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I have to admit, i never knew this existed but how cute. And the really exciting thing is the winner could become the next speaker of the house. Im just kidding. Thank you so much for joining us today. The lead with jake tapper starts right now. Folks, i have warned you before, cranking your base up too much will blow out your speaker. The lead starts right now. Republicans need a new leader and they need that person quick. The government runs out of money again next month. So, who should become the next House Speaker . And what deal will he make with those eight House Republicans who toppled mccarthy. Plus, petty, petty, petty politics. First nancy pelosi, and then steny hoyer. Both kicked out of their Capitol Office space. We have brandnew cnn reporting about who was really behind this decision. And the cnn exclusive, 10 million in legal bills for hunter biden and an exhausted efforts to find more funds. Where is a shady foreign billionaire when you really need them . Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. We start today on capitol hill where the race for House Speaker is on. Majority leader Steve Scalise of louisiana and republican jim jordan of ohio have officially joined the race. Now that Kevin Mccarthy has officially been fired. And History Making Headline for the californians. A new speaker could be a fresh start tor House Republicans or it could be just another hostage sitting in the same office, terrified of doing anything to offend a tiny faction of his party. So how did we get here . For the very first time in American History. Speakerless. Well it might have all began when Kevin Mccarthy thought he could appease the maga right. With almost the notion that he would allow them to set just some of the building on fire. But that is not how fireworks. While the votes were still being counted, two days after the election of 2020, Kevin Mccarthy decided he would cast his lot with the election liars. President trump won this election so everyone who is listening, do not be quiet. Do not be do not be silent about this. We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes. And so Kevin Mccarthy brought in the fire and he stoked it. Weeks later, then came the violent protrump mob storming the capitol, based on those election lies. And mccarthy continued to stoke that fire. He voted to reject the Election Results in pennsylvania and in arizona. Also based on those lies. And what is perhaps most interesting about those votes is the Cravenness That Mccarthy admitted about it to cnns manu raju. He said it was okay to throw out those millions of votes from pennsylvanians and arizonans because joe biden still would have had 270 electoral votes and still would have been president. If arizona and pennsylvania were removed in the electoral college, would President Bidens number lower below 270. No but donald trump said the house could vote. Wait, im not donald trump. So youre asking me the question. You sumted adopting it, did you not. Im answering the question. But you cant do insurrection light. You cant be seditionish. That is not how it works. That is not how fire works. And Kevin Mccarthy wanted power and when the republicans to whom hed been pandering, made the final demand, the ability of one of them to force a vote to fire him, mccarthy took it and he became House Speaker and then he lost his job. And when he lost his job yesterday, he blamed democrats. He said the democrats didnt have respect for institutions. Kevin mccarthy picked a hell of a time to start caring about institutions. Melanie zanona are on capitol hill. Were coming up on 24 hours since that historic vote that removed mccarthy as House Speaker. What does the race look like to succeed him . Reporter well the race is already heating up. I have been told that Steve Scalise as of last night was making calls to his colleagues and lining up supporters and earlier today he made it official in a letter to his colleagues. I want to read you part of that letter. He said, god already gave me another chance at life. I believe we were all here put here for a purpose. This next chapter wont be easy, but i know what it takes to fight and im prepared for the battles that lie ahead. I humbly ask you for your support on this mission to be your speaker of the house. So, jake, a reference there to the fact that Steve Scalise was shot at a gop baseball practice back in 2017. Now hes under going treatment for blood cancer. But he said he feels great and hes up for the job and this is a moment that he and his team have been preparing for for quite sometime. Theyve long been seen as Waiting In The Wings if mccarthy were to step aside or were to stumble. But jake, i could tell you, this is not a coronation for Steve Scalise. He will have to face off against jim jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman who has the support of many conservatives in his party and jim jordan made his candidacy official today and manu raju caught up with him. Here is what he had to say. What promises are you plaguing to the conference, policy wise, agenda wise. The agenda is what i spoke about the floor, manu. We need to pass bills that need to be passed, weve done a lot of that. Biggest one of course is hr2, the immigration and Border Security legislation. Frankly i wish Chuck Schumer would bring it up. Now both men made their cause before the house gop texas delegation. A large and influential block of conservatives and republicans here in the house. And some of the questions that they are being asked, jake, include what are you going to do with Ukraine Funding, that is been a polarizing issue and jordan suggested he would not support por funding for ukraine and also are you going to reform the motion to vacate, that tool that was used to oust Kevin Mccarthy and hardliners say it need to stay where it is and there are some moderates in the party who say we need to reform that tool so we dont have chaos again on the floor. But all of this is not sorted out until next week at earliest. House gop will have a Cand Forum On Tuesday and vote on wednesday and The Big Question remains can this un rulely Conference Rally around a Single Person to lead them. Until they do, the house is going to be paralyzed, jake. Thank you so much i. Lets bring in jamie gangel. Right after Kevin Mccarthy was fired, weve seen two former Democratic Leaders of the house, nance and steny hoyer kicked out of their office. Not how pelosi treated former Republican Leaders. An you have some new reporting about how that happened. The interim speaker Patrick Mchenry is being blamed for this. Is that fair. No. This is real estate revenge and yes Patrick Mchenry gave the public order. But according to multiple sources who have told me and our colleague annie grayer, in fact, it will not surprise you to know that Kevin Mccarthy was hideaways and guess who is moving into pelosis office . You get one guess. Keb mccarthy. Kep mccarthy. Kevin is on a revenge tour. Patrick would never do that on his own. This is kevins call. Classy. You talked to sources about how mccarthys removal went down. Tell us more. Look, you laid out what happened on the republican side. With the matt gaetz aid and Kevin Mccarthys selfin flicked wound. But we also talked about how the democrats kept discipline. And im told that it came down in effect to one photograph, remember the photograph from maralago where Kevin Mccarthy went running down and stood next to donald trump. Breathing life back into him after january 6. Absolutely. Yeah. So there were some democrats and we reported this who had talked about doing a deal with mccarthy, bailing him out. But in the end, the leadership, including nancy pelosi, including some members of the january 6 committee, like zoe lofgren, said to their conference, you cannot support a man, you cannot bail out a man who is standing next to donald trump, would tried to overthrow the election and the rule of law. And then there is obviously the trump factor, mccarthy thanked Trump Profusely after the 15th vote that secured him the speakership. How much did mccarthys relationship with donald trump play in his removal, do you think . Apparently, as weve said many times. Loyalty is a oneway street. Despite the trip to maralago, despite mccarthy on bended knee, donald trump could have bailed Kevin Mccarthy out and he did not. Yeah. It say we turn to garrett grav. He voted to keep mccarthy as speaker yesterday. When asked last night if your party could decide on a leader. By innext week. You said hell no. Do you feel that way now. Because your party is scheduled to vote a week from today. The party is Schedule Autoed to vote and i think what is going on right now that for people going home and decompression and do a candid forum and have people talking about their candidacy and what they want to do and a vote on wednesday. But i remind you going bag to january, even without all of the sore wounds, it took 15 votes to elect a speaker of the house. You have more raw emotions at this point and im not sure why anybody would want the speakership right now and that the position really lacks stability. Who do you think should be speaker . Your fellow louisianan Steve Scalise is running. And who do you think the eight republicans who voted to oust mccarthy might support . Look, i think that, you know, some interesting dynamic as anyone who comes out in support of it going to cause a lot of other republicans to to really have a distaste for and so it is a very interesting dynamic that were seeing right now. Look, there are a lot of good people throwing their name in the ring. But ive been very clear that were not going to make a commitment right now. Obviously, any speaker from louisiana would be fantastic. But i want to be clear, were not going to make any commitments right now at all and here is why. I think one of the first things youve got to do is establish stability to the position. The fact that any one person could come out and cause this motion to vacate is inappropriate. You know this. This is third in line to president of the United States. We dont need to have the kind of chaos and instability that we saw yesterday. So you need, as a pledge, to get your support, somebody would said i got to get we got to get rid of this one person motion to vacate because it makes everything unstable . I think what would make sense is two Different Things before we even get into the speaker race. Number one, within the republican conference there is a rule already that matt gaetz violated yesterday that prohibits any one person from bringing up a motion to vacate. The problem is that the rule doesnt have any penalty or enforcement action. Secondly, i think the conference should come together and change the house rules to raise the threshold on a motion to vacate above just one. Think about this. Again, third in line to the president of the United States, we dont subject the president or the Vice President to that type of low threshold. The United States needs to have more stability than we saw yesterday. Do you agree with congressman mchenrys decision, the speaker pro tem, to put a pause to let tensions settle. Jake, ill be candid. If we had stayed together in the meeting last night, i think that you would have seen fists thrown and im not being dramatic when i say that. There is a lot of raw emotions right now. I think it was best to let folks go back home and decompress and come back together. You were very passionate on the floor yesterday expressing some of your disgust. Lets roll that clip. What is going on in this country today . What is going on in this body where you have Freedom Chip Roy and jim jordan Say Something is conservative and these folks say it is not and theyre right. And All Of A Sudden my phone keeps sending tex messages. Text messages saying give me money. Look at that. Oh, look, give me money. Filed a motion to vacate. Using official actions, official actions to raise money. It is disgusting. It is what is disgusting about washington. And this afternoon your fellow republican congressman mike lawler of new york said he supports removing congressman matt gaetz from the Republican House conference. I assume that is who you were talking about on the house floor in that clip. Do you agree. Do you want to remove matt gaetz from House Republican conference. I think that would be one of the most unifying actions of this house. However, i also think it is really important to not just think about step one, to think steps two, three, four and five and in this case with the slim majority, while there are people drooling for that to happen, that just isnt a viable path forward right now. But i do think that some type of penalty or punishment for what he did and, look, lets be really clear, you are eight eight republicans that came together yesterday with 208 democrats. So effectively this was a democratic eviction of Speaker Mccarthy and didnt represent the true position of Real Republicans yesterday. No, no Minority Party ever votes for the Opposition Leader to be the speaker. I dont find that republicans blaming this on democrats to be very convincing, because if the shoe was on other foot. Let me be clear about what i was saying. Yeah. My point is this wasnt a republican position to evict Speaker Mccarthy. Youre exactly right. That unfortunately our country has devolved into such partisan politics that those types of votes are always partisan and the fact that it was eight republican members to throw him out an 210 said lets keep him because he kept his commitments and i think that is unfortunate. An i do have to say and based on my observations, that i do think that a paul ryan or a john boehner were enough they had enough respect for institutions that i dont know that the same thing would have happened to them, quite frankly. I just dont. I think that Kevin Mccarthy going along with the election lies, and trying to appease the most extreme elements of your party gave the i mean mitt romney said something along those lines earlier toe. That he aligned himself with such extreme factions, he made it impossible for democrats to support him. Look, lets be clear here. You have 210 out of 218 republicans yesterday that supported Speaker Mccarthy. Because they know that he fulfilled his commitments and exceeded them. Reality is with the slim majority that you have, youve got to give respect and some degree of deference to all of the views of the conference. The speaker advocated for the speaker achieved some of the greatest conservative successes that weve had in modern history. Things like border energy, the greatest savings in American History with what we negotiated in the debt ceiling negotiation. The first environmental Stream Lining strengthening Work Requirements for welfare, all of the great conservative wins he achieved. That is not catering to this group of extremists. It is simply advancing im not talking about that. Im talking about lying about the election, im talking about not punishing people when they say horrifically bigoted things. Im talking about that. Speaking at a White Nationalist convention. Im not talking about conservative principles. Hang on. Number one, Speaker Mccarthy didnt speak at any no, im not talking about him. Im talking about gosar and Margor A Taylor Green and and similarly whenever democrats have gotten out of line, weve tried to take appropriate action as well. But that is not what this is about. The speaker has achieved some incredible successes over the last several months and over 96 of republicans in the house voted to keep him. This small minority getting together in this case with House Democrats i think it was incredibly unfortunate. They didnt think through successive steps and now we have the House Of Representatives frozen and the chaos caucus has caused the house to be aun unable to move forward on House Speaker<\/a> . And what deal will he make with those eight House Republicans<\/a> who toppled mccarthy. Plus, petty, petty, petty politics. First nancy pelosi, and then steny hoyer. Both kicked out of their Capitol Office<\/a> space. We have brandnew cnn reporting about who was really behind this decision. And the cnn exclusive, 10 million in legal bills for hunter biden and an exhausted efforts to find more funds. Where is a shady foreign billionaire when you really need them . Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. We start today on capitol hill where the race for House Speaker<\/a> is on. Majority leader Steve Scalise<\/a> of louisiana and republican jim jordan of ohio have officially joined the race. Now that Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> has officially been fired. And History Making Headline<\/a> for the californians. A new speaker could be a fresh start tor House Republicans<\/a> or it could be just another hostage sitting in the same office, terrified of doing anything to offend a tiny faction of his party. So how did we get here . For the very first time in American History<\/a>. Speakerless. Well it might have all began when Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> thought he could appease the maga right. With almost the notion that he would allow them to set just some of the building on fire. But that is not how fireworks. While the votes were still being counted, two days after the election of 2020, Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> decided he would cast his lot with the election liars. President trump won this election so everyone who is listening, do not be quiet. Do not be do not be silent about this. We cannot allow this to happen before our very eyes. And so Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> brought in the fire and he stoked it. Weeks later, then came the violent protrump mob storming the capitol, based on those election lies. And mccarthy continued to stoke that fire. He voted to reject the Election Results<\/a> in pennsylvania and in arizona. Also based on those lies. And what is perhaps most interesting about those votes is the Cravenness That Mccarthy<\/a> admitted about it to cnns manu raju. He said it was okay to throw out those millions of votes from pennsylvanians and arizonans because joe biden still would have had 270 electoral votes and still would have been president. If arizona and pennsylvania were removed in the electoral college, would President Biden<\/a>s number lower below 270. No but donald trump said the house could vote. Wait, im not donald trump. So youre asking me the question. You sumted adopting it, did you not. Im answering the question. But you cant do insurrection light. You cant be seditionish. That is not how it works. That is not how fire works. And Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> wanted power and when the republicans to whom hed been pandering, made the final demand, the ability of one of them to force a vote to fire him, mccarthy took it and he became House Speaker<\/a> and then he lost his job. And when he lost his job yesterday, he blamed democrats. He said the democrats didnt have respect for institutions. Kevin mccarthy picked a hell of a time to start caring about institutions. Melanie zanona are on capitol hill. Were coming up on 24 hours since that historic vote that removed mccarthy as House Speaker<\/a>. What does the race look like to succeed him . Reporter well the race is already heating up. I have been told that Steve Scalise<\/a> as of last night was making calls to his colleagues and lining up supporters and earlier today he made it official in a letter to his colleagues. I want to read you part of that letter. He said, god already gave me another chance at life. I believe we were all here put here for a purpose. This next chapter wont be easy, but i know what it takes to fight and im prepared for the battles that lie ahead. I humbly ask you for your support on this mission to be your speaker of the house. So, jake, a reference there to the fact that Steve Scalise<\/a> was shot at a gop baseball practice back in 2017. Now hes under going treatment for blood cancer. But he said he feels great and hes up for the job and this is a moment that he and his team have been preparing for for quite sometime. Theyve long been seen as Waiting In The Wings<\/a> if mccarthy were to step aside or were to stumble. But jake, i could tell you, this is not a coronation for Steve Scalise<\/a>. He will have to face off against jim jordan, the Judiciary Committee<\/a> chairman who has the support of many conservatives in his party and jim jordan made his candidacy official today and manu raju caught up with him. Here is what he had to say. What promises are you plaguing to the conference, policy wise, agenda wise. The agenda is what i spoke about the floor, manu. We need to pass bills that need to be passed, weve done a lot of that. Biggest one of course is hr2, the immigration and Border Security<\/a> legislation. Frankly i wish Chuck Schumer<\/a> would bring it up. Now both men made their cause before the house gop texas delegation. A large and influential block of conservatives and republicans here in the house. And some of the questions that they are being asked, jake, include what are you going to do with Ukraine Funding<\/a>, that is been a polarizing issue and jordan suggested he would not support por funding for ukraine and also are you going to reform the motion to vacate, that tool that was used to oust Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> and hardliners say it need to stay where it is and there are some moderates in the party who say we need to reform that tool so we dont have chaos again on the floor. But all of this is not sorted out until next week at earliest. House gop will have a Cand Forum On Tuesday<\/a> and vote on wednesday and The Big Question<\/a> remains can this un rulely Conference Rally<\/a> around a Single Person<\/a> to lead them. Until they do, the house is going to be paralyzed, jake. Thank you so much i. Lets bring in jamie gangel. Right after Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> was fired, weve seen two former Democratic Leaders<\/a> of the house, nance and steny hoyer kicked out of their office. Not how pelosi treated former Republican Leaders<\/a>. An you have some new reporting about how that happened. The interim speaker Patrick Mchenry<\/a> is being blamed for this. Is that fair. No. This is real estate revenge and yes Patrick Mchenry<\/a> gave the public order. But according to multiple sources who have told me and our colleague annie grayer, in fact, it will not surprise you to know that Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> was hideaways and guess who is moving into pelosis office . You get one guess. Keb mccarthy. Kep mccarthy. Kevin is on a revenge tour. Patrick would never do that on his own. This is kevins call. Classy. You talked to sources about how mccarthys removal went down. Tell us more. Look, you laid out what happened on the republican side. With the matt gaetz aid and Kevin Mccarthy<\/a>s selfin flicked wound. But we also talked about how the democrats kept discipline. And im told that it came down in effect to one photograph, remember the photograph from maralago where Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> went running down and stood next to donald trump. Breathing life back into him after january 6. Absolutely. Yeah. So there were some democrats and we reported this who had talked about doing a deal with mccarthy, bailing him out. But in the end, the leadership, including nancy pelosi, including some members of the january 6 committee, like zoe lofgren, said to their conference, you cannot support a man, you cannot bail out a man who is standing next to donald trump, would tried to overthrow the election and the rule of law. And then there is obviously the trump factor, mccarthy thanked Trump Profusely<\/a> after the 15th vote that secured him the speakership. How much did mccarthys relationship with donald trump play in his removal, do you think . Apparently, as weve said many times. Loyalty is a oneway street. Despite the trip to maralago, despite mccarthy on bended knee, donald trump could have bailed Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> out and he did not. Yeah. It say we turn to garrett grav. He voted to keep mccarthy as speaker yesterday. When asked last night if your party could decide on a leader. By innext week. You said hell no. Do you feel that way now. Because your party is scheduled to vote a week from today. The party is Schedule Autoed<\/a> to vote and i think what is going on right now that for people going home and decompression and do a candid forum and have people talking about their candidacy and what they want to do and a vote on wednesday. But i remind you going bag to january, even without all of the sore wounds, it took 15 votes to elect a speaker of the house. You have more raw emotions at this point and im not sure why anybody would want the speakership right now and that the position really lacks stability. Who do you think should be speaker . Your fellow louisianan Steve Scalise<\/a> is running. And who do you think the eight republicans who voted to oust mccarthy might support . Look, i think that, you know, some interesting dynamic as anyone who comes out in support of it going to cause a lot of other republicans to to really have a distaste for and so it is a very interesting dynamic that were seeing right now. Look, there are a lot of good people throwing their name in the ring. But ive been very clear that were not going to make a commitment right now. Obviously, any speaker from louisiana would be fantastic. But i want to be clear, were not going to make any commitments right now at all and here is why. I think one of the first things youve got to do is establish stability to the position. The fact that any one person could come out and cause this motion to vacate is inappropriate. You know this. This is third in line to president of the United States<\/a>. We dont need to have the kind of chaos and instability that we saw yesterday. So you need, as a pledge, to get your support, somebody would said i got to get we got to get rid of this one person motion to vacate because it makes everything unstable . I think what would make sense is two Different Things<\/a> before we even get into the speaker race. Number one, within the republican conference there is a rule already that matt gaetz violated yesterday that prohibits any one person from bringing up a motion to vacate. The problem is that the rule doesnt have any penalty or enforcement action. Secondly, i think the conference should come together and change the house rules to raise the threshold on a motion to vacate above just one. Think about this. Again, third in line to the president of the United States<\/a>, we dont subject the president or the Vice President<\/a> to that type of low threshold. The United States<\/a> needs to have more stability than we saw yesterday. Do you agree with congressman mchenrys decision, the speaker pro tem, to put a pause to let tensions settle. Jake, ill be candid. If we had stayed together in the meeting last night, i think that you would have seen fists thrown and im not being dramatic when i say that. There is a lot of raw emotions right now. I think it was best to let folks go back home and decompress and come back together. You were very passionate on the floor yesterday expressing some of your disgust. Lets roll that clip. What is going on in this country today . What is going on in this body where you have Freedom Chip Roy<\/a> and jim jordan Say Something<\/a> is conservative and these folks say it is not and theyre right. And All Of A Sudden<\/a> my phone keeps sending tex messages. Text messages saying give me money. Look at that. Oh, look, give me money. Filed a motion to vacate. Using official actions, official actions to raise money. It is disgusting. It is what is disgusting about washington. And this afternoon your fellow republican congressman mike lawler of new york said he supports removing congressman matt gaetz from the Republican House<\/a> conference. I assume that is who you were talking about on the house floor in that clip. Do you agree. Do you want to remove matt gaetz from House Republican<\/a> conference. I think that would be one of the most unifying actions of this house. However, i also think it is really important to not just think about step one, to think steps two, three, four and five and in this case with the slim majority, while there are people drooling for that to happen, that just isnt a viable path forward right now. But i do think that some type of penalty or punishment for what he did and, look, lets be really clear, you are eight eight republicans that came together yesterday with 208 democrats. So effectively this was a democratic eviction of Speaker Mccarthy<\/a> and didnt represent the true position of Real Republicans<\/a> yesterday. No, no Minority Party<\/a> ever votes for the Opposition Leader<\/a> to be the speaker. I dont find that republicans blaming this on democrats to be very convincing, because if the shoe was on other foot. Let me be clear about what i was saying. Yeah. My point is this wasnt a republican position to evict Speaker Mccarthy<\/a>. Youre exactly right. That unfortunately our country has devolved into such partisan politics that those types of votes are always partisan and the fact that it was eight republican members to throw him out an 210 said lets keep him because he kept his commitments and i think that is unfortunate. An i do have to say and based on my observations, that i do think that a paul ryan or a john boehner were enough they had enough respect for institutions that i dont know that the same thing would have happened to them, quite frankly. I just dont. I think that Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> going along with the election lies, and trying to appease the most extreme elements of your party gave the i mean mitt romney said something along those lines earlier toe. That he aligned himself with such extreme factions, he made it impossible for democrats to support him. Look, lets be clear here. You have 210 out of 218 republicans yesterday that supported Speaker Mccarthy<\/a>. Because they know that he fulfilled his commitments and exceeded them. Reality is with the slim majority that you have, youve got to give respect and some degree of deference to all of the views of the conference. The speaker advocated for the speaker achieved some of the greatest conservative successes that weve had in modern history. Things like border energy, the greatest savings in American History<\/a> with what we negotiated in the debt ceiling negotiation. The first environmental Stream Lining<\/a> strengthening Work Requirements<\/a> for welfare, all of the great conservative wins he achieved. That is not catering to this group of extremists. It is simply advancing im not talking about that. Im talking about lying about the election, im talking about not punishing people when they say horrifically bigoted things. Im talking about that. Speaking at a White Nationalist<\/a> convention. Im not talking about conservative principles. Hang on. Number one, Speaker Mccarthy<\/a> didnt speak at any no, im not talking about him. Im talking about gosar and Margor A Taylor Green<\/a> and and similarly whenever democrats have gotten out of line, weve tried to take appropriate action as well. But that is not what this is about. The speaker has achieved some incredible successes over the last several months and over 96 of republicans in the house voted to keep him. This small minority getting together in this case with House Democrats<\/a> i think it was incredibly unfortunate. They didnt think through successive steps and now we have the House Of Representatives<\/a> frozen and the chaos caucus has caused the house to be aun unable to move forward on Border Security<\/a> and appropriations bims and these are arsonists that light their House On Fire<\/a> and put it out and want accolades and set up a Gofundme Page<\/a> to get money for it. Republican congressman, thank you for coming on. Republicans on the Problem Solvers Kaurk<\/a> threatened to quit on mass yesterday when democrats voted to remove mccarthy as speaker. Have tensions cooled off in the last 24 hours im asking a democrat. And trumps parting news as he left a new york courtroom for day three of the Civil Fraud Trial<\/a> against him. Stay with us. One of the most wellknown groups on the hill trying to find bipartisan consensus which is not easy. Might now fall apart in the wake of the vote to remove ken mccarthy. With us now is congressman Josh Gottheimer<\/a> of new jersey who is the cochair of the group, the Problem Solvers Caucus<\/a>. Does the Problem Solvers Caucus<\/a> still exist, the republican members of the group are considering quitting after every democrat voted to vacate and fire Kevin Mccarthy<\/a>. The group exists and it is strong and im grateful for the members on both sides of the aisle. Listen, this was an emotional day yesterday. And i understand and have deep respect for all of my colleagues. The key now, of course, after working incredibly hard to avoid a shutdown this weekend, which we did successfully working together and of course the debt ceiling deal a couple of weeks back, you know, now we have to focus on making sure that in 40 days from now we dont shut the government shutdown. And that is my focus. And looking for ways we could run the house in a smarter bipartisan way that of course doesnt encourage extremism. But ep courages more bipartisan governing which is my focus. So jamie gangel, Our Reportering<\/a> is reporting that it was Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> who was the force behind Patrick Mchenry<\/a> kicking both pelosi and steny hoyer out of their Capitol Building<\/a> hideaways. Their offices, that is obviously a big break from tradition. Not what pelosi did with former Republican Leaders<\/a> when she became speaker. Pelosi is not even around to remove her boxes and such from that office because shes in california attending the funeral of her good friend senator dianne feinstein. What is your reaction to all of this . It is not what i would do. But, listen, weve got real issues weve got to focus on. I mean, weve got Ukraine Funding<\/a> which is essential to making sure that we stand up to china and iran and russia. And putins march. We have to make sure, we keep, as i said, lights on an we support or veterans our Law Enforcement<\/a> and seniors and children, we have real issues that were facing in a matter of weeks. So i think that is where we have to focus our time and energy over the next weeks. Obviously the republicans are focused on picking their next leader on the future speaker. And that is something within their family. But we have to get right back to the table and make sure that we Work Together<\/a> as democrats and republicans because when youre in a divided government, as you know, that is the only way well be able to get things done as weve seen over the last months. We have to figure out a way to Work Together<\/a> and weve got to figure out a way to let common sense prevail. The two names that weve heard and the two names of ca candidates are Steve Scalise<\/a> and jim jordan. S is there one of those two that would be more promising in terms of your hopes for Bipartisan Legislation<\/a> . Well, jake, im from jersey. We dont mess with other peoples families. So im going to leave it to them to work out within their family who they want the leader to be. I dont get a vote for that in caucus. My preference would be hakeem jeffries. But that is they have to work that out. What we have to Work Together<\/a> on is legislating and moving the country forward. So im eager when they get past that part of what theyve got to work out next week, that we get right to work for the American People<\/a> because that i do have a say in and a seat at the table. So what is your basic argument to people like mccarthy and others that are like, that are saying, you know, you voted with matt gaetz, you voted for chaos. You could have done more to support the institution. These are not my arguments and i dont want tweets saying that im blaming the democrats tor this. This is not my argument. Be careful there, jake. Im not saying this. But what is your argument to those people saying democrats, you had a chance to stand for sanity and the institution and you didnt do it. Well, one, as i said, theyve got to pick their own folks and make decisions on how they keep bending to the extremists in their party. That is how theyve decided to do this. And again, empower them. But there was a lot of out reach and we tried to ind into a way forward together. Speaker mccarthy made it clear in his press conference last night, i think he said im not going to sell my soul or Something Like<\/a> that, referring to working with democrats on something that we could encourage more bipartisan governing and working together. That is totally his decision. And that is up for him to make. And was up for him to make. And now what do we do Going Forward<\/a> because to me that is what country wants us to do . How are you going to make this work and we have to figure out ways an it might be looking at rules to change the rules and change the motion to vacate so it is not just one person being able to throw out a speaker. That is a set of rules that we change at the Problem Solvers Caucus<\/a> in prior that changed back this year and ai dont think it was a smart move. But i understand matt gaetz wanted it but your just giving them a loaded weapon when you do that. And it is going to take making sure we change the rules to encourage more bipartisan governing and democratic bills to the floor where both sides could agree. More amendments from democrats and encouraging a more bipartisan house. Josh gottheimer of new jersey. Appreciate it. Coming up, reporting on Hunter Bidens<\/a> 10 million legal problems. Were back in a moment. Youre probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers for your business. But what if we told you its possible that comcast Business Mobile<\/a> can save you up to 75 a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers . Its true. Plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. There are no Term Contracts<\/a> or line activation fees. And you can bring your own device. Oh, and all on the most reliable 5g Mobile Network<\/a> nationwide. Wireless that works for you. Its not just possible. Its happening. In our Law And Justice<\/a> lead today, former President Trump<\/a> has seen enough of his own Civil Fraud Trial<\/a> for now. After sitting in a new york courtroom for two and a half days, he flew back to maralago in florida. But not before filing an appeal against one of the judges rulings and taking a parting shot at the judge. Trump standing to lose quite a bit in this case. Financially this could spell the end of his entire Business Career<\/a> in new york. And already mounting legal bills are causing cracks in his empire, for the second time in three years trump did not make the cut for the forbes 400 list of the richest americans. Now to exclusive cnn reporting, joe bidens son hunter is in big financial trouble and daddys friends are not coming to the rescue this time. Not as of now. Hunter has racked up more than 10 million in legal bills over the past five years and he could need to spend millions more. His allies hope supporters of President Biden<\/a> would swoop in with fundraising but as of now he might have better luck starting a gofundme. Paula reid is here to discuss. How did he manage to get 10 million in the hole and how does he plan to get out of it. Hes been under federal investigation for over five years. He had one of the best firms in thep country representing him in a that probe. We went thera divorce and a more litigious approach to his detactors hes brought on abbe lowell and filed lawsuits against Rudy Giuliani<\/a> and other people who he believes have wronged him and if youre going to take an approach like that, hire lawyers like those at lathan like abby lowell cost a lot of money. How does he pay for it. Kenmore is has paid more of his bills but they were hoping he could fund raise. Maybe many allies of his father would come forward and help. But perhaps that was hopeful but it didnt materialize. There was a talk of a defense fund that did not get off the ground but hes facing a federal trial on the gun charges and possibly an additional trial if hes indicted on the tax charges. And all of the charges were expected to be resolved with a plea deal but now that hes facing one possibly two trials, that is going to be a big legal bill there and it is unclear how hes going to pay it. And hunter biden has you just mentioned, just last week filed a lawsuit against Rudy Giuliani<\/a>. Another political figure who himself is having trouble paying his legal bills. Rudy giuliani is holding a News Conference<\/a> suing President Biden<\/a> and nout outside of four seasons landscapes in pennsylvania. Why is giuliani suing President Biden<\/a> in. So let me preface that by saying suing a public figure and that public figure said about another public figure, in the course of a Political Campaign<\/a> is difficult. Butez trying to sue the president for deafe defamation and libel for something that biden said during the 2020 campaign when he accused giuliani of being a russian pawn. But jake, let me allow Rudy Giuliani<\/a> to explain this in his own words. He said, youre buddy, Rudy Giuliani<\/a>, he, then he said something we cant understand like he does sometimes. Is being used as a russian pawn. Hes being fed information that is russian that is not true. Im trying to give you the flavor of the you could go listen to it yourself. They would not answer exactly how giuliani is going to pay for this legal effort. He owes other lawyers millions of dollars and earlier today his georgia lawyer withdrew raising more questions about how hes going to pay to defendant himself in that case. I predict that that is going to go nowhere. This lawsuit . I think that is a reasonable prediction. This was a sparsely attended press conference and again it is a very high bar. It is unclear why he is doing this now. Again, he owes so many lawyers including some of his closest fri friends millions of dollars. I think i know why. The leader of the Republican Party<\/a> faces a fraud charges and 91 charges and republicans do not have a leader. My next guest has a unique perspective. Would he say that his party is in crisis . We are back with more in our Law And Justice<\/a> lead. And my next guest is someone who is uniquely positioned to discuss the legal drama surrounding former President Trump<\/a> and the speaker drama unfolding on capitol hill. Mark short, the former wouse director of legislative affairs for the Trump Administration<\/a> and former Chief Of Staff<\/a> to Vice President<\/a> mike pence. And former Chief Of Staff<\/a> for the House Republican<\/a> conference. A lot of hats. So lets start with the house drama. There are 433 serving members of the house but a Group Of Eight<\/a> republican rebels are responsible for ousting Kevin Mccarthy<\/a> who i think it is fair to say was responsible for conservative legislation passing the pass including hr2, which is this border bill. You no he a lot of people on the hill, is this how it should work. That one person, Ma Matt Gates<\/a> should be able to bring a potion to vacate and eight republicans should be able to, you know, unite with the Minority Party<\/a> and topple the speaker . No. Certainly not. And i think you saw when pelosi was speaker, she didnt allow that one motion to vacate within her conference. And i think whoever succeeds kevin will make sure that rule is changed. But to be fair, it was negotiated by kevin when he became speaker back in january. It was the condition to get some of the members to support him. But i dont think it is a healthy process. No. It is pretty crazy. What do you think the House Republicans<\/a> are all saying to each other right now . Not the i know you dont want to curse. In terms of figuring out a way forward, we had congressman graves on and he said you have to get rid of the motion to vacate. What other things do you think theyre saying . I think it is appropriate to give them a few days to get away and come back on tuesday and have a forum and allow people to present their issues. But what is concerning is were 33 trillion in debt. We do have a border crisis. There is a lot of issues that need to be solved. Yes. But the people who were masquerading as fiscal conservatives really arent, jake. I mean, matt gaetz, to say he came as a fiscal crusader, he came here for the teenage interns on capitol hill to be honest. Hes voted for continuing resolutions and voting for omnibus bills an trillion dollars in covid spending an put forward an earmark and presented himself as im going to do this for the fiscal of the country. That is not honest. And he used the rules to dethrone kevin. There is a border crisis. Even if your a progressive, there is a humanitarian crisi and theyre 33 trillion in debt and even if youre a progressive, that is 500 billion a year in interest that we could be spending on education or nutrition or whatever. Like, this is isnt partisan. These are american problems. What matt gaetz did, what the rebels did, i dont see how it advances solving those problems. Exactly. That is my point. Even a couple of week ago, kevin put forward a Spending Bill<\/a> to cut discretionary by 8 and not the issue. Matt gaetz wanted to take him down and to secure the border and as you and i have talked before, the reality is the difference between republicans and democrats on the Government Funding<\/a> is less than like a half of aur overall debt. The real issue is Entitlement Spending<\/a> that no one wants to address. Well your boss does want to talk about it. I mean your former boss Vice President<\/a> pence. Im talking i wan to make sure everyone knows who i im talking about. Do you think President Trump<\/a> will have any influence over the speaker. Steve scalise of louisiana and jim jordan of ohio. Think hes always about leverage so if he feels it is a close race and co tip the scales, then i think he will weigh in. Lets turn to the Civil Fraud Trial<\/a>. He plans to testify in his own defense in the case. Why do you think hes choosing to testify . I think it is helpful to him politically. A lot of americans could look at this case and know it is not a strong case. The reality is that as a real estate developer, anyone would know that even if he did fraudulently assess what the valuations were, anyone who would lend him money would do their own valuation on him and he paid back those loans. I think that for a lot of americans this is a poly charged prosecution. Yesterday trump was admonished by the judge for a social media post attacking the law clerk making the false allegation that the law clerk who is not a public figure was Chuck Schumer<\/a>s girlfriend. What do you think is going through trumps mind and are we going to see the attacks get wilder as the trials and the campaign continue . I dont think that theyve been limited from getting wild. I think his attacks on people who could be testifying against him for the january 6 trial has certainly already happened. Whether or not his attacks are on the former Vice President<\/a> and general milley. I think that will continue. Mark short. Coming up next, the disturbing lawsuit from a cia staffer alleging a Sexual Assault<\/a> at Cia Headquarters<\/a>. And the response she reported got when he tried to take her claims to the police. Stay with us. A cia staffer is accusing the agency, accusing the cia of intimidation and witness tampering over an alleged Sexual Assault<\/a> in a Secluded Stairwell<\/a> at Cia Headquarters<\/a> last year. She says a mail trainee wrapped a scarf tightly around her neck, began strangling her with it, made lewd remarks and tried to kiss her forcefully. The cia warned, but the staffer did report to Law Enforcement<\/a>. Her assailant was convicted of Misdemeanor Assault<\/a> and battery in august. What can you tell us about the details in the lawsuit . I spoke to the victims lawyer this morning, and he says while he remains deeply concerned over what she said were multiple instances in which the cia actively tried to discourage her from reporting the attack at the time to Law Enforcement<\/a>, what has allowed him to bring legal action in this moment is a series of internal instant messages between the victim and another employee of the cia that the cia ultimately decided to voluntarily provide to her attackers Defense Counsel<\/a> during his criminal proceedings in august. So during this trial in august, the victims lawyer receives notification from her attackers lawyers saying, look, we have these internal messages between your client and another member of the cia. According to the lawsuit, the cia not only voluntarily turned over those messages to her attacker, but the suit claims also selectively edited them in such a way that it makes it appear as if the victim was having an extra marital affair, which she denies. For example, according to the suit, she talks about feeling sore from a workout at the gym was presented in such a way that made it look like she was talking about being sore from a sexual encounter with this other employee, again, something that the victim denies. So for the victim, she is saying that this is the cia attempting to intimidate her from testifying at her attackers trial and ultimately help him get off. Is the cia commenting . I mean, if thats accurate, thats reprehensible. The cia is not commenting on the case directly citing the ongoing litigation. They do say tahey follow the la, protect the privacy of their officers and they are committed to addressing Sexual Assault<\/a> and Sexual Harassment<\/a> claims from inside the agency. We do know that this victim is not the only woman who has come forward claiming that the agency mishandled her report of Sexual Misconduct<\/a>. The senate and the house intelligence committees are both investigating this sort of broader problem as is the cia inspector general. Its within of the first sort of public glimpses that we have gotten into what exactly the allegations against the cia with regards to their handling of Sexual Misconduct<\/a> cases actually are. Stay on top of this story. Really important. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Coming up, House Republicans<\/a> have given themselves a full week before they start voting on who will be the next speaker. What exactly are they doing in the meantime . And a vilified world leader may be watching it all from thousands of miles away and relishing in this mess. Thats ahead. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages<\/a> with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Welcome to the lead, im jake tapper. This hour, what prosecutors did not explain in their 39page indictment against democratic senator bob menendez. The New York Times<\/a> went digging, and they uncovered the details of a deadly car crash kept quiet for years, and menendezs wife was behind the wheel. How they might explain the mercedesbenz convertible she was allegedly given through close connections of the senator. Plus, the unintended targets of another mass shooting, 531 of them in the u. S. This year alone. What police are saying about the latest one on the campus of Morgan State University<\/a> in baltimore. And leading this hour, who will be the next speaker of the house . As a few republicans lobby for the title, another important question is starting to emerge. Will republicans keep the rule that got them into this mess . The rule that allowed just a Single Member<\/a> of congress to motion for a vote on removing the speaker. Florid florida congressman matt gaetz used that Rule On Mccarthy<\/a> and then seven of his republican colleagues joined him. They all voted to kick mccarthy out of the speakership, joining with the Minority Party<\/a> and achieving that for the first time in American History<\/a>. Lets go straight to cnns chief Congressional Correspondent<\/a> manu raju on capitol hill. What sort of Power Struggles<\/a> are playing out right now behind the scenes, and what can we expect to see over the next seven days . 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