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Republicans Nominate Steve Scalise as House Speaker; U.S. Death Toll in Israel Rises to 22. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 11, 2023 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:01:10]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: I'm Boris Sanchez in Washington, D.C., alongside Anderson Cooper in Tel Aviv.

We begin this afternoon with the Israeli government confirming some of the most disturbing reports that have surfaced in the wake of the Hamas terrorists attacks this weekend. The prime minister's office says that babies and toddlers were found decapitated in the small community of Kfar Aza.

That's the kibbutz where Israeli Defense Forces say that Hamas butchered civilians, though Hamas denies that it attacked children. The unprecedented atrocities have put months of bitter division within the Israeli government on pause. They have now formed an emergency unity government and war cabinet.

And, in just a few hours, the U.S. secretary of state will be there in Israel to meet with senior officials -- Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Boris, here in Israel, 300,000 reservists have amassed near the border with Gaza, signaling a possible ground invasion could be imminent.

Overnight, the first shipment of U.S. munitions arrived here in Israel, that, of course, to bolster Israel's arsenal. The Pentagon has tasked special operators to assist the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, with planning for potential hostage rescues.

Now, it is believed that Hamas has captured more than 100 hostages. Islamic Jihad had claimed that they had 30. Overall, there are an unknown number of Americans being held hostage. The White House says at least 20 U.S. citizens are right now unaccounted for, and the State Department now confirms at least 22 Americans have died in Israel.

That is up from just 14. That was the number about 12 hours ago. So, those numbers are growing.

Right now, I want to get you to CNN's Nic Robertson, who is in Sderot right by the Gaza border.

Nic, what have you been seeing over the last several hours?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, just literally, Anderson, as you were coming to us there, I don't know if you can pick that up, there, it's going. There.

(GUNSHOTS)

ROBERTSON: So, what we're hearing there is gunfire, heavy machine gunfire.

It's hard to tell how far away it is. It's -- we're in a safe location from that gunfire, but that's something new. That's not something we have been hearing so much of recently. We have also been seeing and hearing heavy artillery strikes on Gaza.

The big yellow flashes that you may see behind me in the next couple of minutes,a few seconds later, perhaps 10, 15 seconds later, there was -- you will hear the huge explosion here. But that machine gunfire, that's something new.

Now, we have seen today additional troops deployed around the area. We're in Sderot just a couple of miles from the border fence with Gaza. So, the tempo of troop presence, the tempo of their activity, the patrols around here are getting bigger, bigger numbers of troops in the patrols.

There's the machine gunfire again.

We have seen tanks firing off this evening as well towards the fence with Gaza. That's something new. We haven't seen that until this evening.

So, the picture of -- the picture of what troops are doing, it's really developing. And, as I say, this is quite a new development to have that gunfire over there. We don't know why. It sounds closer than the actual border fence itself, but we do know the security around here has really been stepped up, because, every day, there seem to be several concerns that there have been infiltrations by Hamas.

And John (ph) is telling me here, the -- our cameraman, to expect these explosions. There might be another explosion coming up behind me shortly.

That's -- that heavy impact there, that was the impact associated with that flash you saw. So you get an idea of how far away from us that impact is. If you see the flash and you wait maybe 15 seconds for that to hear the to hear, then that gives you an idea. It's a good few miles away, perhaps seven or eight.

[13:05:10]

And there will be another explosion coming soon, I think, from what John was indicating here behind me with -- they have seen -- there was another one.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Nic, with the gunfire...

(CROSSTALK) ROBERTSON: So, that's the tempo of what's happening here.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Nic, with the gunfire that you have now been hearing, that we have been hearing about somewhere behind you, talk about that a little bit, because, obviously, what has occurred in Sderot, what occurred in Ashkelon early on was Hamas attackers on the ground, gunmen on the ground slaughtering people.

Israel has worked hard to try to eliminate all of those -- all of them on the ground. Is the area secure, in the sense of from a -- your ability to move around?

ROBERTSON: It's much more controlled than it was. There are a lot more police checkpoints around. And they're enforcing controls -- enforcing controls on who can use the road much more strictly than there were before.

We understand that they're -- the concern about Hamas cells being out there, some who've gone to ground, that they have been holed up in a location, they're running out of food, they're running out of water, and they're breaking out

But, also, you get more troops on the ground, like we have seen. They cover more ground. They're more likely to come into contact with these elements. And we have seen these armored fighting vehicles out today, and they come mounted with a heavy machine gun on the front of them. And that's the type of heavy machine gun that I think that we're hearing there.

So it could be that a group of soldiers, they have established themselves in a field or wherever their location is. They have got guards on their perimeter. And they might have picked up some movement or they might have seen something through thermal imaging or night vision or whatever it is. And they have realized that that's a target and they're going after it.

So I think more and more of this may come.

COOPER: And, Nic, you were at Kfar Aza yesterday, and I want to talk about it, because, over the last 24, 36 hours, we have been starting to -- the full picture of what occurred on some of these kibbutzes is becoming clearer, Kfar Aza.

Nir Oz was another -- is another one. The -- Kfar Aza is the site of these atrocities that the Israeli government has now confirmed that babies were beheaded. Talk about what you saw. You talked to the commander on the ground there.

ROBERTSON: Yes, toddlers and babies beheaded.

And when I think now, because you and I were talking about this last night -- and we didn't see any of the bodies. I really would not have expected the Israeli Defense Forces to be parading out bodies of decapitated children. And this is such a sensitive issue. But, you know what, when I reflect back on what the -- what the

commander said to us, the major general in charge, again, I will repeat -- repeat this line, because it really sticks. He said: "I was shocked what I found, massacre."

He said that -- "I was reminded," he said, "of what General Eisenhower said when he found the atrocities, when he found the death camps after World War II. He said get the press in here. Show them."

So I think that's what -- that's what was taking place yesterday. And I realize now that, when he said there was beheadings and that families were being killed, he was really understating the brutality of what he'd seen and what he was aware of, because we have now heard it now from the from the prime minister's spokesman confirming this.

So it kind of just adds that other degree of incredulity, I think, that there could be that level of barbarity. And -- but the commander was telling us, people -- these families, some of them, their hands were bound when they were executed.

So the shock level here is just horrific. And, for him, it was reminding him of what is -- what his parents had gone through. They left Europe, and they were survivors, the survivors of the Second World War.

COOPER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: Yes.

COOPER: Yes.

ROBERTSON: We don't need to kind of say more when you have those points of reference.

COOPER: Yes.

Nic Robertson, thank you. We will come back to you shortly.

I want to bring in CNN's Alex Marquardt right now.

Alex, we are learning new details from U.S. intelligence about when and what Iran knew or may have known about the terror attacks on Israel. What have you learned from sources? What are you hearing from the government?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, there's no question that Iran bears major responsibility here.

The administration still sticking to their line that Iran is broadly complicit in this attack because of the years of funding, of training, of material support. But what we're hearing from U.S. intelligence sources and people familiar with the intelligence is that, for now, there is still no smoking gun that directly connects Iran to the execution, to the planning, to the approval of this attack.

[13:10:11]

Certainly, they are complicit because of the support that they have given to Hamas over the years, but, for now -- and they're still going through the intelligence -- there is no direct tie. In fact, we're told by U.S. intelligence officials that Iranian officials expressed some surprise at this attack.

Now, Anderson that surprise may come around the timing of it. I spoke with a senior Israeli official who said that he really doubts that Iran was not aware of this plot. Another senior Israeli official spoke with our colleague Matthew Chance just recently, saying that Iran effectively gave the green light for this operation, that they might not have been aware of the timing, but they were certainly aware of this Hamas operation.

Again, both Israeli and American intelligence communities now, as is protocol, going back and combing through any evidence that they may have looked over to see if there's a more direct connection between Iran and these attacks over the weekend.

COOPER: Alex Marquardt from our -- here in Washington.

Alex, thanks very much.

I want to go back to Boris Sanchez -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Anderson, we do have some breaking news just into CNN.

There was a big vote among Republicans in the House today to determine a new speaker, and the GOP's nomination for speaker has gone to Steve Scalise, the Republican congressman from Louisiana winning the GOP's nomination for speaker on a secret ballot. That is per multiple sources in the House of Representatives, a major win, but not a guaranteed path to the speakership.

He still needs a majority of the entire chamber to replace Kevin McCarthy, the ousted speaker who was removed by the House last week.

Let's get you to Capitol Hill right now.

I believe we have CNN's Manu Raju in place.

Manu, this is a big win for Congressman Scalise.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it, this victory coming, barely clearing the majority threshold that he needed to be nominated as speaker of the House. That majority threshold was at 111 Republican votes.

He got 113 votes. The vote was 113 to 99, defeating House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who had the support of former President Donald Trump, had the support of a lot of conservatives, including the ones who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

But this vote to elevate Steve Scalise, who is currently the House major leader, the number two under the speaker, to the speakership essentially is a sign that he has some work to do, because of the fact that, in order to be elected as the House speaker, you need to have 217 votes on the House floor, and, at the moment, as you can see, a long ways from getting that.

In fact, there was a debate inside the conference this morning about whether the person to be nominated as speaker should have to clear that 217-vote threshold behind closed doors in the conference meeting. Scalise's supporters defeated that motion. Jordan's team tried to push for that motion, believing that it could help him get elected to the speakership.

Now the work is cut out for Scalise, who has to try to avoid the same fate as Kevin McCarthy, who in January went through 15 rounds on the House floor to get the requisite number of votes to be elected speaker. Can he do that? That is one of the big questions that he will have to deal with here.

A number of members voted present because they didn't like their choices. They have concerns about some of the answers that these two men gave. Others were with Jim Jordan. And Jordan himself has not said that he would vote for Scalise. I asked him that question going in to this conference meeting.

He said: "I will get behind whoever can get 217 votes."

Well, Scalise did not get 217 votes. If Jordan does not get behind Scalise, that could lead to a messy fight on the House floor. So, now where does this go from here? Now, they have to make a decision on when to bring this to the full House. It could happen as soon as this afternoon. It could go into next week. It could go into tomorrow.

That will be a key decision here, because Scalise will have to ultimately decide if he wants to take a risk, go to the floor if he does not have the votes locked down here, but a significant moment, after this House has been paralyzed following that historic vote and unprecedented vote to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker.

Now the Republicans have voted on a nominee, but can he get the votes? Can he be elected speaker? And can they move on these key issues, whether it's aid to Israel, aid to Ukraine, avoiding a government shutdown by mid-November, all major questions after Republicans nominating here Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, to be the next speaker of the House -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Manu Raju, please stand by and keep us updated with any new information that you get.

Joining us now is CNN's Dana Bash.

Dana, you were literally on the phone just moments ago before joining us. A long list of priorities for the House, aid to Israel, aid to Ukraine, but, chiefly, the House is paralyzed until they elect a new speaker. How big is this development that Steve Scalise is now the Republican nominee?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Huge. Huge.

[13:15:00]

But I think we need to underscore, highlight, put in bold the key caveat that Manu was just talking about, which is that, with every other leader of the Congress, House, Senate, all you need is a majority of the people in your party and then you're the leader.

And this is a constitutional role, the speaker of the House, second in line to the presidency, which means that there is going to be a vote on the floor. People who were not -- are not under a rock in January know that that is something that tends to be difficult sometimes. It certainly was with the 15 rounds that McCarthy had to go through in order to get that.

And so the question is, right now, how quickly is Steve Scalise going to be able to get those who voted for Jim Jordan -- and, according to Manu and our team, it was pretty split -- to get them to come over and support Steve Scalise?

So, quick -- the -- as quickly as that happens, that will answer the first question that you asked me, Boris, which is, how and when will it get on with the business of the American people? And, look, the pressure is on. This isn't just a run-of-the-mill vote, not just because the government is going to run out of money in about a month, but because of these crises on the world stage.

And, look, this does tend to historically be a moment that galvanizes and rallies in a bipartisan way the American people, and certainly puts pressure on Congress to get its act together.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

BASH: We have seen it in big moments before. This is not the way it was. And we have seen lots of bits of evidence of that, that hard- liners continue to be hard-liners.

And I'm not sure that even what we're seeing in Israel, for example, will be something that will ease the way for Steve Scalise, as it would have maybe just a few years ago, to just get the votes and move on.

SANCHEZ: Let's talk about his path toward the speakership, because, as you noted with Kevin McCarthy, there were 15 rounds of votes over four days.

He made some major concessions to the hard-liners in his party, including that one vote necessary for a motion to vacate. How does Scalise convince those who perhaps oppose him -- and we know he's got some rivals in the House, even among Republicans -- how does he get them over to his side?

BASH: Well we have to -- this was a behind-closed-doors meeting.

SANCHEZ: Right. BASH: It was a secret ballot. We don't know yet -- and I'm sure our

excellent reporters are going to find out momentarily -- if there were any promises along those lines that Steve Scalise made to not only hard-liners, but to some of the moderates who are really upset about the way in which the Republicans, the eight Republicans who ousted McCarthy, went about doing that.

So we don't know what has gone on behind closed doors. What we do know is that some of what happened with Kevin McCarthy was personal.

SANCHEZ: Right.

BASH: And, yes, there were a lot of complaints about spending and about promises made and not promises kept, but some of it was personal.

So, I mention that in -- by suggesting that, perhaps with A Steve Scalise, there might be a bit more grace in the short term to say, OK, we're going to let you do your thing and not put these shackles on you.

SANCHEZ: Dana, I hate to cut you off.

BASH: Yes, please.

SANCHEZ: But we want to go straight to Manu Raju.

BASH: Please.

SANCHEZ: I believe he's in the middle of an interview.

RAJU: ... today, the vote is on the floor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm confident.

RAJU: Is it going to happen today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes, by early as 3:00.

RAJU: The earliest at 3:00. So you expect the vote on the floor today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. We will get a speaker, a 56th speaker, yes.

And because of that, because that seat has become vacant, I'm announcing I'm running for majority leader.

RAJU: You are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

Are you disappointed, Mr. Donalds? Are you disappointed in the result?

REP. BYRON DONALDS (R-FL): Disappointed? The only thing I'm focused on right now is getting back to business. RAJU: Is the vote going to be this afternoon?

DONALDS: We will see. That's the call of (OFF-MIKE)

RAJU: Are you guys with me?

OK. Mr...

(CROSSTALK)

RAJU: Congressman, Congressman, who did you end up voting for just now? We're live on CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steve Scalise.

RAJU: Steve Scalise. So, do you -- is it -- are you expecting the vote to happen this afternoon?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we're told. We will see what happens.

RAJU: He only got 113 votes. Are you concerned this is going to be -- take some time to get to 217?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my hope that our conference comes together so we can elect a speaker.

RAJU: I'm not sure if you guys are still with me.

Mr. Bishop, Mr. Bishop, Mr. Bishop, who did you end up voting for just now?

REP. DAN BISHOP (R-NC): I don't have a comment right now.

RAJU: Are you disappointed that Steve Scalise won?

All right, I know you guys are still on with me. We're trying to get some reaction from some of the members here.

[13:20:00]

But one of the big things that we just heard was that we expect to vote this afternoon.

Congressman, who did you end up voting for just now in the secret ballot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to say who I voted for, but I'm planning on voting for the -- Steve Scalise, who came out of conference.

RAJU: Are you concerned that he may not get 217 votes or could face the same issues that McCarthy faced?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope we all get to 217 on the floor. That's -- and I hope we do that very quickly.

RAJU: What was it like in there? Was the mood pretty contentious? Was it pretty divided in there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were a lot of rounds of applause after Steve was announced as the winner. And

I think that there's going to be a lot of work to be done before we come to the floor to make sure that we get to that 217 number.

RAJU: Did Jim Jordan endorse Steve Scalise in there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to comment.

RAJU: I heard that he did not. Is that your understanding of it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said he would vote for whoever could get to 217 on the floor.

RAJU: Well, there's another big question here, guys, is that, what will Jim Jordan do? Will he actually say that he is behind Steve Scalise?

I have heard now from multiple members. You heard the congressman saying that Jim Jordan didn't explicitly say that he's endorsing Steve Scalise, that he would get behind whoever can get 217 votes on the House floor. Can Steve Scalise get there? He didn't get there in the conference meeting.

And what will some of those members who may want some concessions, will they fall in line? So, there seems to be some confusion too about the timing of all this. Some of the members believe that there could be a vote this afternoon to elect the next speaker of the House. We will see if that's officially announced today.

So perhaps the Scalise team wants to push ahead, wants to force this vote right now, and doesn't want to wait this -- force this to linger, because the longer that he lingers, then the more deals he may have to cut with some of those hard-liners who essentially ended Speaker McCarthy's, Kevin McCarthy's speakership.

He doesn't -- he wants to avoid that. And Scalise so far has indicated he has not cut those side deals. He said that to his conference last night, but he might have to do that in order to get to 217 votes. Perhaps by going to the floor and daring some of the members to vote against him, he may not have to do -- cut some of those side deals.

So we will see ultimately how this plays out. But it's also interesting here, guys, to note this was a secret ballot election. Some of these members simply just don't even want to talk about how they voted, Congressman Dan Bishop, for one, who was aligned with some of those hard-liners in his conference, not saying how he would vote, how he voted just now, some of them indicating that they will still vote for Scalise if he's on the floor.

But a divided Republican Conference at this key moment here, deciding to move forward with Steve Scalise on the narrowest of margins internally, but can he get there? Can he get the votes to be elected speaker? A lot of Republicans hope that he can get there. But the question is, how will he be able to get that done, and whether some of those detractors ultimately will fall in line.

I'm going to ask Mr. -- Mr. Fry, what -- who did you end up voting for?

REP. RUSSELL FRY (R-SC): I was Jim Jordan, publicly Jim Jordan.

RAJU: So, are you disappointed that it was Steve Scalise?

FRY: Look, I think this was a fair process. We had two great candidates running. I have said that from the very beginning. They have both mentored me just as a freshman. And now we need to go elect Steve Scalise as the next speaker of the House.

RAJU: Are you expecting this to happen this afternoon?

FRY: I think so.

RAJU: So, there you go, so another member also thinking that he can actually -- that Scalise is going to take it to the floor this afternoon and will get the votes.

So, this is, of course, a Jordan supporter, Congressman Russell Fry. So, some of them will ultimately fall online. But there's always those handful of members. This is the risk of the narrowly divided House that Kevin McCarthy -- that doomed his speakership; 221 members in the House, that means 217 votes.

He can only afford to lose four votes in order to reach that 217-vote threshold here, so a pretty chaotic moment with this Republican Conference has been unable to figure out how to move ahead, now choosing Steve Scalise. And can he get them out of this state of paralysis? That remains the big question at this key moment, guys.

SANCHEZ: Manu, let's step back. Talk to us about Steve Scalise's path to the nomination.

He's somebody who was elected to the House back in 2008. He wasn't exactly part of the Freedom Caucus wave in 2010.

RAJU: We're live.

SANCHEZ: Manu, you have someone?

RAJU: Yes, I do Congressman Bill Huizenga from Michigan.

So, who did you end up voting for? And what was it like inside the room?

REP. BILL HUIZENGA (R-MI): Let me tell you what it was like inside the room. It was, I think, a fairly cooperative spirit.

There was robust expressions. The rule about whether we were going to come out with a confirmed 217 or not obviously went down. That rule vote failed or that proposed amendment failed. But I'm not going to say who I voted for, because I know who I will be voting for on the House floor. It's going to be Steve Scalise.

I hope the rest of my colleagues will follow that as well. We need to restore the stability of the House of Representatives and we need to make sure that everything from having a check on this administration to making sure that we're affirming and confirming our support of Israel.

[13:25:08]

There's some very important things that need to happen.

RAJU: How worried are you that the same thing could happen to Kevin McCarthy, that this could go on and on, on the House floor, and, if he wins the speakership, he could be facing the same handful of members who can scuttle his moves at every turn?

HUIZENGA: It's very possible, which was one of the reasons why I publicly had said I thought we should get that 217 confirmation vote behind closed doors.

The caucus decided not to do that, so I abide by that. I just hope people are going to abide by the spirit of that, so, if we didn't have a formal rules change, that's fine. I hope the spirit of that, though, does hold.

RAJU: Are you worried, though, that this could drag out on the floor for some time?

HUIZENGA: I hope and pray not. I hope that we're able to move, move quickly and get this done as soon as we possibly can.

RAJU: Do you think it will happen this afternoon also?

HUIZENGA: I hope so. I hope so, and I think that's the work that hopefully now speaker-elect Scalise is going to be working on.

RAJU: OK. Thanks for your time, sir. Appreciate it.

HUIZENGA: All right, good. Thanks.

RAJU: Yes.

So, there, you heard from Congressman Bill Huizenga about where things stand at the moment. The vote is still -- they think it could happen this afternoon, but as you can hear from the congressman, didn't want to say who he voted for, but also fully recognizing that this is unpredictable. We don't know what's going to happen on the House floor as soon as this afternoon.

Will members fall in line? Will they simply say that we have to get the House moving, because the House cannot move at this moment?

Mr. Massie, Mr. Massie, Mr. Massie, are you concerned at all about this outcome?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): Concerned?

RAJU: Yes. You backed -- did you back Mr. Jordan? Is that right?

MASSIE: Yes, I voted for Jordan.

RAJU: Yes, so are you concerned about Scalise winning?

MASSIE: Well, I'm concerned he doesn't have the votes to get to 218, and so we should probably resolve that before we go to the floor.

RAJU: So you don't think he can get there to 218?

MASSIE: I don't think he has the -- I didn't say I don't think he can get there. I said I don't think he has the votes right now.

RAJU: So, what will he have to do to get there?

MASSIE: We need to have meetings and talk.

RAJU: Because there's some talk, it sounds like, talking to a number of members, that they want to have a vote this afternoon. Is that -- would that be a mistake, in your view?

MASSIE: It's actually up to Mr. Scalise now when the vote happens.

RAJU: But would it be a mistake to have the votes this afternoon?

MASSIE: I don't know.

RAJU: In your opinion, I mean, if it happened, do you think it would be a bad idea?

MASSIE: I don't care whether it happens or not.

RAJU: So, if it goes to the floor, will you vote for Scalise?

MASSIE: I have a meeting with Scalise to talk about this.

RAJU: Thank you.

So, there -- so, from one congressman right there, Mr. Thomas Massie, still deciding whether or not he will vote for Steve Scalise, wants some more time to discuss it with the members. And I can tell you he's not alone who probably feels that same way about whether or not he will actually be ready to vote for him.

I'm going to try to ask the Congressman Scott -- Mr. Perry, are you voting -- are you going to vote for Steve Scalise on the floor? Mr. Perry? Mr. Perry?

OK, he didn't answer my question there. But that's another question, is whether or not some of these members who may have voted for Jim Jordan, may have abstained, may have voted present will vote for Steve Scalise. Thomas Massie wants more time, and he may not get that more time, because the Scalise supporters are eager to take this to the floor and have a vote immediately this afternoon.

We will see if that's the decision of Steve Scalise. But another important thing that Thomas Massie just pointed out, this is ultimately the decision of the speaker nominee, Steve Scalise. When does he want to have this vote? Is it time to just pull the bandage up, fight this out on the floor, see what happens?

That is a huge risk. One of the fights that they had internally today is to avoid that. They wanted to just sort -- some of the members, including, namely, the Jordan supporters, wanted to just fight this out behind closed doors, take some time, figure out which candidate could get to 217 votes, which is going to be the magic number on the floor, and then not have that drawn-out, long floor fight.

Scalise's team did not want that. They were concerned, if they went down that route, he would not win the nomination. But now they are left with the prospects of not getting the votes on the House floor after getting barely a majority of his conference to support him in the nomination.

So what will those other 99 members do? Will they all fall in line? A lot of them will. A lot of them are willing to support this nominee on the floor of the House. A lot of them simply, like Thomas Massie, who backed Jim Jordan, not ready to back Scalise yet, wants to have some meetings, so perhaps they may have to wait a little bit of time.

We will see, though, what the House majority leader, now speaker nominee Steve Scalise, decides to do about the timing of this critical, critical vote -- guys.

SANCHEZ: Manu, please stand by and keep us updated on who you're able to speak to there as these Republicans are exiting this closed-door meeting.

We have Jamie Gangel joining the conversation now.

And something that stuck out to me as Manu was playing interference with these Republicans as they're leaving, the variety of answers that we got, right? Some of them were very enthusiastic about Steve Scalise. Some of them, as Thomas Massie did, said they needed more time.

And there's not just disagreement about who they might support, but also when they should hold this vote.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right, as we say, not so much.

I just want to say, there is nothing better than watching Manu navigate the hallway.

(LAUGHTER)

GANGEL: And, to your point, we saw two members in a row.

One, it appears, is voting for Scalise. [13:30:00]