top prize has exceeded 1 billion. the next drawing is tuesday, january 10th. good luck. the next hour of cnn newsroom starts right now. i m pamela brown in washington. the top stories for you on this saturday night, republicans search for a path forward of what might be the craziest fight for house speaker ever. i ll talk to the congressman who nominated kevin mccarthy in that all important 15th vote. plus, new details as a virginia teacher lies in a hospital bed after police say she was shot by her 6-year-old student. as football evolves, so does its safety practices. you re in the cnn newsroom. an olive branch this saturday from president biden to the new house speaker kevin mccarthy. the president called mccarthy to congratulate him on his hard-fought win on the 15th vote. it s the kind of civility lacking at times among the speaker s own republican members overnight. moments after mccarthy confronted matt gaetz for forcing that 15th vote, congressman mike ro
the football field last weekend. we ll be joined by a former basketball player who experienced the very same thing. we ll have his story and how he used that scary moment to help save lives. plus, the new study that says social media could be changing your kids dreams. that s all ahead on cnn this morning. it is saturday, january 7th. thank you so much for waking up with us, especially you, alex. good to be with you. great to be back with you. how late did you manage to stay up watching the drama unfold? about 8:00 p.m. that was the latest for me. how about you? 9:45. you got a little more in. it was quite dramatic as well as being historic and chaotic. kevin mccarthy finally won the race for speaker of the house after 15, 15 rounds of voting, which ended earlier this morningening. the next speaker of the united states for the house of representatives, kevin mccarthy. [ cheers ] [ applause ] mccarthy engaged in some intense negotiations and made some major
the gentleman from the great state of california and the next speaker of the 118th congress, kevin mccarthy. newly elected speaker of the house kevin mccarthy grabbing the gavel there after four days of voting, the longest speaker contest in 164 years. but despite the sometimes contentious days of negotiations, with the narrow faction of his conference, republicans in the end rallied around mccarthy and his vision for america. i make this promise i ll never give up for you, the american people. and i will never give up on keeping our commitment to america. our nation is worth fighting for. our rights are worth fighting. our dreams are worth fighting for. our future is worth fighting for. [ cheers and applause ] cnn s eva mckend is live for us on capitol hill. so, eva, you know, how did mccarthy eventually get those votes that he needed? reporter: fred, by convincing those holdouts, those never-kevin lawmakers ultimately to vote present. that isn t a ringing endors
jeanne moos, cnn, new york. hello again, everybody. thank you so much for joining me. happy new year. i m fredricka whitfield. news just in to cnn, an update on buffalo bills player damar hamlin. he continues to make a remarkable recovery after suffering a cardiac arrest on the field during monday s game. hamlin is now breathing on his own after having a breathing tube removed late thursday. the 24-year-old also surprised his teammates in buffalo yesterday, facetiming with them on a phone from his bed in the hospital in cincinnati. cnn has more live from the hospital in cincinnati and new information on his medical update. reporter: yes. from the physicianses here at the hospital where tamar is receiving treatment damar is receiving treatment. he is still in critical condition but continues to make progress. and here s perhaps the line in this tweet the bills just published that sticks out. as he continues to breathe on his own, his neurological function is excellent. a
Ended with the same words. a speaker has not been elected. reporter: kevin mccarthy probably didn t appreciate these select all images with speakers joke. democratic representative jimmy gomez was wearing his 4-month-old son as he voted for hakim jeffries. aoc gave the baby a congratulatory belly rub. between speeches, members were shooting off their mouths and fingers, jest particularlating madly. it left viewers trying to lip-read. and when aoc chatted with archenemy republicans it inspired nonsensical bad lip-readings. you heard of the pied piper? my dream pied piper had toilet paper. reporter: democrats groaned when matt gaetz voted for a certain ex-president for speaker of the house. donald john trump.