Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Kevin McCarthy Loses Six Vote for Speaker; Funeral for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to Take Place in Hours; Russian Servicemen Killed in Strikes; Buffalo Bills's Damar Hamlin Shows Signs of Improvement; GOP Deadlocked Over House Speaker Vote; House In Disorder; Biden Touts Bipartisanship At Event With McConnell; Coronavirus Pandemic. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired January 05, 2023 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:14]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up this hour on CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERYL JOHNSON, HOUSE CLERK: A speaker has not been elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The humiliation continues for Kevin McCarthy as he vows to fight on to be U.S. House speaker. His "Never Kevin" opponents dig in, and the U.S. Congress is left paralyzed for another day.

Concerns are growing worldwide as authorities in Beijing withhold crucial data on a COVID outbreak which appears to be spiraling out of control.

As Pope Francis presides over the funeral of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, is another papal retirement now looking more likely?

ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: It's just gone 1:00 a.m. in Washington, and in the coming hours lawmakers will gather in the House of Representatives to try again to elect a new speaker. The motion to reconvene is the only one passed so far by the incoming Republican majority. Over the past two days, six votes to elect a new speaker have failed. A historic humiliation for Republican leader Kevin McCarthy. And now the business of government is stalled, new members have not been sworn in, and McCarthy is left fighting for his political survival.

A small group of Never Kevin Republicans remains determined to keep him from becoming speaker. It seems not even a call from former President Donald Trump for the party to unite around McCarthy was enough to win them over. Sources telling CNN, McCarthy is offering more key concessions to try and win over the holdouts but even if he does he still does not have the votes he needs. And that has some Republicans now speculating that other potentially viable candidates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): I think the negotiation with Mr. McCarthy, if it's not successful, they will be looking for the next able person who will agree with what Mr. McCarthy would not agree with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More now from CNN's chief congressional correspondent, Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kevin McCarthy is upbeat about his path to the speakership. But he is not there yet. There is still work to go to get to 218 votes. He needs to peel off 16 Republicans who voted against him. There were 20 who voted against him. He can only afford to lose four votes. He does not have those votes yet but they are deep in negotiations. They have made an offer to a group of conservatives to review it. The process could change a substantive processes change, as I am told. They are moving closer in the direction of some of those conservative opponents and they're getting some positive reactions.

Several of them who I spoke to say that they believe that these talks have been very encouraging, said that they potentially could change their vote in support of Kevin McCarthy. But that will not be enough. There are other Republicans who have other demands and McCarthy 's allies flatly acknowledge that there'll be more negotiations to be had, raising questions about whether McCarthy can actually get there by noon, which is when the House will reconvene on Thursday for another vote, or will they try to delay it again?

They voted to adjourn on Wednesday night. Will they try to adjourn on Thursday afternoon? That is still an open question as they tried to push to get a final vote here. But, for the Republicans right now, who are pushing for another candidate, there is not another candidate who could get 218 votes in the House. And as a result, the chamber will be paralyzed. It cannot move forward in any way. It can't even govern, can't swear in its members, can't form committees.

A significant development that needs to be resolved for the functioning of one branch of government. Can they get there on Thursday? McCarthy is hopeful he can. But he's not there yet.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Joining us now is Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political commentator and senior editor for "The Atlantic," as well as CNN political commentator and Republican strategist, Alice Stewart.

Thank you, guys, for being with us.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, John.

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be here, John.

VAUSE: OK. So with the share of the vote now falling, I want you to listen to Kevin McCarthy outlining how he sees the path ahead. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What if your opposition grows? What if you lose more than 20 votes right now?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): It doesn't matter I still have the most votes. So we could go through every name in the conference, and be at the end of the day, and we'll be able to get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And CNN's Manu Raju also reporting McCarthy has no more margin for error with the expectation that four Republicans, Andy Biggs, Chip Roy, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, are almost certainly immovable in their opposition. That means he has to somehow convince the rest of that group of 20 to change their vote.

So, Alice, first to you. Who blinks first here? And how long before that actually happens?

STEWART: Well, that's the million-dollar question. Both sides say that they plan to continue to hold their ground and they will take this as long as possible. The problem is here we have Republicans engaged in this circular firing squad when we need to be taking the fight to Democrats, to President Biden, to policies that have hurt this country such as the economy, such as crime, such as inflation.

[01:05:14]

And certainly securing the border which is what Republicans were elected to do. And here we have, John, a fringe minority of Republicans that are not only acting in poor form but in bad faith. They have been talking about talking with McCarthy and he has conceded on many occasions, on many issues. Melanie outlined the most recent ones this evening on giving them more power and giving them authority to vote one person could vote for a vote to vacate the speaker. And other things that puts a lot of power in the Freedom Caucus.

Yet they're still not satisfied. They still haven't agreed to support McCarthy. So they are acting in bad faith. And the more they continue to move the goalposts makes it just impossible for McCarthy to, I think, get a consensus with the terms we have now. And it just goes to show, John, this is not about politics as much as it is about personalities. And they simply just do not like Kevin McCarthy.

VAUSE: Yes, the last time something like this happened was back in 1923. A small group of Republicans delayed the election of speaker for a couple of days. At the time "The Washington Post" reported that on that second night the House majority leader met with the insurgents, that's what they called them, and assured them changes that they proposed to the House rules would be given a fair hearing. The next day a new speaker was elected, crisis over.

So to Ron, you know, that's a negotiation. Demand, concession, agreement, done. And the problem here seems to be these hardline MAGA Republicans they just won't take yes for an answer. What do they actually want?

BROWNSTEIN: They want to move the party in their direction. And they have largely succeeded in that. I think, you know, it's almost irrelevant at this point whether or not Kevin McCarthy gets the job because the most important thing has already been decided. Either he threw all of his concessions to the right is going to further empower what Alice described as kind of the fringe, or he will ultimately be pushed aside and someone to his right will be selected as speaker. Probably Steve Scalise.

I mean if you think about the sequence of events here that have gotten us to this point Republicans want a surprisingly narrow majority despite widespread discontent over the economy because so many voters in competitive districts view the party as too extreme. And after that, in these last few days, the most extreme elements of the caucus have used that narrow majority as leverage to make a whole series of demands that would push the party precisely further toward the policies and agendas that those voters rejected in November.

And I think whether McCarthy gets there or not, that is the direction that has been set by the terms of these five.

VAUSE: And perhaps Batman's butler, Alfred, put it best.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes, he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CAINE, ACTOR: Some men aren't looking for anything logical like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Great movie. Alice, you know, the Never Kevin crowd might now want to watch Congress burn but it seems no speaker would ever be able to deliver anything that they want. Absolutely conservative rules, no concessions, no negotiations with Democrats, just play hardball. That's just impossible these days.

STEWART: It's impossible, and it certainly is not what voters elected them to do. And the frustrating thing as a Republican is that midterm elections were a resounding rejection of these extremist candidates, of those who were election deniers and those who were conspiracy theories. Voters said we're tired of that and got rid of many of them, and the irony here is that those very fringe candidates are the ones that are holding up the process.

And it's discouraging. Speaking with many rational Republicans who have been fighting it out for the last two days on the floor, they are extremely frustrated because they cannot get things done. They can't sit committees. They can't legislate which is what they were elected to do. And also many social conservative organizations that have supported Kevin McCarthy, they want to see things done. They are fine with the idea of a consensus candidate.

Someone who is more amenable to the entire Republican Party. Someone like Steve Scalise, as Ron mentioned. Someone who can work across the aisle. Someone who can get things done. Someone who, as was put to me, was he's not the kind of person that kicks a barking dog. He can have a disagreement with you. You can agree to disagree. But he will still at the end of the day work with you.

The problem with these vocal critics is that they continue to kick the barking dog and no one is getting anywhere.

VAUSE: And, you know, not even the former president, Donald Trump, you know, could sway this group, even with the plea to unity. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): Even having my favorite president call us and tell us we need to knock this off. I think it actually needs to be reversed. The president needs to tell Kevin McCarthy that, sir, you do not have the votes and it's time to withdraw. With that I yield. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Even one of McCarthy's opponents Matt Gaetz had this reaction, telling FOX News, sad. This changes neither my view of McCarthy nor Trump nor my vote. And the Conservative Action Project, which has spent their strong ties to Trump, came out in support of the Never Kevin crowd, called for new leadership.

So, Ron, it seems Trump finds himself in a very unusual position here. He's irrelevant in the midst of a major controversy.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, Trumpism has a life in the party now that is independent of Trump. I mean you see these forces that are resisting McCarthy want a Trumpist style of politics of maximum cultural war, maximum confrontation with Democrats. And they don't accept Trump as the sole arbiter of, you know, kind of what the direction is on that. Trump has always been transactional.

I mean he, you know, chose Mehmet Oz, you know, as his favorite in Pennsylvania because he related to him as a celebrity. And it's a sign, I think, that, you know, this movement is really beyond his control. But also that even marginalizing him doesn't ended, you know, in the GOP. It has an independent life. And again, the key point here is I think every resolution to this at this point increases the power of those in the party who are demanding precisely the politics that voters and swing districts and swing states, as Alice noted, rejected so clearly in November. And that is the reality, you know, at a time when so many leaders in

the Republican Party are saying, you know, the strategist and donors, we have to move past Trump. You're seeing someone like Jim Jordan who the January 6th Committee singled out for his participation in Trump's effort to overturn the election being raised at one point by the right as their favorite candidate for speaker and by McCarthy as a character witness.

That's the reality that they're in. And, you know, it's now happening in the fishbowl within the Republican Party. But at some point, they have to face the voters. And the question is whether this is putting them on a path to have a productive record to take to them in two years.

VAUSE: Very quickly, Alice. Is the only question right now who can fix this, who can end this, is that Kevin McCarthy and would that be by stepping aside?

STEWART: That would be one way to end this, to get the business of the people back in operation. And look, he did a great deal to help many Republicans get elected. Many of those who are standing up against him. He raised money for them and campaigned for them which is I think just the height of hypocrisy in terms of being a loyal party leader.

And, look, we worked hard to gain the majority. But a majority that's not united is not a majority. And we cannot govern unless someone steps up and says, what do we need to do to work together? We can disagree on many things but we have to agree we need a leader whether that is Kevin McCarthy or stepping aside for a consensus candidate. That needs to get done so the work can begin.

VAUSE: Alice Stewart and Ron Brownstein, thanks to you both. We appreciate your time staying up for us tonight. Thank you.

STEWART: Thanks, John.

VAUSE: In the next hour, the coffin carrying Pope Benedict XVI will leave St. Pete's Basilica at the Vatican ahead of his funeral service. Dignitaries from around the world will be attending and Pope Francis will be leading mass. He will become the first pontiff in modern times to preside over the funeral service for his predecessor.

CNN Vatican correspondent Delia Gallagher joins us now from St. Peter's Square.

This is not quite a full ceremony that we would see for a Pope because Pope Benedict had retired. So countries like Italy and Germany are the only ones who are officially invited, but there will be other delegations there. But the U.S., though, is not sending President Biden for instance. What's happening there?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: So, the Vatican, John, in accordance to Pope Emeritus' wishes says they want a simple ceremony. And, in part, what that means is they do not provide for all the protocol for official delegations. You know when a president travels, he travels with a massive entourage, sometimes hundreds of people, major security, and if you have that times 50, it puts a lot of pressure on the host city. In this case, Rome and the Vatican.

It would require a massive amount of setup that the Vatican said they weren't prepared to do for this event because they want to keep it simple. It's the same when the Pope travels. He has a huge security, huge entourage, and the places he goes have to be able to handle that. Rome can handle that but since the request of the Pope Emeritus was for a more simple ceremony, part of that means that protocol is lessened.

[01:15:07]

So, for example, the representative from the United States will be the ambassador to the Holy See, Joe Donnelly, who already lives here. He can literally just pop over with his own security detail, of course. But it will be less of a major event and major pressure on the host city to receive official delegations -- John.

VAUSE: There is also some talk that now that the passing of Pope Benedict, the way is not clear or a little easier at least for Pope Francis should he decide to follow suit and retire as Benedict did, and not actually die in the case for most popes throughout history. I think what the thinking was that one sitting Pope and two retired Popes is a bit too much. But now that there'll be just one retired Pope, it may just be a bit easier.

GALLAGHER: Well, that's right. And now we have Pope Francis essentially on his own, right? So if he wanted to resign we'd have a similar situation. He's given no indication that he wants to resign. He has said a couple of weeks ago that he has a letter ready to go in the case that he should become incapacitated. He has a problem with this knee, he has a mobility problem but he likes to joke that you don't need two legs to be Pope. You just need one head.

So he's given no indication that he feels that he needs to resign. That could come about in the event that he became incapacitated. He has the letter in place, he wrote it in the first year of his pontificate. So obviously the resignation of Pope Benedict did open the door to make it OK now for Popes to do that. So it's certainly a possibility but I don't think, John, anything that we should be looking for from Pope Francis in the near future -- John.

VAUSE: Delia, we appreciate the update there on a busy day for you coming up. We appreciate your time.

And please stay with CNN for our special coverage of the funeral of Benedict XVI. Our correspondents Delia for instance will be following developments in Vatican City. It all begins in less than two hours from now. You'll see it only here on CNN.

Both the U.S. and France are considering sending armored combat vehicles to Ukraine. So far armored vehicles have not been included in weapon shipments from the country. Meantime, according to Ukrainian intelligence assessment obtained exclusively by CNN, parts made by more than a dozen U.S. and Western companies have been found inside a single Iranian drone shot down in Ukraine just a few months ago. Iran is believed to have sold thousands of combat drones to Moscow,

plans to ships thousands more. U.S. State Department, though, is now working to prevent those Western made components from reaching Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: Our approach has been to deprive, to systematically starve Russia of the inputs that it needs to prosecute its brutal war of aggression against the people of Ukraine. The supply chain security is something that's especially important in a case like this to ensure that vendors know where their products are going, to ensure that we share information as appropriate and relevant with the private sector as well. And if there are additional steps we can take, including additional export restrictions, that something we'll take a close look at as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Meantime, Russian president Vladimir Putin is bolstering his military arsenal, commissioning a frigate equipped with zircon hypersonic missiles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There is no equivalent in any country in the world. I am sure that this powerful weapon will allow Russia to protect itself from potential external threats, reliably and help us serve our country's national interest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Ukraine has dismissed Moscow's claims that cell phone signals from Russian troops helped pinpoint the target for a devastating missile strike over the weekend. The Russian Defense Ministry says those cell phones allowed the Ukrainians to geolocate the soldiers' position and destroy their barracks, killing dozens perhaps hundreds of troops in the eastern city of Makiivka.

The influential editor-in-chief of Russia's state-run RT Network says this incident should be investigated and the names of officials responsible made public.

More details now from CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman reporting in from eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): In Russia, barrages of blame are being fired back and forth between officials, politicians and prominent military bloggers over the killing of dozens of Russian soldiers in Makiivka in Russian occupied Donetsk.

The Russian Defense Ministry concedes at least 89 soldiers were killed in the bombardment in the early hours of New Year's Day. But the ministry says it was because their position was exposed by soldiers' unauthorized use of their cell phones. The prominent Russian military blogger who goes by the name of War Gonzo, says that such claims are not convincing in an attempt to smear the blame.

[01:20:00]

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry says that as many as 400 Russian soldiers were killed in that attack and an additional 300 wounded, but neither the Russian nor the Ukrainian claims can be independently verified. As the debate rages on in Russia, more signs that the prolonged Russian offensive against the eastern city of Bakhmut is faltering.

The head of the Russian private military contractor Wagner says one of the reasons why the offensive is stalled is because, in his words, there's a fortress in every house. But the fighting in Bakhmut has come at a high price. The head of the Donetsk regional military administration says that more than 60 percent of the city has been destroyed, and only 10 percent of the population remains.

I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Time for short break. When we come back, a volt from the blue caught on security cameras where the wild lightning strikes in just a moment. Also ahead, we are tracking severe weather all across the United States. What some areas can expect right now and in the coming hours.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: While it's not quite capturing lighting in a bottle, it was lightning caught on -- captured on security video at the JR Motorsports headquarters in North Carolina. One angle shows the volt hitting a truck with a trailer attached to it turning on the headlights and leaving behind a pop of smoke.

JR Motor racing sports team is the racing team which is owned by the NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. who has itself caught lighting in a bottle apparently.

More severe weather for California where the governor has declared a state of emergency, what's being called an unprecedented weather event and a bomb cyclone is slamming parts of the West Coast with hurricane force wind gusts, heavy rain and threat of widespread flooding and evacuation orders now in some places.

[01:25:03]

More than 200,000 homes and businesses have been left without electricity. Officials are also concerned that the oversaturated ground may cause mudslides in areas which have been scored earlier by wildfires.

CNN meteorologist Brittley Ritz has more now for us. And, you know, California, they can't win. Never rains but it pours. BRITTLEY RITZ, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, here it is, and it is

definitely a bomb cyclone and when it drops 24 millibars within 24 hours and you're noticing the spin of that area of low pressure on water vapor. So this image is showing you how much moisture is involved with this area of lower pressure. The deeper color blues that you're seeing, that's the deep moisture that's pushing on the shore with what's called an atmospheric river.

So quite a bit of rain pushing on to the California coastline. Now some of heavier rain pushing inland, but where we are expecting the major flooding concern is right along the coastline. We're getting that second band through the overnight hours and early mornings, so the heavy rain will continue all the way through Thursday, where flood watches are in effect simply because of this. The excessive rainfall, again widespread flooding expected, you'll see the lighter green, those are flood warnings that are in effect along the entire coastline.

Multiple landslides, again, with the burn scarred areas it's very easily capable of having all of that mud and that dirt just flying down the higher elevations. And rapid rises in rivers increase. Not only that but the higher elevations through the Sierra Mountains dealing with two to four feet of snowfall, and up to 18 inches in some of the lower elevations where we are under the winter storm warning.

On top of that white-out conditions expected with 60 plus mile per hour winds sustained. Gusts reaching over 130 miles per hour in Hopper Canyon and in San Marcos, California, where we have about 6,000 feet. We're talking about wind gusts over 100 miles per hour.

VAUSE: Brittley, thank you for the update. And yes, good luck to California.

RITZ: Yes.

VAUSE: Thank you.

Well, the Buffalo Bills' Damar Hamlin is showing signs of improvement, according to team officials but he remains in critical condition in intensive care. More than two days after suffering a cardiac arrest during Monday Night Football. The NFL chief medical officer says the league is investigating every possible cause for what happened. The fighting injury forced the league to postpone what have been a critical game and just the latest in a series of tragic blows to the Buffalo community which has endured over the past year.

Among them last month's historic blizzard which has now killed 42 people in Buffalo and the surrounding areas. We have more now from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Damar Hamlin's injury once again uniting city facing adversity.

DION DAWKINS, OFFENSIVE TACKLE, BUFFALO BILLS: It's a dramatically unique thing that has happened and we're all going through it together and honestly the entire world is.

TODD: Many Buffalonians, normally a stoic tough group, could be forgiven for asking why us, a feeling Hamlin's teammate Dion Dawkins seem to reflect in an interview with Wolf Blitzer.

DAWKINS: All if the things that we have gone through this entire year from the start to now, it has been just constant, you know, beatings for Buffalo.

TODD: Three traumatic events in the span of less than eight months have staggered what's known as the city of good neighbors. In May, a racist gunman killed 10 people and wounded three others in a mass shooting at the Tops Friendly market in east Buffalo. The city rallied, including Buffalo Bills players who visited the site and delivered food to residents in need near the shuttered store.

Seven plus months after the shooting another blow to the city. A crippling winter storm killed more than 40 people in Buffalo and the surrounding county. As residents started to dig out, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown reflected.

MAYOR BYRON BROWN, BUFFALO, NEW YORK: It was a painful year for all of us. And we move forward into 2023. As a resilient community. As a strong community. As a community that has lifted itself up through all these challenges.

TODD: Buffalo residents were still dealing with the after effects of that storm when Hamlin's injury occurred on Monday Night Football. And as Geneva Smith Johnson who knew five of the top supermarket victims notes, all these traumas were beyond the control of Buffalonians.

GENEVA SMITH-JOHNSON, KNEW 2022 BUFFALO SHOOTING VICTIMS: We can't control the weather, so it happened. Unfortunately, we can't control people, I am referring about the May 14th incident. There was no way of controlling the stuff there from happening. And then with the injury, I don't know how you can prepare for something this unexpected. How can you control things that is beyond your control?

TODD: But church deacon Jeffrey Peace who worked with one of the shooting victims says the city will rebound.

[01:29:46]

DEACON JEFFREY PEACE, WORKED WITH SUPERMARKET SHOOTING VICTIM: We bounce back. We continue. We don't stop functioning. We don't shut down.

We get together and we put a plan together. And what do we have to do to put things back to normal?

TODD: Buffalo Bills fans themselves are known for their compassion and their charity toward others even rivals in times of need.

In 2021, they donated money to the favorite charity of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson after he was injured in a game against the Bills. Damar Hamlin himself had started a GoFundMe toy drive campaign in

2020. Since his injury Monday night, several million dollars have poured into it.

Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: When we come back a split screen moment for the Republican Party, with open rebellion in the lower house over who will be speaker. At the same time, the Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, making a rare public appearance with Democrat President Joe Biden, a show of bipartisan bliss, details in a moment.

And later, a trip with a load of furry passengers. Take a ride on the doggie bus.

[01:31:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back everyone. I'm John Vause. And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Kevin McCarthy says he's not giving up on becoming U.S. house speaker, despite losing six votes over the past two days.

An historic 7th vote is expected when the White House reconvenes on Thursday, noon local time. The new Congress cannot officially be sworn in until the leadership role is filled. McCarthy is being (INAUDIBLE) by a block of hardline conservatives who are demanding drastic in exchange for their votes. In the past few hours, sources say McCarthy has agreed to some of those demands which would most likely diminish the power of the speaker but it's not at all certain it will get McCarthy the 218 votes he needs.

Meantime, a rare display of bipartisanship, on the base of the (INAUDIBLE) river where U.S. President Joe Biden stood side by side with the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell. The event was to show the upcoming restoration of a crucial bridge, as part of the trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, rather that McConnell helped pass last year.

While in Kentucky, the president was asked to comment on the Republican house chaos taking place in Washington. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's embarrassing for the country, I mean literally. I'm not making it partisan. That's the reality that, you know, to be the kind of congress that can't function is just embarrassing. We're the greatest nation the world, how can that be?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More details now from CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's traveling with President Biden in Kentucky.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Biden is kicking off 2023, with a searing contrast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: McCarthy.

DIAMOND: While House Republicans are still squabbling over their choice for speaker, Biden is taking a major victory lap with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at his side, showing what can get done when Democrats and Republicans work together.

BIDEN: After years of politics being so divisive, the bright spots across the country. The Brent Spence Bridge is one of them. For decades, people have talked about the Brent Spence Bridge. But folks, talking is over. With the bipartisan infrastructure law, we are finally going to get it done.

DIAMOND: Long before it became an emblem of bipartisanship, it was a symbol of the country's aging infrastructure deemed functionally obsolete more than two decades ago.

Chunks of concrete tell from this bridge in 2011. And then in 2020 there was a fiery crash between two trucks that shut the bridge down for six weeks.

But local officials and business leaders say that it is the traffic, the congestion that is causing the most economic damage to this region.

This bridge is a major economic artery of two highway systems stretching from Florida all the way to Canada, driving about $2 billion of cargo per day. That is $700 billion dollars of cargo a year. Or about 3 percent of the U.S.'s GDP.

And officials say that the new bridge and the fixes to the current bridge are going to be an economic boom for the region. And for the country.

MITCH LANDRIEU, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER AND INFRASTRUCTURE COORDINATOR: If you fix this bridge you keep it going, you are not only going to help people get to and from work, get to and from church, get to and from school. But you are actually moving products to people's tables which is what they need. And you are creating huge numbers of really well paying jobs.

DIAMOND: The bridge is one of thousands that will be repaired thanks to the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law which dedicates $40 billion dollars to bridges.

Today, lawmakers basking in the bipartisan feat.

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Today we send this wonderful clear day with sun shining down on literally a legislative miracle. DIAMOND: That miracle will be harder to replicate with a House

Republican majority. McConnell's rare presence alongside Biden may ultimately be more of a tribute to the past.

MCCONNELL: This bridge I think symbolizes the coming together of both sides on something that both sides thought was important to try to get an outcome.

DIAMOND: Now despite today's show of bipartisan unity, the prospects of major bipartisan accomplishments in this new congress are pretty slim. If they can take a speaker House Republicans have already made clear that one of priorities will be investigating the Biden, his administration and his family.

Now, that is a contrast that the White House not only welcomes but plans to drive forward. In the coming months, having the president on the road and above the political fray.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN -- travelling with the president in Covington, Kentucky.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, as Napoleon apparently once said, when your enemy is planning suicide, let them. And so Democrats are now sitting back and watching the leadership turmoil play out on the other side.

On Wednesday though, they erupted in jeers when the House Republican sarcastically suggested a party move across the aisle.

[01:39:47]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KAT CAMMACK (R-FL): But they want us divided. They want us to fight each other, that much has been made clear by the popcorn and blankets and alcohol that is coming from over there. The house is not is order.

The House is not in order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And key Democrat, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, fired back. If Democrats took a shot every time McCarthy lost a Republican we would all be unconscious by now.

Still ahead, growing international concern over the dramatic rise of COVID cases in China and the World Health Organization says it's not getting all the data it needs from Beijing, those details up next.

Also, this 1968 production Romeo and Juliet, now the center of a lawsuit of its sexual exploitation of minors. The actors' allegations, and why they're only coming to surface now, when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: The European Union is strongly encouraging member states to require a negative COVID test for all travelers from China but stopped short of imposing bloc wide travel rules despite COVID cases spiraling out of control across mainland China. Germany's foreign minister warns the current COVID wave in China must be taken very, very seriously calling for a united European response.

As the pandemic enters a fourth year the World Health Organization, says it is still not getting transparent and adequate data from the authorities in China.

[01:44:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM, GHEBREYESUS: We continue to ask China, for more, rapid regular, reliable date on hospitalizations, and deaths, as well as more comprehensive real time viral sequencing. There's concern about the risk to life in China and has reiterated the importance of vaccination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Let's go live now to Hong Kong. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout standing by for more on this.

And as this moment, we're now finding out that China has decided the border with Hong Kong will reopen January 8th in a couple of days from now. Given that so little is known about the outbreak of the COVID pandemic right now, or the greatest outbreak, I should say, on the mainland, what's been the reaction in China to this news?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's been a bit of a mixed reaction. This is a very huge development that we've confirmed in the last hour that the border which has largely been sealed off between the mainland and Hong Kong for the last three years, will effectively reopen starting this Sunday, January the 8th.

Flights will resume, eventually they will ramp up to normal, no PCR tests are required, though you will still have to offer proof of a negative COVID test upon arrival, taken within 48 hours of departure.

A number of people in the territory welcome the news. They welcome the business, the tourism revenue that mainland visitors will bring to Hong Kong.

But a number of other people are worried, in fact we can just go to a vaccination station in the territory, and you see lines of people there waiting to get their fourth jab of the Pfizer vaccine, which is indeed available in Hong Kong, but not in mainland China. That concern is rising all over the world, not just here, but all over the world in terms of the true scope and scale of the runaway COVID-19 outbreak in China, so much so that the World Health Organization is now calling on China to provide more data about the outbreak, and is even warning about the fact that China is under representing the toll of the outbreak. Look, you know, earlier today, China offered its official statistics

saying that there was only one death reported, caused by COVID-19 for January the 4th. That is a seriously low, number and a number that the WHO would certainly dispute. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MIKE RYAN, WHO EMERGENCY PROGRAM DIRECTOR: We believe that the current numbers being published from China, underrepresents the true impact of the disease in terms of hospital admissions, in terms of ICU admissions and particularly in terms of deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STOUT: A very significant statement there from the World Health Organization, an organization which has been accused of being too close to China earlier on in the pandemic. The WHO also says that no new variants have been detected from China. That said, a number of jurisdictions and governments, not taking any chances, and increasing the screening, the testing, or even recommendations to do so. For example, the European Union is now strongly recommending its member states to introduce screening of travelers, introducing testing, introducing masking of travelers coming in from China introducing even the testing of wastewater from planes arriving from mainland China.

Other governments taking even more stringent measures, for example, the U.K. and the U.S., we already knew that they were going to do this. that starting today, they will require proof of a negative COVID test from all arrivals from mainland China. And there you have it, the growing list, the map there you could see of governments around the world now imposing COVID-19 restrictions on Chinese travelers.

China calls these measures unacceptable. we heard for the ministry of foreign affairs earlier this week. They said that China would hit back at nations that introduced such restrictions on travelers for political goals.

Back to you, John.

V3: Yes they're making it sound like a trade war when it's not really the case at all. But Kristie Lu Stout, thank you so much for being live in Hong Kong. Take care.

STOUT: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, Britain's Prince Harry has made some surprising claims in his new book, "Spare". According to an advance copy obtained by the "Guardian", Harry says his brother, Prince William, physically attacked him in 2019 during an argument about his relationship with Meghan Markle.

Harry says William called Meghan difficult, rude and abrasive. Quote, "He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace. He knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog's bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed then got to my feet and told him to get out."

According the "Guardian" Harry says "William urged him to fight back but he refused. William left, returned a short time later looking regretful, and he said sorry."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The world's most enduring love story, is the motion picture to be seen forever, "Romeo and Juliet".

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: In Act 3, Scene 5 of the 1968 movie "Romeo and Juliet", the two main characters are waiting after their secret marriage the night before. Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo is face down on the bed, his backside exposed for the world to see. Later, Olivia Hussey who played Juliet is filmed revealing part of her breast.

At the time, the two actors were 16 and 15 years old and according to a lawsuit now before a Los Angeles court, they say director Franco Zeffirelli promised there will be no nudity in the movie and both would be wearing flesh colored underwear for the bedroom scene. But on the day of filming, they say Zeffirelli insisted they act nude or the movie would fail.

[01:49:54]

VAUSE: Now, more than half a century later, the actors are suing the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, accusing the studio of sexual exploitation, which caused them decades of mental anguish and emotional distress. It's believed they're seeking more than $500 million in damages.

For the past three years there has been no statute of limitations in California for filing civil cases relating to child sexual abuse. But that was a temporary measure and expired this past Saturday.

The "Romeo and Juliet" case was filed a day earlier along with a slot of other similar cases.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Most days in Alaska, they greet each other with a bit of a sniff and a like where polite company suggests you don't. Ok, we're talking about dogs. A dozen canines or so who ride the doggie bus.

Jeanne Moos with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning Bama.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It definitely isn't a greyhound bus, but there are hounds in it. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning Jake.

MOOS: Nothing but dogs jumping into their assigned seats, attached to leashes rather than seatbelts. Picking up waving passengers with wagging tails.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning, Amara (ph). Would you like a complimentary liver with your bus ride?

MOOS: Nobody said no.

This bus is better than an airline.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me, you already had yours.

MOOS: The doggy bus, is operated by Mo Mountain Mutts in the tiny Skagway, Alaska. It's a husband and wife team, offering dog training and dog walking.

Do the dogs know their own seat?

MO THOMPSON, CO-OWNER, MO MOUNTAIN MUTTS: Most of them do. The new puppies don't. They'll try to just jump in any seat available, until we shuffle them back in the leaky puppy corner.

[01:54:50]

MOOS: The leaky puppy corner? They're practically necking in the back of the bus as they ride to outings.

The bus offers the potential for entanglements. but when we watched them disembark, they were better behaved than bus load of kids.

THOMPSON: I can't tell you how many of these dogs where monsters before I started working with them.

MOOS: That's Mo Thompson's own little monster, chiming in. Oh sure, some of the passengers are rule breakers.

THOMPSON: Excuse me, ma'am, your tail is in the aisle.

Ma'am, you're going to have to adjust your butt.

MOOS: But there's one seat that's off limits.

THOMPSON: Who's honking the horn? Bama.

MOOS: Bama is ready to trade her dog license for a driver's license.

THOMPSON: Excuse me, ma'am. You're not driving. Get out of my seat.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello everyone.

MOOS: -- New York. (END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: How cute.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

CNN NEWSROOM continues. My colleague and friend Rosemary Church will be up after the break.

I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

[01:56:03]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)