So hes been representing the louisiana Congressional District now since 2016. Hes in the leadership, but hes not too high in the leadership. So hes the vice chair of the House Republican conference. Heres the other big thing. He served on trumps first Senate Impeachment trial defense team. Hes a defender of donald trump, and we can see that in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, so what we see is that johnson, in fact, had drafted the house gop legal brief supporting the texas suit. And he objected to Certifying The 2020 Election Results. Now perhaps theres some interesting sort of back and forth. Perhaps some republicans want to forget about it. Lets look back and compare it to now. We have a solemn responsibility today, we must vote to sustain objections to states of electors smutted by states that we genuinely believe clearly violated the constitution and the president ial election of 2020. This is the threshold before us, and its an issue before us for the state of arizona. You helped lead the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. They dont want to focus on dividing them. They want to be unite d as a conference. We should sort of note why mike johnson couldnt succeed. He kind of tries to get in that middle of the republican caucus, doesnt want to be too far out there on the right side. So he voted to raise the debt ceiling, but not to avoid the Government Shutdown. Now hes asking for a possible continuing resolution to keep the government open. Heres the other thing about john sob. He sponsored more bills that pass ed than the average republican. So he has an ability to get things done. Hes been able to sort of get this broad gop support. So remember we had matt gaetz here. Matt gaetz essentially sunk Kevin Mccarthy. And mike lawler, what we saw there, he sunk jim jordan. He has support on the left and sort of on the right side of the gop caucus. One last thing i will note in terms of fundraising. Mike johnson is not been the biggest fundraiser in the world. Hes not anywhere close to Kevin Mccarthy. Hes not even near tom emmer. We saw some improvement from 2019 to 2021, so thats something that a lot of republicans will be wondering about. Can mike johnson raise the money they need. Well just have to wait and see. I want to start can david chalian. Whats the significance of someone who is actively in involved in trying to decertify the president ial election, which joe biden won. Whats the csignificance of thi person potentially becoming the Speaker Of The House . I think it was perfectly on display. Yesterday Tom Manslaughterer served as the speaker designee. He voted to certify the election as a results in 2020. Donald trumps Republican Party, thats the significance here. If you were trying to overturn the legitimate election result of 2020, thats a credential to sell in todays House Republican conference. Not a Disqualifying Factor in todays republican conference. And that is a crucial piece of where we are. And why they are still also where we are. The house will come to order. Wolf, to that, this is a member who wasnt just on the bus on trump and an election denier, he was driving the bus. Sources said to me today he has the votes, that he could get it on the first ballot. And that the fact hes not well known is actually helping because moderate republicans dont have to worry when they go back to their districts, their constituents dont know yet just how conservative he is. One republican source said to me, he doesnt present the way jim jordan presents people just dont know. Who does . I i think he is a person who is hard to demonize. Its very easy to demonize somebody like a jim jordan, who is a fire brand. Hes out there and fighting and then donald trump can demonize an emmer because he didnt believe the election was rigged. But you had this kind of thats not quite the right word, hes a serious person, who is not prone to getting in big, huge fights with people. He is known as a listener. He is hugely conservative, but he doesnt wear it on his sleeve all the time. So he can get along with moderates and listen to them t will be interesting to see what happens with ukraine aid, for example, but hes not the devil incarnate. He can listen. He will listen to colleagues, but hes never been a chairman. To davids point the lie that trump won the last election is now deeper in the republican bloodstream. The Republican Party constantly face this is choice when it picks its leaders. Theres a chance to say lets flush that away. Its not true. Its a mistake. Lets move on. They are going to elect the speaker today, who was driving the train, not just voted for it, but was driving the train. But the question is, this is a victory for republicans at the end of the circus. They get a leader. Okay. So they picked a leader. Now what happens . Can he get the votes to avoid a Government Shutdown . Israel aid, no brainer. Ukraine aid, will the party have a fight over that. Then what . Every time they need to vote on anything significant, thats when they fracture because they have a very fractured, narrow majority. So can a guy who has never led a committee now lead what we have seen is an incredibly fractured, divisive conference in which a decent number of them dont really care about governing. They care about attention. They like disrupting the process. So he has a giant opportunity to prove that some nobody can rise up and be a star and bring them together. But theres so much peril. The fundamental reality here is that while, yes, we may see the circus, this three week circus end today, just because they are able to get 217 votes on the floor doesnt mean that any of the fundamental fractures, as john was saying in this party, have been fixed. Because the reality is john boehner up and quit because he was so frustrated with the dynamics. Paul ryan resigned from congress. He said, not only am i stepping out, im leaving town. Kevin mccarthy wanted this job and got thrown out because of these dynamics. Just because mike johnson today doesnt have enough people saying hell no to him, doesnt mean that any of those problems have been fundamentally fixed. Its just that these two groups of people are increasingly apart from each other, but they cant hold any power at all without each other. Im not convinced because they get together today they can keep the government open. I want to point out, they are taking a procedural Attendance Vote right now to make sure everyone is there who is supposed to be there. We are going to know very quickly if you think about aid to israel, you think about aid to ukraine, are those going to be packaged together. Is that something that folks in congress, particularly the people who. Ed Kevin Mccarthy help. Will the House Majority allow that, particularly some of the hardliners there and then after that, keeping the government open. Is this something hes going to be able to do. Theres all this reporting about they are going to give him something of a longer leash. He was leading election denialism. What does it mean if hes Speaker Of The House still and donald trump doesnt win the election. Does he further try to undermine democracy in 2024 and use his seat as Speaker Of The House to wreak havoc on the system once again. Its not just that he voted against Certifying The Election Results. They had to do with some battleground states, it was absurd. The Supreme Court didnt deal with it and it was his strategy and he was the chief whip for donald trump in getting republicans to sign on to this absurd lawsuit. Its only a few weeks since he was one of 90 republicans, who did not vote for the continuing reso resolution. He was not with a majority of his conference, of the conference hes going to lead now on that issue, he was on the opposite side of Kevin Mccarthy and a majority of republicans to actually avoid a shutdown, to pay the military and all that. He was on the side of, no, and now hes floating this idea of a possible continuing resolution through january 15th, april 15th to keep the government open if they dont finish all their Spending Bills. Before November 17th. You already see how hes having to move from where he was to try and do this very difficult task of keeping this fractured conference together. I think hes got to discover who he really isso do members h who he really is. Because its very hard to move no continuing resolution to be the architect of a kobtsing resolution. And quite frankly, part of this is the exhaustion on the part of the republicans and the recognition that they look like clowns for the last few weeks and that they had to do shotgun. In the republican caucus, somebody who denied the election is okay. Not for those members who won in the biden districts, perhaps, but for most of them, its okay, which is why when the journalists asked a question about it last night, she got booed because they are like thats over. We dont want to deal with anymore. Who is better to start with a clean slate than someone we dont know really well. The fact that the congresswoman said shut up, its antidemocratic. They are antidemocratic. Thats a fact. And they are antifree speech. They dont like questions that they dont like. They dont want to answer questions they dont like welcome to america. Thats the great charm of the american experiment that we ask questions and people get to ask these questions. Soon to be speaker was against this continuing residolution, which thats the washington speak for keeping your government open because they cant pass an actual budget. So now the plan is either january or april, he will go into the conference. If he gets one of those two, so january, just when they are starting the president ial nominating process or april, when actually the primary season is kicking into a higher gear where all of these House Republicans have to go home, most of them dont have primary challenges, but thats all they worry about, 90 only worry about being challenged from the right so then they are going to pick a leader. Everybody, standby. Were waiting for the House Speaker vote. It will come very soon while israel pounds gaza with another round of airstrikes in response to hamas attacks. And concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza Continue to grow. Well have all the latest on the ground, thats next. Welcome back to the Special Coverage. Youre looking a at the floor of the House Of Representatives here in washington. Welawmakers are about to vote o the fourth republican speaker nomination. Cnns jake tapper is joining us now live. Hes in tel aviv. The dysfunction here in washington, d. C. Isnt having a real impact on the middle east . Reporter people in the middle east are very concerned about the potential impact in terms of the fact that the legislative branch of the u. S. Government can do really nothing as of now. Cnns mj lee is at the white house, where President Biden is going to take questions from reporters in about an hour from now. And this will be President Bidens first News Conference since the hamas terrorist attack on israel on october 7th. Reporter thats right. And you have obviously seen how this israelhamas war has been a consuming focus for President Biden. We certainly expect that to be a major topic of discussion between the president and the australian prime minister. You will recall that the president had to cancel a previously scheduled visit to australia earlier this year when the u. S. Government was on the verge of a debt default. So this invitation to the white house serves as a way for the Biden Administration to reebb foe u. S. Australian alliance. This is an alliance that has so much to do with trying to co counter chinas influence in the region. Youll recall its within the last few years that the two countries reached a major agreement to provide australia with nuclear part submarines. That has everything to do with trying to counter chinas military might in the region. I will tell you that it goes without saying even with all of this going on at the white house today, white house officials are very closely monitoring what is going on in the House Of Representatives. There is a top priority for the administration right now, which is getting tens of billions of dollars in additional aid to ukraine, to israel, and at this moment in time, how exactly House Republicans will deal with that matter is entirely uncertain. Mj lee, thank you so much. I want to turn to jeremy diamond, who is in ashkelon. What are you hearing about the Israel Defense forces next move . Reporter what we are seeing right now is an intensification of airstrikes carried out by the idf on the gaza strip. All of this designed to prepare the terrain in gaza, according to the idf, for a potential Ground Invasion. A Ground Invasion that we know the israelis appear willing to delay for a few days at the request of the United States in order to allow for more time for hostage negotiations. But the fact that they are continuing to carry out those intense airstrikes indicates that israel is still intending to move forward with that Ground Invasion, even if it waits for a few days, it will not wait indefinitely to move forward with those plans. Overnight, the idf carried out airstrikes that destroyed several tunnels and also took out several hamas commanders. What we also know is that these intensified airstrikes are leaving a significant number of casualties, including civilian casualties. More than a third of casualties of those killed inside of gaza in these two weeks of war have been children. You see these absolutely devastating images not only of the aftermath of some of the airstrikes, but also in hospitals, which are increasingly running out of fuel to be able to carry out operations, not only for those critically injured in the strike, but also for patients who is need lifesaving care, whether thats dialysis or prenatal care, the World Health Organization says 12 of gazas hospitals are out of service because of a lack of fuel. So theres no question that as israel continues to intensify its air campaign inside of gaza, as hamas continues to harbor its fighters in civilian areas as well, the toll for civilians inside of gaza is only growing. Now to nic robertson. People say they desperately need that fuel. Is it coming . If not, why not . Reporter it doesnt appear to be coming. It appears to be part of that negotiation over release of hostages that also involves calls for a humanitarian pause or some might call it a ceasefire. The Israeli Government are putting pressure on hamas in every way they can. They said this from the outset that that siege, the cutting off of food, water, all supplies to gaza, so it is an intentional Pressure Point. And the gas is the one things that will put pressure on hamas. One of the other key things i should say is the continuing artillery strikes, continuing airstrikes that weve been seeing along close to the Border To Gaza today. When we consider where these apparent negotiations are, both sides seem to be coming down to the wire. And israel lost the initiative to hamas pause they captured so many hostages. One of the only way it is can regain them is with this extreme Pressure Point, which is fuel. And neither side seems to be back ing down. Thats where we seem to be tonight. So one of the things that i have heard from israeli officials are, one, that they are willing to allow more supplies in if hamas res leases the more than 200 hostages, and their concerns about fuel is that hamas uses that fuel for rockets that are constantly used against israeli population centers. And two, that hamas uses them for oxygen for their Extensive Network of tunnels. Hamas uses fuel to fight the war. Theres no doubt about it, if they dont have fuel, they cant fight their war as effectively, its moving their soldiers around, whether its providing electricity to run the pumps that keep that underground network of tunnels supplied with oxygen, with air, for all sorts of things. The fuel is used in hospitals as well. And thats how hamas uses that as a Pressure Point and how it tries to enlist the support of the International Community and more pressure there is on the hospitals because of more civilian casualties. The greater that works to hamas effect. Because its able to sort of put some muscle, if you will, behind the narrative around fuel. But absolutely, they need the fuel. Thats israels point. Put the fuel into gaza. It will end up in hamas hands. They have the ability to get their hands on whatever they want. Nic robertson, appreciate it. Were moment was from what looks to be the final decisive vote for House Speaker. Mike john, the congressman from louisiana, well bring that to you live, 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