Jordan vows to stay in speaker race as tensions erupt inside GOP meeting

Tensions are boiling over among House Republicans on Thursday afternoon as the conference searches for a viable path forward with Rep. Jim Jordan so far vowing to stay in the race to be the next speaker despite substantial resistance.

Jordan affirmed Thursday that he is still running for the speaker's gavel and said he plans to talk to House Republicans who have opposed his candidacy in two floor votes. The Ohio Republican faces an uphill battle to win over holdouts, however, and is under growing pressure from within the GOP conference to drop out.

A closed-door GOP conference meeting on Thursday turned heated, multiple sources told CNN, with some members railing against Jordan, and one swearing at Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who led the rebellion against former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whose ouster has led to the more than two week leadership vacuum.

There was also debate during the meeting over whether Republicans should support a resolution to temporarily expand the powers of interim Speaker Rep. Patrick McHenry - a controversial move that would put the House even further into uncharted territory following McCarthy's historic ouster.

House Republicans later emerged from the three-hour meeting that went on with a new plan: Scrap the resolution to empower McHenry and instead go forward with more floor votes for Jordan. Members left the room saying that Jordan said it was his intention to hold another floor vote on Thursday instead of moving forward with a resolution to empower McHenry.

In a sign of the emotional tone of the meeting, Gaetz was at one point told to sit down by McCarthy, a California Republican, and refused to do so, which led to Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois becoming "all emotional and ugly and was cussing him," and "telling him it's all his fault," one member said describing the meeting.

Other sources, confirming this exchange, said McCarthy "yelled" at Gaetz to sit down. And when Gaetz didn't listen, another member in the room yelled "sit the f*** down, Matt."