Mitchell reports, House Republican leader Kevin Mccarthy 24 hours from the biggest moment of his political career and still no closer to securing the votes he needs to become the next speaker of the house. Also this hour, i will speak to dr. Zeke emanuel about a tough holiday flu season along with new concerns about a new strain of covid19 in the u. S. And we will have a live report from rome as catholics travel to the vatican to Pope Emeritus Benedict during the three days he will lie in state ahead of thursdays funeral mass. Good day, im andrea in mitchell. Happy new year, everyone. Well, the pressure is on republican leader in this in you year, Kevin Mccarthy has to win over the hard line House Conservatives that he needs to become the next speaker of the house. Tomorrow the new Congress Returns to washington with the speaker vote as the top item on the agenda. But at this hour no one knows how long its going to take for republicans to secure the Majority Vote needed to appoint a leader. Or who that leader will be. Remember, they have a slim majority. Joining me now nbc washington correspondent yamiche alcindor, nbcs senior capitol hill respondent, garrett haake, phil rucker and matthew dowd former chief strategist to george w. Bush. Well, thanks to all of you, Happy New Year. Welcome. Garrett, to you the action is on the hill. Kevin mccarthy is Running Out Of Time to avoid a public political mess tomorrow, real car wreck. Where do things stand at this hour . Reporter andrea, Running Out Of Time and he seems to be running backwards at the moment. If every member shows up tomorrow and votes, mccarthy can afford four republican votes against him for speaker. The problem is right now hes got about 14. Theres that group of five hardliners who have said they are never mccarthy votes. In addition to them we had a letter come out last night from nine additional republicans who are sort of soft nos who say that they want further changes for mccarthy, changes to the rules, changes that would open up the process in the house, make it more small d democratic to give largely back Bench Members like themselves a little bit more say. Mccarthy is good at the Closed Door Wheeling and dealing it might take to seal the deal here, but the math is incredibly complicated for him if he doesnt start to knock back some of those hard nos and some of those soft nos or find a way to do as Speaker Pelosi did, even john boehner in previous congresses get folks to vote present or stay home, somehow try to change the number. Andrea, if he doesnt get it on the first ballot tomorrow, they will have to just keep voting. The house cant do anything else until they elect a speaker. It will be the first time in a century that a speaker wasnt selected on the very first ballot. And, garrett, hes already moved into the speakers suite of offices, so does that mean he would have to move back out if he doesnt get it . Reporter he would. Just another could be a potentially bitter moment for someone who has come to close to the speakership previously, thinks he can do it today, has vowed to go as long as it takes to get there. No nameplate on the door, no longer Speaker Pelosis office, for the moment the office of republican nominee to be speaker, Kevin Mccarthy, not his yet, no name on the door. Yamiche, with no name on the door this is a nail biter. We havent seen this kind of a speaker fight before, not in recent decades really, and hes known to make compromises. Look at the way he compromised and went to maralago after criticizing President Trump right after well, On January 6th and immediately afterward. So how much is he going to have to compromise and give up to the Marjorie Taylor greenes of the world . It seems like hes going to have to give up a lot. I mean, this is in some ways a chaotic start to the new year for this gop House Republican caucus. Think about the enact that Kevin Mccarthy based on his own writing in a Dear Colleague letter as well as theres been reporting on this call that he had with this conference, hes been trying to give all factions of the Republican Party and all underlined what they want in order to give him in order to get the votes that he needs to become House Speaker. Hes making it easier to oppose the speaker, also talking about Stump Committees that would be on the weaponization of the government which might undercut the work of the Judiciary Committee and the oversight committee. So you already have a number of lawmakers really asking and almost getting exactly what they want but you still have as garrett said he cannot lose more than four votes and you already have five republicans who are pretty staunchly saying we are not going to vote with Kevin Mccarthy. It is interesting to me to see, though, that there is this faction of sort of only kevins that are starting to emerge, those are the lawmakers that are saying they only want Kevin Mccarthy, they will stick with him as long as it takes. You have Kevin Mccarthy saying ive moved in, im going to stick here, im going to stay here, doesnt matter how many ballots it takes to get the speakership. Of course, theres already some quiet rumbling on whether or not there needs to be a backup, maybe a Steve Scalise, somebody else to take this. It reminds me this is an echo of how Kevin Mccarthy lost the speakership last time because he had conservatives who didnt allow him to get the speakership last time. You saw he went to former President Trumps maralago, hes tried his best to embrace the former president but even in this case former President Trump backing him isnt able to help him in this situation. So its going to be fascinating and definitely a place to look on the hill for sure. Is it that he cant help him or that he wont, phil rucker . Because you i dont think that he is the one person, especially with this group of opponents to Kevin Mccarthy, he, donald trump, is the one person who could maybe swing them. Well, andrea, its a good point. Trump has been supportive of Kevin Mccarthy, but weve not seen him do or heard about him doing any of this last minute lobbying in recent days to try to secure the speakership for Kevin Mccarthy. And its a really remarkable moment for these two because mccarthy has been sucking up to trump for years, and even after january 6th as noted as seen in this picture here flew to maralago, has been criticized by some fellow republicans [ inaudible ] not having the strength to stand up to trump and then here in his moment of need trump is not exactly baling him out. So we will have to see what happens tomorrow, but this is a very dire potentially dire situation for Kevin Mccarthy and if he were to be elected speaker tomorrow he would probably be one of the least powerful speakers we have seen given all the concessions he has had to give ahead. Matthew dowd, what does it all say about the state of the Republican Party, about what they should be celebrating, theyve taken back the majority, but its such a slim margin and there are so many different factions. Theyre going to be handcuffed in a lot of ways. Well, i think theyre really in between a rock and a hard place, andrea, because, i mean, i dont think theres that many factions anymore in the Republican Party. The center of the Republican Party has moved much closer and is much more aligned with the Lauren Boeberts of the world and the Marjorie Taylor greenes than it is with this small number of moderates that are left in the Republican Party on the hill. The problem for Kevin Mccarthy and any republican that serves here is that because the center of the party has moved there, its actually further away from the votes they need to keep the house. I mean, keep in mind that in this past election they took the house by less than 3,000 votes. If 3,000 votes had shifted the democrats would have had the house and those 3,000 votes came primarily from moderates had put certain members in california and in new york into power that allowed them to take the house. So for a general election the more they move in this direction it becomes more problematic to keep the house, but if they dont appeal to the center of the party, which, as i said, is the Marjorie Taylor greenes, it creates this uproar that we know and weve watched happen over the course of the last three years. Theyre really and Kevin Mccarthy specifically because he is the man of the moment is in an incredibly difficult place because the more they appeal to the Lauren Boeberts the further away they get from being able to win general elections in those key races. Is one of their new colleagues going to be congressmanelect George Santos, garrett . Is there any chance that they might follow retiring congressman bradys republican congressman kevin bradys saying that santos should consider stepping aside, should not be sworn in . Because i havent heard any other republicans, leading republicans, saying that they would not support him being sworn in. Yeah, that decision only santos himself could make. He has said very little since these stories about his, you know, Made Up Back Story have started to come out, but one of the things that he did say, which has proven to be politically prudent, is that he endorsed Kevin Mccarthy for speaker and mccarthy has not said anything about George Santos and seems highly unlikely to at least before that speakers vote tomorrow. The house in general tends to be reticent to get involved in individual members, districts and politics short of there being an indictment. If santos were to be indicted House Republican rules would be that he would lose his committee seats, would be hard for him to get reelected, but short of that it is not illegal to die to your constituents and makes stuff up. For now in this narrow majority it seems like the rest of the republican conference some expressed their concerns about santos but thats as far as theyre going to go. Although there is a federal investigation which potentially could be in the money trail because of the money that he donated and the money he reported, thats to be to be considered later on, of course, by then he will be sworn in as a member of congress. Yamiche, lets talk briefly about Mitch Mcconnell and joe biden teaming up to talk about infrastructure in kentucky this week. Thats an odd couple, right . Its an odd couple and its incredible its happening as Kevin Mccarthy is dealing with his chaos on the house side, but youre seeing biden and surprisingly Senate Minority leader Mitch Mcconnell saying theyre going to get together, go to this kentucky event. Theyre going to be promoting the bipartisan Infrastructure Law and its going to be just across the way from cincinnati, ohio. This is really in some ways interesting to see republicans and democrats coming together as they look at this big bill that they were able to pass, i think it underscores that President Biden is entering this new phase of divided government with idea at least that he wants to cooperate with the republicans to try to get things done for the american people, but i think its very interesting also because were all waiting to see what the 2024 decision will be for President Biden, whether he will run again and you have Mitch Mcconnell who is clearly openly at this point warring with former President Trump, saying that hes diminished, hes not going to have the Senate Candidates be the ones that are picked by former President Trump. So i think this also shows that Mitch Mcconnell is willing to do what he wants to do in order to sort of promote what he thinks is a good law. So its a very interesting time i think in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party to see these two men sidebyside in kentucky, its going to be definitely be something thats going to be interesting and fascinating in this moment. Exactly. We do expect an announcement very soon, possibly even this month, from joe biden about a second term. Garrett, very briefly, very, very briefly, is this a Secret Ballot . I know its going to be playing out during our shows tomorrow, so we will be on the air when its all happening. Is it a Secret Ballot or is it right reporter no, this is unlike any other vote innings could, theyre going to go down name by name alphabetically and everyone has to stand up and speak their vote out loud for speaker. This will be all shown to the American Public for so long as it takes. We will all be tuning in and sitting here in fact. Thank you so much, garrett haake, yamiche alcindor, phil rucker, matthew dowd. Thanks to all to kick off our new year, 2023. So what former president had no charitable contributions in the last year in office . What weve learned from combing through trumps tax returns. This is Andrea Mitchell reports. Thats next. S. This is Andrea Mitchell reports. Thatsex nt. Hey dad, im almost out. I got you. Any questions, chris . All good, thanks maura healthier is managing all your familys prescriptions in one app. If your moderate to severe Crohns Disease or Ulcerative Colitis symptoms are stopping you in your tracks. Choose stelara® from the start. And move toward relief after the first dose. With injections every two months. Stelara® may increase your risk of infections, some serious, and cancer. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flulike symptoms, sores, new skin growths, have had cancer, or if you need a vaccine. Pres, a rare, potentially fatal brain condition, may be possible. Some serious allergic reactions and Lung Inflammation can occur. Feel unstoppable. Ask your doctor how lasting remission can start with stelara®. Janssen can help you explore cost support options. Moderatetosevere eczema. It doesnt care if you have a date, a day off, or a double shift. Make your move and get out in front of eczema with steroidfree cibinqo. Not an injection, cibinqo is a oncedaily pill for adults who didnt respond to previous treatments. And its proven to help provide clearer skin and relieve itch fast. Cibinqo continuously treats eczema whether youre flaring or not. Cibinqo can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. Before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections and do blood tests. Tell your doctor if youve had hepatitis b or c, have flulike symptoms, or are prone to infections. Do not take with medicines that prevent blood clots. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma, lung, skin and other cancers, serious heartrelated events, and blood clots can happen. People 50 and older with Heart Disease risk factors have an increased risk of serious heartrelated events or death with jak inhibitors. Its time to get out in front of eczema. Ask your doctor about oncedaily cibinqo. Classical Piano Music [reporter] one of the deadliest Mass Shootings in us history at Pulse Nightclub in orlando. [barbara] walking into the building for the first time after the shooting, it was crippling, but it had to be preserved. If you are an ally of this community, speak out. There are more of us together than apart. It is the power of love in its rawest form. Classical Piano Music announcer enough with the calorie counting, carb cutting, diet fatigue, and stress. Just taking one golo release capsule with three balanced meals a day has been clinically proven to repair metabolism, optimize insulin levels, and balance the hormones that make weight loss easy. Release works with your body, not against it, so you can put dieting behind you and go live yo