Zblnchs happening now, the race is on to find a new House Speaker after republican Rebels DethroneKevin Mccarthy. The chamber paralyzed and in total disarray until lawmakers unite around leader. One major priority in serious jeopardy right now, desperately needed military aid for ukraine. Will the house fund the fight against putins invasion or will kyivs counteroffensive face another setback . Also, former President Trump is lashing out once again on this the third day of his civil fraud trial in new york, but the states Attorney General isnt backing down, insisting she wont be bullied and that quote, The Donald Trump show is over. Her words. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Our top story tonight, House Republicans scrambling right now to find a new speaker after the historic removal of Kevin Mccarthy. At least two serious contenders have emerged but for now, all House Business is frozen until lawmakers select a new leader. Lets go straight to melanie up on capitol hill. Who has announced already that theyre running for speaker . Well, wolf, the race to replace mccarthy is already starting to take shape. Two candidates have already officially jumped in. That includes congressman steve scalise. He is the number two republican in the house. I was told that he was already making calls last night and starting to line up supporters and allies. He made it official today with a letter to his colleagues and this is a man who has been waiting for this moment. He has been preparing for this scenario of Kevin Mccarthy potentially, one day stepping aside or stumbling. It is not going to be a coronation for him. Hes going to have to face off against jim jordan who is beloved by conservatives and on the right. But he could run into problems getting the support of the more moderate of his conference. Our colleague, manu raju, caught up with him today and asked whether his views are in line with the rest of his party. Heres what he had to say. I think were a conservative senate right party. I think my politics are entirely consistent with where conservatives and republicans are across the country. Now, both men made their case before the texas gop delegation, a powerful and big block of republicans in the house. Both men continue making calls and meeting with members over the next few days to make their case and some questions being asked include will you support more money for ukraine and will you reform that tool known as the motion to vacate the speakers chair. Wolf, the earliest theyre going to figure this out is next week and it is still unclear whether republicans with agree on someone to told them. Melanie, thank you. Joining us now, republican congressman, mike lawler of new york. Hes a key player in all of this. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. I know youve called for matt gaetz, the ring leader of the effort to oust mccarthy, to be excelled from the gop conference. Do you think theres enough support from your colleagues for that to happen . Well, well find out. I think a lot of my colleagues are extremely frustrated by what happened yesterday. Very disappointed in the fact that we had eight republican members joined with 208 democrats including aoc, omar, talib, bowman, schiff and jeffries to remove a dually elected republican speaker. It was disgraceful and violated House Republican conference rules that require a majority of a majority to remove a House Speaker. And file that motion to vacate. They didnt adhere to that. It was wrong. As you know, steve scalise, jim jordan, and kevin hearn are actively soliciting support right now within the republican conference. Hearn, unlike the other two, hasnt formally announced hes running but do you have a preference right now, congressman . Would you first of all support any of them . No, i dont have a preference of these three. And i think we need to have a real reckoning within the conference when we meet next week. Number one, i want to hear how any of these candidates plan to handle holding these eight members accountable. They voted with 208 democrats to torpedo our House Republican majority. The American People elected us to govern. To serve as a check and balance on the biden agenda and everything that weve been focused on from Cutting Spending to securing our border was just imperilled by these eight individuals starting with matt gaetz. And it was purely petty, personal, and political reasons why they did this. This is not a policy dispute. This wasnt a situation where hey, you know what, my district believes this and were going to vote on this policy position. They voted with the democrats to torpedo our House Republican majority. So they need to explain that and there needs to be accountability. In addition, the motion to vacate needs to be changed. One person should not be able to hold a proverbial gun to the speakers head where eight people be able to demand changes using the motion to vacate threat against the wishes of the majority of the majority. Its wrong and you cannot govern this way. Will your party, congressman, have a new speaker when the house comes back next wednesday or could this Process Drag On And on and on like we saw back in january . Well, look. One thing is the American People expect us to govern. They expect us to put our big boy pants on, act like adults, and come to an agreement. I think its critically important that 218 republicans come to an agreement within the conference before coming to the floor. I think the fact is we cannot have a repeat of what occurred in january where it took 15 rounds to elect a speaker. There needs to be consensus and an agreement within the conference and then move to elect that person as speaker on the house floor. You were elected last year in a district won by President Biden in New York State just outside of new york city. Are you concerned this dysfunction right now in the republican party, in the house, endangers the gop majority and potentially your own reelection . No, im not. You know, look. My constituents know who i am. I won a district that joe biden won by ten points that has 70,000 more democrats than republicans. Because i talked about the issues that matter and that has been my focus since taking office in january and i will continue to deliver for my constituents. Im out every day in my community. My office does the work that is required for our constituents and we will continue to do that. So this is a unfortunate situation. It requires leadership. It requires people putting aside differences so that we can find consensus. Elect a speaker and get back to the work of the American People. The work that they wanted us to focus on. Reigning in spending. Securing our border. Taking on the maligned threats of china and russia and other bad actors around itthe globe. We will continue this conversation, congressman, down the road. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Lets dig deeper now with our political experts and gloria, ill start with you. So next week potentially there could be a new speaker of the house of representatives. What do you think . Is there reason to think they can get their act together and come up with a new speaker next week . They have no choice. They have to come up with a speaker. I dont know if its going to be one vote or two votes. Theyre having speeches. Sounds like something in high school. Everybodys going to stand up and give their speeches then theyre going to see where they are. The choices they have are very different. The two top choices. Steve scalise and jim jordan. Jordans more of a conservative from the, one of the founders of the freedom caucus. You know. Hes very fiery. Scalise is a little more quiet. Conservative. Wasnt that close to mccarthy. People like him but i think these races are quite personal and so its very hard to see where theyre going to come out but they have to make sure as the congressman was just saying to you, that they dont wind up in this situation in another month or so. And they know theyve got a lot of work ahead of them including Passin Pas Passing Spending bills before the middle of november when theyre going to face another deadline. A huge, huge issue. Jimmy, youve been doing excellent reporting. One of the things youre reporting on was the acting speaker. Patrick mchenry. Hes kicked nancy pelosi and steny hoyer out of the their socalled getaway, Hideaway Offices on capitol hill. What do you make of that . So, we have learned it was actually not patrick mchenry. He made the Public Announcement but i would call this real estate revenge. Mchenry made The Public Order but multiple sources have told me and our colleague that it was in fact none other than Kevin Mccarthy who wanted this done. That hes the one whos responsible and we know also Kevin Mccarthy is moving into Nancy Pelosis old office. The one on the hill. The one that was just taken away. Because hes saying its for former speakers. He is a former speaker now. I dont know why you would want to claim that title but to each his own. People have been weirdly dismissive about their Candidate Forum and the amount of time theyre taking to figure this out. The truth is i think this party has been so kind of desensitized to brinkmanship that they were shocked when this happened and jordan really has to get up and say, okay t, its all Fun And Games but were here and im going to tell you what were going to do. These under currents like ukraine funding get at the core of divisions happening in the party nationally. Its weird the way its like echoing in this little petty space but it has big implications for all of us 40 days from now. In talking to republicans today about real estate revenge, i heard Something Else and that is these are the people who have announced or said they were considering. This may not be the final list. Right. There may be a compromise candidate and the name that i keep hearing is someone who im told wont actually announce, but that if this doesnt work out and who would that be . The acting speaker, patrick mchenry. Hes very close to Kevin Mccarthy. Hes quite popular. Hes very senior. So well see how things work out next week but it may not be one of these. Then you have the Gang Of Eight and you know, the question is anyone whos close to mccarthy would that get the approval of the Gang Of Eight who seem to have a veto over a lot of things. But theyre not a cohesive gang. If you actually break down and look at their records and things, its not always actually clear that they have all that much in common other than being tired of mccarthy at that moment. Im very curious. And youve done a lot of reporting on this as well, jamie. So far, trump has been pretty much silent on whats going on among the republican conference and the new speakership thats at play right now. He hasnt really said much, has he . No, loyalty as we know, how much time rs we going to say this. Loyalty with donald trump is a one way street. All you have to do is remember that very famous photo of Kevin Mccarthy going running back to maralago to bring back donald trump and guess what. Donald trump doesnt care. No matter what Kevin Mccarthy does, donald trump could have stepped up and saved Kevin Mccarthy. He did not. Interesting. But you know, donald trump also was for the shutdown. So, maybe he didnt approve of what Kevin Mccarthy did because he was always on truth social saying shut it down. Shut it down. And it didnt. Z and the government did not shut down. Lets hope it doesnt. L lots at stake. Quickly, this effort to kick matt gaetz out of the republican conference right now, the republicans only have a tiny little majority. If they start losing some members, that could potentially upset them. Also, theres not exactly like profiles in courage happening right now. Every time someone asks this question, the person relies oh, yeah, definitely. He should go. Are you going to do it . Well, i mean, no, we need to talk about that. Well, do you want it or not want it . Do you want to take that step or do you not . Theres obviously some kind of fear there and over the next few days, well have a better understanding of what gaetzs power is. Thank you very much. Just ahead, well go live to new york for the latest on Donald Trumps civil fraud trail. The states Attorney General defiant tonight, insisting she wont be quote, bullied, by the former president of the United States. Stay with us. Youre in the situation room. The new York Attorney general says she refuses to be quote bullied by donald trump after the former president attacked prosecutors yet again on this the third day of his civil fraud trial in new york. Cara is joining us from just outside the courthouse. Shes got details. How much is trump escalating his rhetoric now . Reporter well, wolf, after the judge already admonished him and put a gag order on trump, that doesnt apply to the judge, new York Attorney general, and trump continued taking every opportunity when hes walking through the Courthouse Hallways to make criticisms of the Attorney General, the judge, and the case. Heres what he said today. Prosecutor james is incompetent and you get sued by a political animal. We have a rogue judge. And the judge already knows what hes going to do. So trump left at the lunch break after sitting here for two and a half days of testimony and argument. Now james made her first public response this afternoon after trump had left the building. Heres what she said. Mr. Trumps comments were offensive. They are baseless. They were void of any facts or evidence. What they were, they were comments that unfortunately were meant to violence. Comments that i would describe as race baiting. Comments of what appeals to the bottom of our humanity. This case was brought simply because it was a case where individuals have engaged in a practice of fraud and i will not sit idly by and allow anyone to subvert the law. Lastly, i will not be bullied. So mr. Trump is no longer The Donald Trump show is over. Now before trump left, there was still high tension this morning in the courtroom. The judge becoming frustrated with his lawyers crossexamination of the states first witness, donald bender. They were going over the Financial Statements year by year. Apartment, property, golf course by golf course, and the judge was getting frustrated. At one point, he slammed his hand down on the bench and said this is ridiculous, youre not allowed to waste time. Now, after trump left, the mood if the courtroom really lighten. The judge wished one of the state attorneys a happy birthday and there was a lot more looseness to the room. A lot more levity. This is just the beginning of this trial. The accountant is back on the stand tomorrow for more crossexamination and one of trumps attorneys said that could go all day. Thank you very much. For more on all this, i want to bring in our chief legal analyst, laura coates and norm. Laura, how egregious is it for trump to reup these attacks a day after this gag order was imposed on him . Hes not only trying to poke the bear, hes showing you how little respect he has in regard for judicial order. The orders werent just put there as a happenstance. There was a threat, a sense of saying derogatory and disparaging comments against the person whos job it is to help prepare the judge, to research the case law. To ensure Fact Checking and to provide the court the security it has in making objective decisions. So to attack that person is just biz bizarre. Because theres not a jury in the courtroom, hes turning to the jury of the court of public opinion. Normally if you had a jury trial, youd be worried about having the jury pool really poisoned and having no longer the ability to be impartial towards either defendant because either their antics or their witness on the stand. Norm, what options does the judge have to put a stop to what trump is doing . His remarks, and others are suggesting, could incite violence . The judge has a very tough balancing act to do. I thought he struck the right balance with protecting his clerk and other court personnel. Laura and i spent our legal lives in court and there are thousands of those folks in every courthouse who make it work. Who typically dont get that attention. But hes striking a First Amendment balance, wolf, because he didnt say dont talk about me. He didnt say dont talk about tish james. I know ag james and she can take care of herself and you heard that today with her responding in the court of public opinion. So, i think that those kinds of comments the judge will allow to continue. First amendment. This is a judge though in the past as you know who has imposed fines on donald trump in this very regard for thumbing a courts order. That case was about contempt or not responding to subpoenas by james. We have a track record in appellate court, about 100,000 or more, 10,000 a day in fines. So theres the possibility that he could enforce provisions of his gag order. Otherwise, demonstrated he is se