a history of involvement with McCarthy’s organization, and it does not play a role in selecting the speaker for the House. The organizer of the annual gathering in Switzerland, Davos, is best known for hosting the event, and it is considered a think tank based in Geneva – the WEF.

According to Yann Zopf, a spokesperson for the WEF, the organization has not been involved in choosing the next Speaker of the House in any way.

In an email, he stated that Kevin McCarthy has not been selected by the World Economic Forum as the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Naturally, I can verify this information.

Zopf has explained on the WEF website pages that McCarthy, a person who has ever attended an event or created a blog posted on the site, is featured.

McCarthy was indeed the House majority leader at that time. McCarthy attended the annual WEF meeting in Davos during the same year, 2016, as evidenced by the earliest version of McCarthy’s page accessible through internet archives.

McCarthy, along with former President Donald Trump and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, also possess profiles on the WEF’s website that resemble those of other notable political personalities from different political parties.

They do not have to be, members of the House are not required to vote for candidates, Instead of naming a candidate, members can vote “present” if they cannot reach a majority. However, the overall tally needed to reach a majority is meant to be 218 out of 435 members, Historically, once a candidate receives the majority of votes from members who are present and voting, they are elected as the speaker of the House.

Steve Scalise is charged with assisting the speaker in the formation of policy and leading debates on the floor as the incoming majority leader of the House. Meanwhile, the former is responsible for appointing committee chairs, presiding over daily sessions, and serving as the leader of the House. The majority leader of the House and the Speaker have different roles.

The voting process lasted for a duration of two months, commencing in the year 1855. The most prolonged battle to select a speaker happened in the period leading up to the Civil War. Since the year 1923, it is the first instance where a candidate failed to secure a majority of votes on the initial vote. As of Thursday evening, McCarthy had been unsuccessful in obtaining a majority of votes in the speaker race after 10 rounds of voting.