editor nic robertson in moscow. and, nic, what is your assessment of what we re seeing. it almost looks like russia is in its final stages of combat readiness. yeah, of course, for weeks now we ve been hearing from u.s. officials and other officials, british officials saying, look, if russia is really serious about wanting a negotiation, a diplomatic track to open up here, then it should reduce the tension. if it really wants to have a discussion and get its issues addressed, then why the need for troops and russia keeps insisting it has no intention of invading ukraine. but as the british foreign secretary said today, russia is creating completely the opposite impression because it continues to build up its forces, presenting a very clear image of an ability to invade should it so choose. so i think you have to take it as read that this is clearly what the kremlin intends. this is clearly how they intend to negotiate, not from a position where they re walking away from a b
ac 360 meantime starts now. and good evening. it is another night of drama and uncertainty in washington tonight. in a little less than two hours the house will reconvene and test congressman s kevin mccarthy confidence he can win the remaining hold outs he need to become speaker elect and avoid this fate for a 14th straight time. a majority of the votes cast, a speaker has not been elected. after that losing effort which saw him flip 15 no votes over to his side, the house adjourned to allow time to deal with the rest. what exactly got him this far is unclear. we know some of the proposed concessions or at least one he made has many democrats concerned it could lead to a government default. we re in territory unchartered since the 1850s. this is also taking place on the second anniversary of the attack on congress. president biden honoring defenders of democracy in both parties and law enforcement heroes of that day, and remembering those whose lives were lost. at th
i m ann marie walker. i m alex march quart in for boris sanchez. the house of representatives finally elects a speaker. how kevin mccarthy gets the votes. remarkable progress for damar hamlin and the moment he face timed his teammates from his hospital bed. and new details on the horrific murder of four idaho college students. what we re learning from a recently released affidavit and the father of one of the victims tells cnn why he believes the group was targeted. plus, the fda grants approval for a new alzheimer s drug. the reported benefits and the concern coming up on cnn this morning. it is saturday, january 7th. thank you so much for waking up with us. thank you so much for having me back. alex, it s great to be with you. we re matching. we re in lock step together. good to be with you, alex. happy new year. and to you. thank you so much. who needs reality tv when you have cspan. cnn after days of deadlock, 15 ballots and a lot of deal making, republi
the gentleman from the state of california and the next speaker of the 118th congress, kevin mccarthy. [ cheers and applause ] kevin mccarthy grabbing the gavel after 15 rounds of voting. it was the longest speaker contest in 164 years. despite sometimes contentions and 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 for. our dreams are worth fighting for. cnn s eva mckend is live on capitol hill. eva, what finally pushed mccarthy over the edge for these republican holdouts? reporter: well, he was able to convince those never-kevin lawmakers ultimately vote present and that is how he secured this victory on the 15th try, fred, but also by making some key concessions. so, for instance, those
rolodex. he clenched the record for the longest speaker contest in 164 years. this was the scene after four days and 15 rounds of voting. [ cheering and applause ] mccarthy s journey to the speakership was fraught with drama. it got a little intense. it almost came to blows last night. the 14th vote should have been the clencher as mccarthy and allies thought they had the vote in the bag. but matt gaetz thought they had it in the bag. he waited to the end to vote present even though mccarthy needed just one vote to win. mccarthy appeared stunned and walked up to confront gaetz himself. mike rogers appears to suddenly lunge at gaetz and had to be physically restrained by a fellow republican. i spoke to republican congressman tim burchett who was in the area of the incident when it happened. here is what he saw. realized that both sides have some older members and it was getting late, and i suspect most of them had missed the early bird special at the sizzler and they were