Conscience not her fealty to trump. 60 out of that number. One vote was present. We have manu raju on capitol hill. An historic vote. There was a lot of talk. The feel of it was as you were reporting earlier that cheney might lose. She went behind the scenes for several weeks in the aftermath of the vote to impeach donald trump, talking to members trying to get them on their side explaining her vote. It appears to have paid off. She was listening to the concerns and did not back away from her vote. In fact today she said she does not regret voting to impeach donald trump. She made that clear to her conference but there were an outspoken contingent of members who came after her very aggressively through the course of this more than fourhour closed door meeting. At the end of the day the members decided it is more important to unite at this moment than engage themselves in a divisive leadership fight and the ouster of the highest ranking republican woman in leadership. Now, at the same time, this debate tonight, chris, was not about Marjorie Taylorgreene. Yes, that was part of it. Her comments that have gotten so much attention over the last couple weeks, last week in particular, her Conspiracy Theories and everything else, that was really not the focus here tonight. Greene addressed those controversies, seemed to have walked back from what she said, said it doesnt represent her. That seemed to be good enough for the republicans. Instead the focus was almost exclusively on liz cheney and whether she is to continue to serve as the republican conference chairwoman, the number three person, because she voted to impeach donald trump. Manu, give me a little context then i want you to take me in the room. On context, 14561, one present. Ordinary circumstances, she won by a healthy margin, but given what they had her up on charges for essentially, which was voting to impeach the president , what do you make of that margin, that 61 votes plus one present were trying to oust her for the vote of impeachment . Reporter it shows a sizable and healthy influence that donald trump still has on the Republican Party. The thing to remember about this, though, chris, this was a secret ballot. We will never know how people actually voted in the room. I talked to many republicans who left who just refused to comment one way or the other how they voted. And well never know because there is no record of their vote. But there was a majority of the House Republican conference on the night of the riots, after the riots, that voted still to get rid of the electoral results for arizona and pennsylvania. But, still, not a majority of the conference to get rid of liz cheney. Im not sure how to interpret that other than the fact that a lot of this is personal relationships. She has personal relationships. She went behind the scenes to ensure that that paid off at the end of the day. It seems like it did. She was very quiet and straight in her statements when she came out. She was like look i want to take on these hostile democratic policies. She seemed a little brow beaten to be honest not the normal energy we are used to seeing from her. Behind closed doors is it true that the vibe about cheney was completely the inverse of what was up there with the qanon lady, that she got people supporting her and applauding after she spoke . Yeah. I talked to several people who were in the room who told me that after Marjorie Taylorgreene addressed the republican conference which was actually a couple hours into the session, she finally addressed the room. She contended that her statements that shes made, all the conspiracies including qanon dont represent her. She said she said some things in the past before she was elected that she does not necessarily agree with now. That seemed to be good enough. That actually led to this round of applause im told about half of the republican conference actually stood up and applauded her for those statements. That seemed to be good enough for them. Then there were others who came out and defended her through the course of this session. I want to emphasize though this was not the focus. Even though it got all the attention over the last several days including from the Senate Republican leader, Mitch Mcconnell, who said Marjorie Taylorgreenes views amounted to a cancer for the party, that was still not the focus here. It was almost all about liz cheney. Mccarthy, the minority leader, didnt hold a vote on the qanon lady, did he . He decided not to. He decided not to. He could have, if mccarthy wanted her off those committees he absolutely could have done that, gotten the Steering Committee a group of republican members essentially loyal to him to push her off those committees. He decided he did not want to do that. He did propose Something Else to the democrats to swap committees so she could serve on something besides the House Education Committee. That has gotten a lot of criticism given the Conspiracy Theory she said about the School Shootings that happened but that offer was not taken by democrats. They want her off all committees all together and are going to move tomorrow to do just that. Lets play a little bit of the minority Speaker Mccarthy talking about this. Literally he made gumby look stiff in terms of how he twisted around to make this into a point of integrity. Listen i denounce all of those comments that were brought up. Everybody she came inside our conference and denounced them as well. She said she was wrong. She has reached out in other ways and forms. And nothing that she said has been based upon since shes been a member of congress. The voters decided she could come and serve denouncing qanon i dont know if i say it right. I dont even know what it is. Any from the shootings. She said she knew nothing about lasers. Boy, there is a page of the trump book i cant wait till it gets turned. I dont even know what qanon is. Remind him the next time you see him remember all the signs people were holding up as they savagely attacked our capitol . Remember it said qanon . Thats qanon. Boy, the lies. He relies on two bases. The first one is she denounced all these things. There has been no Public Statement to my knowledge of her saying that to anybody outside this conference. I wonder if anybody asked her what exactly do you renounce and denounce . Im not told that anybody asked her that. It may have come up but i really dont believe there was a back and forth based on the sources that i talked to. She made her statement. They applauded her for what she said. Other congressmen voiced support for her. They moved on. I dont sense there was any sort of exchange with her. But What Mccarthy said is that he does believe she should say this publicly and other republican members i talked to, even ones who are supporting her staying on the committees for now, still want her to go out publicly and denounce qanon and say she does not believe these conspiracies that she has said as recently as 2018 and 2019 believed. Will she do that . We dont know. Weve been asking her questions for the last two days in the halls. Everywhere shes gone. She has refused to answer any of our questions. Will she say it publicly and actually do that . Well see. I tried to ask mccarthy. Some of that exchange you played was my back and forth as i was trying to get him to explain how he appears to be endorsing this woman whose views Mitch Mcconnell called a cancer to the Republican Party. I said well how can you just take one private comment and suggest that this long pattern of things that she said, that one private denial is enough to wipe away everything she said in the last couple years . He did not answer that question. I tried to ask him toward the end. That is a question, too. Was that enough for the Republican Leaders . Theyre saying if she says it now as a member of congress they may act differently. They are giving her a pass now because they said she said it before she was elected. A new rule for them. You can say whatever you want before you get elected but once youre elected even though you say the same things during that campaign, supposedly, thats still okay for mccarthy. Boy oh, boy. Now, what happens tomorrow . What votes happen tomorrow and are they open or private . Reporter theyre public votes on the house floor. The House Democrats are making clear they are moving forward. A vote will be on the house floor, a simple majority of the house. Democrats have the majority in the house to strip her from the two kmutees the House Education Committee and the house budget committee. Well know tomorrow which republicans want a qanon member to be promoted within their ranks. No question about it. And im expecting very few republicans are going to side with the democrats. A vast majority will side with Marjorie Taylorgreene. Just as were seeing with the Impeachment Trial they are making a Process Argument. This happened before she was a member of congress. We should not set the precedent. To be fair democrats, too, are a bit concerned about the precedent they are setting, too. What if the republicans take the majority in 2022 and go after their members . That seems to be a possibility here with this vote tomorrow so it is a bit of a risk that democrats are taking but theyre still moving ahead. I expect only a handful of republicans to break ranks. A vast majority will make that Process Argument saying dont go after our members on our committee. We make decisions who sits on our committees and dont go after them for things they said before they were elected. I think the democrats should have learned a lesson that hoping that the republicans wont do something wrong to them so theyll play it nice doesnt get you very far. Manu, thank you very much. Thank you for asking the questions to mccarthy that count. What he wouldnt answer says as much about what he did answer. Lets bring in john kasich and michael smerconish. Gov, do you think tomorrow well have an introduction to the new qanon wing of the Republican Party when the democrats put it to a vote . You think the republicans will stand by this qanon member . In listening to this, chris, if this lady had, you know, she wanted to try to make things right, she should go down into the well of the house and she should apologize to everybody including nancy pelosi. And the comments she has made that were in the area of violence. And denounce all that she said because i understand she had a tweet out the other day saying im not going to apologize for anything. Thats right i dont really know what happened in there but what i can tell you is if she were to go down into the house floor and say, look. Im going to tell you everything. Give me the extended time and let me explain everything and apologize, you know, she may survive it. But without that, i dont see how they can support her. I went home tonight, chris. We all talk about family. My wife looked at me. Shes on her computer. She said, i teach my daughters how to behave. And i look at the comments from this woman and from the party and i dont even understand why im a republican. How do i change that . If i want to . I said, well ill get you the details of how you do that, sweetie. She says, i cant teach my daughters one thing and then see our elected officials behaving another way. So, you know, this is a really serious matter. I dont think she is going to apologize. If she doesnt she should lose her committees. I was the first one to say that. This woman should be isolated and lose her committees. Lets see what she does tomorrow. Its up to her. If somebody can make the case it will be smerconish because he is mr. Its good for business when it comes to the ugly trappings of the new Republican Party. But i dont understand first of all, i get what the gov is saying but michael we both know she cant go down on to the floor and say all right. When i said the jewish laser beams thing i didnt mean it and shouldnt have said that. When i said Killing Pelosi is a good thing and i like that i shouldnt have done that either and drinking baby blood . I dont really think they do that. And jfks plane . Yeah. I dont think the clintons killed him. And the 9 11, yeah. I think it hit the pentagon. I dont think she is going to go down there and say that. I dont think the party will require her to. How does this work What Mccarthy did tonight . How is this not establishing a qanon wing . A couple things. First of all, liz cheney was saved by a secret ballot. Those 61 votes would have been a hell of a lot higher if it had been in the light of day. It allowed republicans to exhibit their beer muscles among colleagues, talk tough, please the base, then go behind the curtain and vote their conscience for whats in the partys best interests. I think that The Big Picture is theyre dopes. I mean, do they really want a Public Record tomorrow of how they stand on Marjorie Taylorgreene . If they had disciplined her in their own house they could not then therefore have been held accountable the way they will tomorrow. Chris, i want you to think about something. You might not think this apples to apples but 61 Republican House members were willing to vote against liz cheney Behind Closed Doors. Do you remember the number 147 . That was how many Republican House members were challenging the Electoral College votes on that infamous day of january 6th. I think its a similar mindset. What im pointing out to you is the difference how they act Behind Closed Doors versus when the light is on them and they think the base is paying attention a know they better behave for the base or there could be repercussions. Two quick takes. First for you michael. How does this work for mccarthy what he did tonight . I dont think it works well for this reason. There are parts of the country i guess where to be against liz cheney but supportive of the qanon congresswoman plays well. But thats not where i live. And in suburbia, which is where john kasich runs well, a kasich type republican, this is a nonstarter. All youre going to do is keep the base coming back and you will continue to lose those areas that allowed joe biden to become the president of the united states. Gov, Last Question to you, which you absolutely will not answer. Did you tell your wife after this happened today, oh, shoot. I got to get ready. I have to run because im going to be the only kind of candidate that can win for this party in four years for the next presidency . I didnt tell her that because i wanted to get home. Shed have locked the door and not let me in. Heres the interesting thing, chris. You remember when trump said during the debate to the proud boys, you stand back and stand by. What mccarthy is doing is playing a very dangerous game. He doesnt want to make these people angry who support people like greene and there are people like that in this country. But you know what . Getting power and being in charge for what . To play this kind of game . I know him. Shame on this. This is a very bad move and it is not going to help the Republican Party over time. If these kinds of things these kind of things damage the party. It shrinks the party. Theyve lost their sense of ideas. Well see if they can get them back. Trump said stand back and stand by. Mccarthy all but told them tonight come ahead and come strong. Doing this the day after we commemorated january 6th and the man who gave his life that day. Governor kasich, thank you. Michael smerconish as always appreciate you, brother. Another Big Story The Cdc director warns covid variants, vaccine versus variants, thats our race. The variants are getting more troubling. They could reverse the only good trends weve had lately in this pandemic fight. There are only a handful of states getting even a fraction, a small fraction of the data that we need to know how far the strains are spreading. The need for testing and Contact Tracing never went away. It never went away. We never caught up with the need. So will the vaccines do the catching up for us . We have the chief doctor on that and whether we need to rethink who gets the shot first. How . The answer is ahead. Hail with it, baby, cause youre fine and youre mine, and you look so divine come and get your love get a dozen Double Crunch Shrimp for one dollar with any steak entree. Only at applebees. Its variants versus vaccine and were losing. Okay . The vaccine and the variants, which one will make us sicker or which one will get us to a place where the variants cant hurt us, okay . It is no longer a question of when people start dying from the mutated covid strains. Its happening. And the pace at which it is spreading, these different variants, they, it is scary. Remember how long it took covid to move from the coast to the heartland. Okay . This is exponentially faster. Why . Because thats what the variant is. It is an improvement on the virus. That allows it to spread more quickly. Thats how it survived. Okay . The variant found in the uk those cases skr almost doubled in the last week. Were not really even looking for it the way we should. Once someone tests positive for covid then the states can take the test and go to sequence it or dig into the genetic makeup of the case to know what theyre dealing with. Ballpark experts, you know, tell us sequencing is like 5 to 10 of the cases. Were not even looking.