Transcripts For CNNW Early 20240703

Ill have the Conference Pick somebody else. America wakes up without a Speaker Of The House. And plenty of questions about who could ultimately replace him. Good day to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im kasie hunt. It is wednesday, october 4. 5 00 a. M. Here in washington with congress in utter chaos this morning after the dramatic removal of Kevin Mccarthy as Speaker Of The House. Right now there is no clear replacement. No House Business is scheduled until at least tuesday. It is the first time in history that speaker has been ousted in the middle of a congressional term. An overwhelming majority ofs did actually vote to keep mccarthy in power, but it was still not enough to block the efforts of the republican hardliners who Wanted Mccarthy gone. On this vote, the yeas are 216. The nays are 210. The resolution is adopted. Without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The office of Speaker Of The House of the United States house of representatives is hereby declared vacant. Wow. Because of the republicans razor thin majority, mccarthy needed almost all of his partys support to keep the gavel. He could only lose a handful of votes an eight was too many. That is the number of republicans who joined with democrats to remove him. My fear is that Great Institution fell today. Because you cant do the job if eight people you have 94 of or 96 of your entire conference, but eight people can partner with the whole other side. How do you govern. And for them to make a motion on me because i made a decision for the country, that they agreed with, but they choose to do the other. That becomes a problem. So floridas matt gaetz who brought the vote to oust mccarthy blew up his partys speakership. Perhaps you might think that he has a replacement plan. Who are you going to get behind as a candidate . I dont know who the candidates are. So no plan. House majority leader Steve Scalise appears to be emerging as the early frontrunner. This makes sense. We dont know yet if he has enough support to succeed. Lets bring in our panel this morning. Many these folks have been up through the evening. Former gop senior Congressional Aid and principal and founder of re rile strategies, and of course cohost of a podcast and former gop congressional nominee and ava mckend who is cnns National Politics correspondent. Thank you for being with us here. Ava, you are a politics reporter but having you here outside of the capitol, which we cant see the dome in the shot, but that is where we are, makes perfect sense because this story is all the same story. The story of donald trump, the story of these Hard Line Rogue Type of congressional candidates who come here, create chaos, in many ways this house was leading indicator of how all of this kind of unfolded and went down. We did hear from Speaker Mccarthy last night in what honestly felt like a swan song. He was standing up there sort of like hey, this is the last chance i got with all these cameras pointed at me to say what i wanted. What stood out to you . Most consequentially, he said that he had not run again. This is a man who wanted this speakership it seems like his whole political career and he said hes done. He also took aim at his enemies and surprisingly democrats as well, that was sort of a bit of a confusing moment because it is not as if he asked democrats to bail him out. But he suggested in his comments that he was expecting as much. He also said that he was grateful for the job, very short speakership, 2269 days but calld it a great honor. And he said he had no regrets. Lets listen. I dont regret standing up for choosing governing over grievance. It is my responsibility, it is my i do job. I do not regret negotiating. Our government is designed to find compromise. I dont regret my efforts to build coalitions and find solutions. I was raised to solve problems, not create them. So i may have lost the vote today, but as i walk out of this chamber, i feel fortunate to have served the American People. Big question now, who is going to replace Speaker Mccarthy. Congressman scalise seems to have the confidence of some of the right flank, but this could be a very painful process. We saw how painful it was to elect the speaker in the first place. And we also see congressman jim jordan who chairs the house judiciary committee, he has been able to straddle good relationships with leadership as well as the Maga Movement in the party. And if not him, presumably congressman tom emmer of minnesota, he led the arm of the party responsible for electing House Republicans. So one could guess that he has relationships with republicans across the country. And so now well see who will take up the mantle. And i should point out emmer did not support scalise. And you know Kevin Mccarthy well. He helped support you in your bid for congress. Which of course you actually lost in the republican primary due in no small part to some of the factors that were seeing play out here and part of why Kevin Mccarthy wanted you here was because he wants people as he said who can go govern. Eight members of his conference who said we dont want to do that. Im still struck by the moment. Ive cover this had place for over a decade now. I never imagined had we would wake up without a speaker because their own party threw him out and had no plan to replace him. Talk about what Kevin Mccarthy is like, what he was dealing with here and your takeaways for what comes next. First thing is that this was all laid in Motion November of last year. When Election Night happened, it wasnt the big red wave, only 222 republican majority, that is when this became a very, very difficult job. And look, in no small part because of the types of candidates in these primaries. Kevin mccarthy wanted a a majority of at least ten seats, 12 seats more than what he got. You have a lot of folks who didnt succeed because whether it was roe v. Wade, whether donald trump announcing his president ial campaign essentially right before the general election last year, so you actually had a number of republicans in swing seats lose. You also had a lot of really lousy candidates. Some who had no business of being nominee. You had joe kent out of washington state, had the incumbent member of congress who is a pragmatic conservative member won that primary, she would be in congress and a nay vote. So that all played Out November Of Last year. It is pretty remarkable. I mean, i remember talking to people on Election Night in the last round of midterm elections counting what the speakers majority was going to be, and having conversations with people about the possibility of Something Like this happening. Those conversations happened again when it took 15 votes to get the speakers gavel in the first place. Youve worked inside this building and you understand what it is like to be somebody who is dealing with these kinds of things. The other speakers that came before, other republican speakers before Kevin Mccarthy, they honestly got tired of it and basically up and quit because they couldnt handle this faction. Mccarthy was actually willing to stick it out, but at the end of the day couldnt overcome it. It sort of came to a head here. What did you see unfold here and what do you think happens next . I think that there are a great many of us who are still reeling of shock to the system this morning. But what happened last night, we never thought was possible. But we just trace the line back to a decade and a half ago when i was sitting here and seeing these populist forces that pushed out congressman eric cantor in virginia, that sent paul ryan into early retirement, these are the same forces that were at play to push out Kevin Mccarthy. People are drawing a stark contrast between matt gaetz and Kevin Mccarthy, but i submit to you it is not that great. Kevin mccarthys ambition has always been quite naked. And ive watched him come up and seen him want this job and he was going to stick to it. Because he does believe in good government. He does want people that come here and know how to pull the levers and have that desire. You can call these eight people who ousted him people who dont want him there because he is an Establishment Type but i think it is bigger than that. I also speak for the vast majority of americans in the Republican Party i think that are fris traited by the members we send here with our Taxpayer Dollars who have an he hedict t spend wisely. And we overspend. So what is happening here . I think were in a moment where were seeing the system burnt gown all the way to the ashes. And im actually not crying ove ashes. And im actually not crying over it. Maria, you are our democrat here and there was a lot of conversation yesterday morning about what democrats would do. And cnn reported that there were these last minute treaties people close to mccarthy saying please save us. I think the argument was a version of, well, better the devil you know. And you are not going forget anybody better. Democrats ultimately decided, they played a clip of mccarthy on face the nation, and they said no, we cant do this. Help us understand a little bit more about that decision and do you think there is any world in which democrats come to regret it . First of all, lets look at why the decision was the way that it was. And you are right, a lot of it was Kevin Mccarthy excoriating democrats not just over the weekend, but even in his speech last night. It was kind of jawdropping that he ends up blaming democrats. When it was democrats who came to save him frankly and the country in terms of keeping the government open on saturday, right . That was why we were able to keep the government open because democrats were the adult in the room working with Mccarthy Which and i will give credit to mccarthy for also being adult in the room on that. Exactly, he realized that the whole party was going to sink if he didnt keep the government open. So yes, i gave him credit too for finally realizing that he had to do what a real leader does, right . But he needed democrats to do it because he wasnt able to do that early on. And so is the person they get next going to be worse for democrats . Well see. Worse for democrats or worse for the country . What democrats looked at last night in terms of the decision that was before them is that they saw a Speaker Of The House that, first of all, had no conversations with them about what he wanted to do in terms of trying to help him get to where he needed to be to stay as coum was the bottom line. Back in may he came to an agreement with democrats and joe biden to raise the debt ceiling and keep the levels of Government Spending where they are in order to avoid exactly what weve just gone through. He could not be trusted back on that because of the maga members of his caucus that he could not control. Who of course didnt trust him either. Exactly. Additionally he went to the house floor and started an impeachment inquiry with absolutely zero evidence. He also a move he may regret this morning. Absolutely. After the election, after january 6, he excoriated donald trump and so then we were like okay, maybe this is a guy who understands and is reasonable and that democrats can work with. What does he do shortly after that . He goes down to maralago and kisses the ring. We knew that this guy was twofaced, that he would put his finger up to the political winds and he was not a leader who could be trusted. You have to have some kind of trust in order to govern. I will say, i was here on these grounds on january 6, and i spoke to Kevin Mccarthy in the aftermath of what he had to say on the floor and he said those same things in private conversations with other reporters and then he did change his tune pretty swiftly. Here we are today. All right. Thank you very much. Much more ahead. Coming up next, mccarthys own words tanking any hope Congressional Democrats would save him as we were just discussing. Plus the houses number two republican and who else might be a candidate for speaker. Were not voting in any way that would help save speak are mccarthy. Were following our leader and we are not saving kuala lumpur. Mccarthy. Were following our leader and we are not saving kuala lumpur. Kevin mccarthy needed democrats to keep his gavel. They said no chance. Welcome back to early start. Were live on capitol hill this morning. The Democratic Caucus met Tuesday Morning to try to get on the same page. This is what they played at the top of the meeting to set the tone in terms of deciding what they were going to do about Kevin Mccarthy. Watch. Wasnt sure it was going to pass. Because the democrats tried do everything they cannot to let it pass. Democrats were the ones who voted for this. Did you watch republicans voted did you watch the floor yesterday . Yes. Republicans voted against it. So lets wake through what actually happened. First of all, the democrats stood up and did dilatory actions asked to address journ. Was that supporting toed a skrourn . Then they used the magic minute. They went as far as pulling the fire alarm not to try to get the bill to come up. That interview of course conducted on sunday. Lets bring in Michigan Democratic congresswoman debbie dingell. Thank you so much for being here with us. Take us inside the meeting yesterday, what it was like when that clip was played and what the conversation was like among democrats about what do about mccarthy. Good morning, good to be with you. I just want to say one thing as we even begin this conversation. I dont think that there is glory in place. What happened yesterday was sad and historical. And it has consequences for our democracy and our country. So lets start there. But back to saturday and yesterday, where you had discussions that were thoughtful and reflective and real. When Kevin Mccarthy refers to saturday, lets put it in perspective. We got a bill that a 71 page bill that we were given 15 minutes to read. We asked for 90 minutes. When they wouldnt give it to us, we tried to get enough time so that people could at least read the bill and make sure there was nothing in it that would do undo harm. And our caucus on saturday was thoughtful. I think that there are some members that didnt love this bill but members of our caucus got up and said our job is to keep this Government Running. It got 99 of what we want. Our caucus unified saturday and said we are going to keep the Government Running over any of these other Little Things because that is the fundamental part of our job. Except for one person, we all voted for that bill. Yesterday it was a reflective day. People were really talking about how they feel, what he had said. What had been said about january 6, which i got to tell you is still in the hearts of many of the people in the gallery. And that is how we got for where we were. It was not an easy decision. I want people to understand that. It was tough real reflective. Can you take us behind into some of the conversations about january 6 in particular . Because this is a moment i know for those of us who were here and experienced what happened that day, what happened with Kevin Mccarthy, the 180 that occurred between when he went down to the floor on that day and said what everybody fully expected him to say at that time, to suggest that donald trump was responsible for this, and then to go down for maralago and take that photo, what role did that play in democrats decision . For a lot of members that was the deciding role. You need to remember that people came to capitol hill on january 6 to kill people. And it is those very people that were voting yesterday. There were some that were trapped in the gallery that are still suffering from ptsd. They were scared. And they are fighting for our democracy. They love our democracy. And they feel that Kevin Mccarthy has given into president trump. Even if he says the right thing, it wont be good. Im reflecting what was reflected in the caucus. We went through a lot of pain as we were going through the debt ceiling. We were supposed to hold to the debt ceiling but again there was drama. But others that were like are there things that we can do to postpone the vote. But they forced the vote. So even thoughtful things couldnt have been discussed by some that really wanted to. So by the time Decision Making came, we were where we were yesterday. Congresswoman, what do you think you will ultimately end up with here . Is it going to be better for the country and for democrats to have a Steve Scalise as speaker . It is as you noted a somber historic day here that we have a house of representatives with no Speaker Of The House. It does seem like republicans were making the argument behind the scenes saying that is really bad for the country. How can you argue and what do you think might be better about the future here in the wake of this decision . Frirst of all, it is not our caucus that pulled this. We didnt agree to this rule. It was Kevin Mccarthy that agreed to this rule, one person can call for perhaps his first mistake. It was his first mistake, let me be clear on that. And the Republican Caucus brought this on themselves. They have a very small group of dissidents that have caused this chaos and the Republican Caucus need to fix the issue. Im hearing a number of names. And there have been some very good men that have been speakers that havent survived. Paul ryan, john boehner, they are both very close friends. I dont think who will come out of this. But i work with a lot of republicans on the other side and i respect those relationships. They are important to me. I can talk to them. We can have an exchange of ideas. My word is good, their word is good. Well see what happens the next few days, but this is the Republican Caucus problem to fix. We need to look at the seriousness of what they put where they put Speaker Mccarthy, who they will choose next, and how they will treat him. And understand their leader needs to be able to be a leader for this country and protect our democracy. Power of course irresistible in this town, but it is hard to believe that somebody wants a job as tough as the one that Kevin Mccarthy until very recently was shouldering. Congresswoman, thank you as always for joining me. Thank you, kasie. Kevin mccarthy is out. So who is in and what is next as the house searches for a new speaker . Well be back live from capitol hill in a moment. Is it possible my network could take my business to the next level . It is with comcast business. Powering all your devices with gigspeed wifi. And you get fast downloads and uploads. Pick it up pick it up oh we got this because its powered by The Next Generation 10g network. More speed for your business . Its not just possible. Its happening. Get started for 59. 99 a month for 12 months. Plus, ask how to get an 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet bundle. Comcast business, powering possibilities. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Chair declares the house in Recess Subject to the call of the chair. You can see the anger there. Patrick mccarthy fiercely gaveling out after his friend Kevin Mccarthy was toppled as speaker. Check out the wall street Journal Editorial Board this morning. Republicans cut off their own heads. Says it all. Good morning, thank you for being here with us. Im Kasie Hunt Live On capitol hill on what is a historic day. We have no Speaker Of The House right now. And with Kevin Mccarthy out, who will get his job . I mean, more to the point, who would want the job . Now, this is washington so there are several people who do. Steve scalise the number two republican in House Leadership has already started reaching out to members. One told cnn that he is getting good support already. Scalise is battling blood cancer. But he told reporters that he is up to the job. Are you fit for the job as speaker . I feel great. I feel great scalise says there. Remember this is a man who recovered after being shot at congressional baseball practice. There is a lot of goodwill towards him and the struggles that hes had. There is also jim jordan, house judiciary chair. In the past he has consistently ruled out running for speaker, but he didnt really rule it out when cnn asked him about it on tuesday. Take a look. Will you run for speaker . That is a decision for the conference. Are you open to it . That is washington code for im not saying no. He was asked later off camera if fellow republicans were approaching him to run and he said im not going to get into all of that. Again washington speak for im thinking about it. So who is going to become the next Speaker Of The House . Lets ask our distinguished panelists. Also joining us is White House Correspondent for bloomberg news. And im grateful for all of you being here. And reina, you worked inside House Leadership. You know these men well. House Speaker Boehner who resigned, paul ryan ultimately left as well, Kevin Mccarthy now thrown out by them. Who does want this job, is there anyone that is is capable . There are many who still want the job. There is a myth perpetuated that Centrist Cannot succeed in this role. And i want to push back on that because you have to be somebody that understands compromise, somebody that is willing to reach across the aisle. And that is one thing ive seen in the aftermath of Hakeem Jeffries taking the leadership for democrats. That has served them well. Hakeem jeffries has been able to unify his caucus in a way that i did not see coming. So the republicans really need that. And when you look at the choices like scalise and jordan, you dont see moderates. But you do see people that could have wide appeal. And i think scalise far more than jordan because jordan really represents what could be considered the fringe of the party. And weve seen the empirical evidence that shows that maga is a faction of todays Republican Party is dwindling in influence. But that doesnt change how americans see this building entirely dysfunctional. And i think i have to push back on that in terms of maga. The reason were here outside the capitol is because of the influence of them of that segment of the party and were talking about how matt, you dealt with this yourself directly in your own congressional race that republicans have sent people here to washington, Republican Voters who honestly are not that interested in governing and that is what we saw here. They are propelled by the maga wing of the party. I think the house of representatives is really a leading indicate of wor of wher country ended up with donald trump. So why is it different for Steve Scalise to run the house with matt gaetz and Company Still there . Two groups led us here. Maga republicans like matt gaetz and then democrats. I hear democrats saying they are the did you tells in the room yet they are the ones who saddled up with a bunch of extremists like matt gaetz. No, no, no, i dont want go there right now. I want to talk about the infighting inside the Republican Party because the reality is most democrats kept the government open. Kevin mccarthy would have been happy to take their support yesterday. So lets drill gown on if Steve Scalise were to get this job lets say, what is the difference between ohio he could manage this faction in his own party and how Kevin Mccarthy wasnt able to . Steve scalise is a consensus builder. I know him well. He is a great supporter of Me And My Two races. And like Kevin Mccarthy, these guys were in constant touch with their membership. The next speaker, and i think Steve Scalise is well positioned do that, is in touch with the membership, they have the relationships from having been in relationship. He has relationship with donors. Kevin mccarthy had all these ro relationships. And you heard matt gaetz say he was perfectly comfortable with Steve Scalise being Speaker Of The House. That is a big difference. A lot of times there is bias against blue state republicans. I feel it often. They look at you a little sideways. And if you are republican in the northeast, you must be talking to too Many Democrats out there, right . And Kevin Mccarthy always had those same suspicions from the republican base, from republican members despite the fact that he is a rockford conservative. But Steve Scalise still has the same relationships that Kevin Mccarthy did without the skepticism. Scalise, they are very loyal, they will been with him for years and you need that, you need to you go ament your Whipping Operation with somebody like that who has the loyalty built in. And because he is dealing with many of these challenges. Came kayla, we know the Biden White House is watching this because they will have to work with whoever is ultimately selected here. And they will have to grapple with the fact that there is no sitting house of representatives right now really until tuesday which is unprecedented reality in american history. What are they looking for, who are they talking to and what do they expect at this point . Right now they havent really weighed into this speaker debate. They said they didnt or the president s word he didnt want a vote in the matter. But whoever it is, they need to work with him. And that is spis something thatn was able to do with mccarthy. They were able to reach this Debt Limit Deal and owe voter tvoter owe voter the government shutdown. Biden cares about reaching across the aisle and that was mccarthys down fall. He wasnt able to build coalitions enough. And i think that will be the difficulty because if he builds coalitions then the matt gaetz of his party will say we cant work with him. And that is what happened here. All right. Well have more in a minute. But just ahead here, what brought down the House Speaker and why it was such a big problem. Were live from capitol hill. You know, i wouldnt change a thing. Wow. That is the now former House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy last night claiming he wouldnt change a thing. But there may be one thing, maybe concession to conservatives that he made back in january to win the speakers gavel. He agreed to give any Single Member the power to do this, what we saw yesterday, the power to trigger a floor vote to oust the speaker. That came back to bite him and he is well aware of it. Take a look. What advice do you have for the next speaker . Change the rules. [ laughter ]. At least he still has a sense of humor. Were live back on capitol hill. And maria, i want to start with you on this one because this is something that nancy pelosi never allowed to happen to her because she actually changed the rules when she came in the Second Time Around as speaker to say no, were not going to do this. And her caucus went along with her and said okay, no single one of us can do this. And mccarthy was honestly so desperate to get the gavel that he allowed them to have this tool in their tool box. Seems like he is acknowledging that that was a big mistake. Absolutely. And it also showed his naked ambition. He wanted that gavel come hell or high water. He sold his soul for it after 15 votes. He knew he had to do this, this vote, in order to be able to get that gavel. And yes, i do think that he came to regret it. Nancy pelosi is the master. She will go down in history as the best speaker ever because she was able to keep her caucus together. I could disagree with you. But it was the smartest most strategic. Because republicans were saying that mccarthy was in a tough position because he only had a five vote majority. Nancy pelosi had a four vote majority. That is a fair criticism. Absolutely. And so i think at the end of the day, that is going to be the thing in terms of what we look for for the next speaker. What are going to be the ways in which he or she gets that power. Because matt gaetz of the world wont give it for free. So what do they extract that will be different from what Kevin Mccarthy did. And the reality was that this threat was hanging over him the entire time that he was Speaker Of The House. Do you think it would have been avoidable, do you think he could have gotten the speakers gavel without doing this or not . I dont think so. 15 ballots, that was also one of those moments where you had to say is this the leader for us, for the times. And i dont think that he was. So what were seeing right now, yes, to many people looking unproductive and Like Washington is not working, but id say this is quite the opposite. Statement you have to see the system blow up. And it brings me great pain because im a creature of habit and i love this building and i know what it takes to get things done here. But when americans have such great distrust and it makes its way to the highest perch and you see the Top Republican lose his job in such an embarrassing fashion, you have to wonder could this be the reset that republicans need leading up to an incredible next many months that really give them what i think is the advantage to topple biden harris. I take your point, but matt, i have to bring you in here, the chaos you experienced as a candidate, what chaos can do to in a general election. So im with you kind of when we get to the republican primary, but when they actually have to run against president biden, voters have shown repeatedly that the chaos is not something that they are interested in. And were looking at a likely biden trump rematch here. You saw this evidence in the midterm elections. You saw it in just to remind our viewers, you ran in a critical swing district against what i would argue is a maga type candidate. Kevin mccarthy was on your side because he saw you as somebody that he could work with, but you last that primary. And there are several districts across the country like that. So how does this situation help republicans . It doesnt. Recent polling youd see that House Republicans have a significant advantage over joe biden right now from American Voters when asked who do you trust to handle the economy, who do you trust to handle the border, who do you trust to decrease crime. Republicans in the house in congress are leading joe biden on those issues. It is very rare that Congress Leads the president in anything. And yet were seeing it now in recent polling. So this is nothing more than an distraction from those issues. And in the past few weeks you are seeing republicans including donald trump now actually creep up in the ballot against joe biden, sometimes even leading joe biden, but moments like this will show dysfunction. It is not what the American People want. It they rejected it in 2022 and they will reject it in 2024 unless we get our act together. The white house is watching this. What is the thinking behind the scenes . I dont want to say that anybody is watching this with glee. I take the point that this is a somber point in the country and not the image that we as americans should want. But from a starkly political perspective, the white house has kind of been handed a gift. I do think behind the scene, they are not showing publicly that this is degree itf gleeful happy, but one of the bines biggest pitches to america is the threats to democracy and what better example than a vacant speakership to illustrate that. And i think that democrats have enjoyed the last year showing this unification against this backdrop of really deep divisions in the Republican Party. He has been talking about that for months. We just saw him do a big speech on democracy in arizona. So for him, this is just a way to illustrate that point and really drive that home for voters who care about democracy. All right. Stay with us. We are live on capitol hill. Up next, who are these hardliners who voted to oust the speaker . And what will the gop conference do next . Cmon, were right there. Cmon baby. Its the only we need. Go, go, go, go ah Touchdown Baby touchdown are your neighbors watching the same game . Yeah, my 5g Home Internet delays the game a bit. But you get used to it. Try these. Theyre noise cancelling earmuffs. I stole them from an airport. Its always something with you, man. Great solid greek salad . Exactly dont delay the game with verizon or tmobile 5g Home Internet. Catch it on the xfinity 10g network. I think kevin recognizes that nobody can meet their demands and the conference will have to figure out how we deal with, you know, eight people that are here that candidly arent interested in governing. We are back here live on capitol hill. That of course the big question this morning after Kevin Mccarthy was ejected from his job as speaker. How does the next speaker deal with the eight Right Wing Hardliners who just got rid of Kevin Mccarthy . Lets bring back our panel and i think rena, ill start with you. We talked about how obviously there are people who want the job. It is a job with a lot of power even at its weakest. And Kevin Mccarthy was a pretty weak speaker. But it is a very, very difficult one with no promise of being able to do it long term. How does a Steve Scalise or a kevin hern or any one of these names of people who might be the next speaker deal with the hard liners differently than mccarthy did . Inevitably they are going to have to make concessions. But looking at that group of eight, i see nancy mace stand out. Shes been dubbed a moderate by many. Why did she want this. She on x yesterday said that it was about trust. So that right there is it. Instill trust in your caucus, bring them together in a manner that gives them hope. Casts a more positive vision for what republicans can do. Talk about Kitchen Table issues again. Do not go for the culture wars. But will those hardliners go along with that . I think they will. If you heard them, it was Interest Spending to them, it was about the fact that congressmen and women no longer are able to do what they want to do because they have to kiss the ring of an almighty speaker that dictates exactly not just the conference will say or do that day, but how hard they fall in line. And that is not how this should be done. So i think again you got to look back at the trust issues within this cause kiss, you have to look at what the caucus really wants to talk about. And it is those issues that republicans could reign supreme on, economy, crime, Public Safety and lets not forget the issue of Nation Building abroad when we really need to be getting our own house in order. Here is the problem, what you have right now is a Republican Caucus in chaos because and it is not just these eight. Not the Democratic Caucus not to nitpick. Correct. There are 139 members in the Republican Caucus in the house of representatives that voted to not certify the elections in 2020. Okay . That is not a normal thing. So we are dealing with a lot of people who dont believe in real democracy. But for these eight that ousted mccarthy, they are completely against any kind of compromise. Compromise for them and probably for others in the republican conference is a bad word. You cannot get anything done in todays divided country if you dont compromise and are willing to work with the other side. If you listen to the eight members who voted to vacate, they all had their own reasons. Matt gates gave his own reason. Mace had a totally separate reason. So i think that it is tough to lump in these eight as one cohort. They all have their own set of relationships with each of the individuals who will look to run for speaker. They all have good relationships with everyone from tom emmer to Steve Scalise to kevin hern and even jim jordan. So i think that it is tough to say that just because these eight assumed removing Kevin Mccarthy that they are going to have a similar line of thinking going into the next congress. Much of it was very personal, but i keep going back to the previous two republican speakers that i covered, i remember waking up one day and we all suddenly realized that Speaker Boehner was going to up and leave. Which we were all extraordinarily surprised by. And then of course paul ryan who announced hey, you know what, i dont want to do this anymore. This one involuntary. Even though were focused on the eight hardliners, i fail to see how the bigger problem is going anywhere for the republicans in the house. Another name we havent mentioned, donald trump is also being floated for speaker. Probably unrealistic, but it does say a lot about the climate. He says that he is open to the job, he is dealing with a lot of legal challenges. He is traveling around the Country Running for president. But i think that trump is the Elephant In The Room even though he is not here. He has divided in party for cycle after cycle since 2018 because of people who are extremely loyal to him and more moderate members. The white house is definitely exploiting that. That is why they are using this maga term to tie certain republicans to his brand. They feel like that is going to eventually play in their favor. And i do think we probably havent even talked about trump enough here on this set this morning because it does really hang over everything that is being done here. I mean, matt, you will have the final word here because we have to go in a second, but it does seem like he has given out this chaos playbook, shown what it means to become famous instead of to be somebody who is legislating. If you saw matt gaetz with all the cameras on the steps, what does that mean for ultimately meaning that our country is governable . Means that voters have to elect people who actually want to do the job and not just get on tv every day. Lets not forget matt gaetz considered dropping out of congress to be a contributor on another network a year ago. And he is actually discussing becoming a contributor for leave congress. So you have members who would rather leave the building instead of do their job every day. So we need to put people in there who actually want to do the work. That is a good point. And im grateful to all of you for being here. We just need to underscore what a historic day it is here. There is no Speaker Of The House. Coming up, history on capitol hill. The speaker Kevin Mccarthy voted out for the first time ever. How did Kevin Mccarthy lose his job, who could replace him and how will Government Function in . More live cnn coverage from right here on capitol hill coming up next