kevin mccarthy doesn t have the votes, they have to keep voting. what he s saying is another powerful figure like steve scalise, who isn t raising his hand or posing an open threat to kef kevin mccarthy might sudden ly emerge like this is the only viable candidate. when kevin mccarthy falls apart, if he does, steve scalise has been quietly there. maybe not openly challenging mccarthy, but would be there if it fell apart. ike that s what matt gaetz is saying. so if you re just saying, well, if it s not these guys so it must be kevin, it s a third option which is it s someone that is just being quiet for right now. annie karni, i have a dozen more questions but unfortunately we have to leave the conversation there. appreciate your reporting, annie, thank you. thank you. up next on cnn this morning what we re learning about brittney griner s return to the u.s. and what she
stuff like this and reach across the aisle. so republicans love her in the senate. they love working with her. they think she s a partner who can really get things done. this immigration bill, though, i haven t heard any serious talk that this is something they re going to get done in a lame duck session that s already pretty crowded. on the house side matt gaetz told part of cnn s team that, quote, the person who is ultimately going to be speaker isn t even a candidate yet. what do you make of that and kevin mccarthy s chances? what i make of that is that we ve seen some figures raise their hand and say they re running against kevin mccarthy. and if you look at, say, that person andy biggs doesn t have the votes, bob goode doesn t have the votes so it s got to be kevin mccarthy but that s not how the election works. i think matt gaetz is saying if