Scalise . Who do you think might have the votes to lead your party and the house . All three of those would be Excellent Choices and i think they can do an excellent job. Theyre honorable men, to me at least, and theyve never openly mocked me, anyway. They sure as heck have always kept their word to me. Theres several others that have whispered in my ear during all of this. And of course i dont want to out them, i understand that they have to keep their secrecy about them. But there are several Milling Around that are very interested in doing this. Mark green from tennessee is somebody that people have been talking about. So theres several out there that people are talking about. Im sorry, but i just find this so shocking. What exactly did he say to mock your faith, sir . It really doesnt matter. It was just the fact that i publicly stated on your station, i think, this morning that i was praying about it and i had two paths to go, either go with my friend or go with my conscious, and i was praying that god would tell me what to do, which he does. My daddy fought in the pacific in the Second World War and he talked about prayer a lot. Were praying people. I asked god to show me what the right thing to do is. Im not trying to save your soul, but thats the path i go down on a lot of bills, i pray for my wife, my daughter, my enemies, i pray for the speaker, i pray for this president. When things come up, i pray for his son. As a christian, thats what im supposed to do. But when someone mocks me like that and mocks my religion, honestly, the bible is pretty clear about god being mocked, so thats what sealed it right there for me. I said, this is not the quality or the character of person that i want as speaker of the United States. I cant understand that at all. Do you expect that before you go to bed tonight, sir, that youll have a new speaker . I have no earthly idea, brother. I do not know that. If you know that, youre a bigger insider than i thought you were. Thanks for coming on, sir. Good to see you. Thank you, brother. Its always a pleasure. Lets talk this over with kaitlan collins. I didnt know you were here. Good to see you. Actually, i was speaking with congressman last night and he said he was leaning forward, but praying about it. And obviously he meant it. He wasnt saying it ironically. I dont understand why look, i wasnt there, i didnt hear the call. But, obviously, this is a man of deep religious faith, and obviously whatever now former Speaker Mccarthy said to him, he thought he was being mocked. Well, and he was leaning towards that way. He said he did not see his vote changing in the next 48 hours. But potentially there could be. We havent heard Kevin Mccarthys side of this. But if you are trying to keep your job as the house speaker, maybe mocking someone for saying theyre praying about it is not necessarily the way to go. Youre watching the lead right now. Its the top of the hour. Youre watching the lead on an incredibly momentous, incredibly historic day. It has never happened in the history of this great republic, the greatest country in the history of the world, that a speaker of the house has been ousted by a vote of his colleagues. It has never happened, ever. And yet that just happened minutes ago. Former speaker of the house, Kevin Mccarthy, ousted by a motion to vacate. There has been a motion to vacate before that did happen in 1910, with Speaker Cannon, who survived the vote. Now former Speaker Mccarthy did not. Cannon has the most Historic House building named after him. Look, i just want to take a step back for a second. Im picking up in my sort of conversations and looking at the chatter thats going on from people close to Kevin Mccarthy. I think that they are preparing for him to step back and to not be a part of this conversation. That is what i read into what im hearing from them. Theyre talking about those who are close to him saying he was a great speaker, talking in a real way that says, hey, we think hes leaving the stage. Theres reporting coming in from our hill team that basically says republicans that support him have no idea whats going to happen next. I think thats another area where we have done this long enough to know that the number of times things happen and you have no idea whats going to happen next, especially in the house, its extraordinarily rare. It kind of really means, i think, that anything could happen. It was very interesting to hear matt gaetz talk about the names. Patrick mchenry is extraordinarily close to mccarthy. He did not sound positive. He said we would need a real meeting of the minds. He did talk to Steve Scalise. Scalise is somebody who was wanted the gavel, but hes in the midst of a battle with cancer and that is another thing to consider here. And i just think we are in unprecedented territory here on this set, in the halls of the House Of Representatives, in the gop conference room. Congressman emmer, if were throwing out names, is somebody who got up and spoke, a republican from minnesota. He not only is the chair of the conference, meaning he is in charge of communications on behalf of the conference excuse me, hes whip. Yeah, number three. Even more so, he is in charge of talking to people about where their votes are. The point i was making, was before that, his first goaround, he was the head of the nrcc, the guy in charge of getting republicans elected. So he has a lot of relationships. Just going back to what you were saying about Kevin Mccarthy, manu rightly has been trying to get mccarthy and people around mccarthy to answer the question whether or not after this he is going to go back. There will be a speakers vote and he could try to get nominated again and just kind of Roll The Dice since he did it 15 times before. My sense, like yours, is that the people around mccarthy think that that likely wont happen. There certainly are very big mccarthy fans in the conference who might try to push him that way, but i would not hold my breath for that to happen. I think that we finally reached Kevin Mccarthys capacity for political humiliation. We didnt know that we would get there, but were here. Ive seen him stop on a dime to talk to manu, so watching him blow past was an interesting moment. I also want to say that fundamentally, it is a shock, because this isnt someone who was voted out. This isnt someone who stepped back from the speakership and didnt seek reelection. We have seen people leave under sort of pitiful circumstances. This is a selfown, fundamentally, the party did this to itself nationally for everyone to see. And watching them put themselves back together, i think, will be the challenge over the next few days. What do you think . I think this is a huge gift to democrats. This morning i woke up and one of the first poll numbers i saw was for the First Time Since 1991, americans believe republicans would be better than democrats on the economy by a wider margin than they have since 1991, and that is not what republicans on the hill are going to get to talk about. Not until this is resolved. In some ways, i was laughing about this earlier, theres a line from die hard you asked for a miracle, democrats, i give you the gop. But in this indicase, only a hal of members. The vast majority of the conference is united. But with such a slim majority and such bizarre and terrible incentives in our politics today, the weakness of our party is allowing this to happen. And anderson cooper, as i invoke history and remind you, the last time there was a motion to vacate was in 1910, and Speaker Cannon did survive that, unlike now former Speaker Mccarthy. But i will tell you that in 1912 the democrats recaptured the house. Weve never seen a day like today. I want to bring in Maria Salazar of florida who voted in support of Kevin Mccarthy to remain as speaker. Thank you for joining us. What do you say to your eight gop colleagues who voted to oust Kevin Mccarthy . Well, democracy is messy. I represent the City Of Miami and were in love with the american political system. Its not a very happy day for that political system. I was a little distraught with what has been marked, but i have to respect what the other members of congress have decided to vote, because that is the way democracy works. But now we dont have a speaker, we still have the same problems that we had yesterday and the day before. Spending and the border. Is this a problem of the american political system or is it a problem of todays Republican Party, and how do you heal this problem . How do you fix it . I agree with what youre saying, that we have a few members that are just not in line with what the Republican Party represents. Moderates and conservatives. That has been debated in conference all throughout this month. But lets look forward, because what happened, its not what we wanted to happen, but maybe something good comes out of it. I am an eternal optimist. We have a problem with the border and we have a problem with spending. And that was all we heard in that debate. Mccarthy has tried to do what he could within eight months. We have a major fiscal issue. 6 billion a day that we are spending. We need to stop that. Democrats, republicans, independents. And we have a problem at the border. And i want to share with you, because this is the first time weve talked and youre one of the big boys at cnn, is that salazar has presented something that could definitely help democrats and republicans, which is called the dignity act. It seals the border, and at the same time gives dignity to those people who have lived here in the shadows. Nothing is going to get done until theres a speaker, and theres no sign of how thats going to happen. What are you hearing about what the republican conference does next . Will there be a Speakership Vote tonight . There will be a speaker soon. Mccarthy, as im sure you know, left a list, apparently that is the way the rules work. Theres a pro tem speaker right now, patrick mchenry. And if mccarthy decides not to come back as a supporter of mccarthy, would you like him to come back . Listen, lets go into conference and lets decide whats going to happen. What we know is this bickering cannot continue because we have eight more Appropriation Bills that need to be passed in order to fund the rest of the government. If youre a supporter of mccarthy, would you support him if he wants to try to become speaker again, or are there any other republicans you would support to become speaker . I would support the republican that can move the conference forward, that has the votes to continue what i just said, the peoples business. The Average American that is watching us doesnt quite understand. Who would have the votes . Is there anybody on your radar . No one, really, has the votes. So now were going to go through that exercise right now and see who has our support and has enough credibility in order to move forward. Does this hurt republicans credibility just among the electorate, people who want stuff to actually get done, the act you talked about, that youre supporting on the border . I mean, Kevin Mccarthy has been in power for a long time. Theres not much new being proposed on the border thats gotten passed. We were having conversations. Does this Damage Republicans . Well, its not the best optics for republicans, but at the same time we dont run our conference the way nancy pelosi did, which was a lot more or less democratic. Thats why i said to you a few minutes ago, democracy is messy. Im guessing Speaker Mccarthy wishes he had run things like nancy pelosi, no . He would still be in power. The thing is that that is a longer conversation as to why he was not able to do it. And im sure that you know the answer to that. But going back to the regular american guy competence . I dont think its competence. I think its other issues that i dont think we should be discussing right now because this is a moment of reckoning for the Republican Party. But i repeat, the american audience that is watching us has problems, they have to pay rent, the inflation is very high. I dont have to explain to you the state of the economy. We need to lower the spending, we have to create more jobs, and we have to seal the border, which is number one for everyone, including the dems. Look whats happening in new york city. So i repeat, there are solutions out there, and i have introduced legislation, bipartisan, im one of the most bipartisan members in congress. At least the solution is out there. But i know that you want to talk about the speaker. No one really knows. Whoever tells you, i know who it is, no one really knows. But i can maybe advance some information later on after we go to conference. Congresswoman salazar, appreciate it. Thank you very much. A busy day here. Back to the team in new york. Listen, historic day. You cant understate it. We talked about john cannon, the last speaker that faced a motion to vacate. In 2015 i was working for mark meadows when he introduced one against john bohner. John made the calculation that he didnt care if he was not a dar darling of the right wing, in his legacy was going to be that hes a sellout, if it meant passing bills and keeping his conference in order. Kevin mccarthy made a very different decision. He created the weaponization of the Justice Department subcommittee on oversight. I mentioned the Tucker Carlson tapes, the concessions he made to the right flank, only for them to knife him not even in the back, in the front. I think it was a miscalculation of his own leadership. I would disagree with our friends in d. C. , i wouldnt be surprised if he puts his name forward to be the speaker. There are so few who would get 218. I think thats an important point. Well see what happens and im sure well find out if he makes his way to manu raju at some point with the microphone. Im sure hes dying to talk to our friend, manu. He controls a lot of the process going forward. A lot of the names being floated are allies of Kevin Mccarthy, so they would have to be confident that he was stepping to the side in order to put their names forward. Thats not dissimilar from what we saw earlier this year when he became speaker. Were asking the same questions, who else . There were the same names being put forward but none would do it until mccarthy stepped to the side. So he has to make that decision. If mccarthy puts his name forward again, he doesnt have to stand by the same concessions he made the last time, would he . He would have to make more, i would imagine. Wow. He would have to make more to either the hard liners or really strike a deal with the democrats, which seems off the table. The chickens have come home to roost. Matt gaetz is an avatar of, in my opinion, everything thats wrong with the gop, unserious, uninterested in governing, attention seeking, not interested in solving problems, obsessed with identifying rather than converts. And Kevin Mccarthy capitulated and Empowered Matt Gaetz and that selfdestructive wing of the party and had to play by his rules. Live by the rules, die by the rules. Thats where hes at right now. And its ironic to see Kevin Mccarthy pointing at matt gaetz as youve broken the party. Mccarthy is responsible for matt gaetz in a lot of ways. Anderson, it is amazing as a democrat to sit here and watch what the Republican Party is going through. We think of ourselves as being the disorganized ones, everyone having their own opinion. I think what were watching is a large, Major American Political Party come apart at the seams. Theyve got a nominee or almost nominee for president who has been indited four times, his business is probably going to be taken away from him in new york city. Theen weve got a speaker of the house who has been taken out. How is it that were supposed to have any kind of bipartisan reckoning and come up with good policy when there is no partner at the other side of the table . I think this is actually a moment for the American Public to sit back and take a breath, because we just cant continue to go on in this way where we dont have a partner on the republican side. It is also an indictment of our political system. A minority of one chamber, of one branch of government, is basically grinding everything to a halt. Intentionally. And the reason that minority is so empowered is because we have a political system in which the republican conference is more or less run by people who will never see a real primary challenger. Those districts are only going further to the right. So this problem is not getting any better, its only going to get worse. And the tyranny of a minority of a minority within this country, stopping anything from happening. Theres no judgment about whether its good or bad, but nothing is happening. Its bigger than just the primary, its the filibuster. Theres a whole series of things which empower the minority in a way that does not happen in other countries. Absolutely. If you think about what it is they want, what it is theyre talking about doing, theyre talking about stopping people from coming across the border. We see in the courts conservatives are trying to take away affirmative action, take away womens rights and control over their bodies, we see the president going around the country, basically challenging institutions everywhere he turns. Its as if the modern society that we spent almost 100 years, 60 or 70 years trying to build is the thing theyre against. Its no