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Supporters Of Former President Jair Bolsonaro Storm Congress Over Election Lies; Buffalo Bills Play Six Days After Damar Hamlin's Collapse On Field; Biden Makes First Visit As President to Border As Criticism Mounts; Six-Year-Old Boy In Police Custody After Shooting Teacher; California Braces For More Heavy Rain, Possible Flooding And Mudslides; Nursing Union Returns To Negotiations To Avert Strike; Kevin McCarthy Elected House Speaker After 15 Rounds Of Voting. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 08, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: The best interviewers in the business as he talks with newsmakers, luminaries and Hollywood legends, don't miss the season premiere of "WHO'S TALKING TO CHRIS WALLACE?" up next at 7:00 right here on CNN.

And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

I'm Pamela Brown in Washington on this Sunday. The top stories for you, just days after the United States marks the second anniversary of the Capitol riot protesters in Brazil who believe their recent presidential election was stolen staged something very similar.

And after two years of repeated calls for members of both parties, President Biden visits the southern border for the first time since taking office. Plus teams and fans across the NFL honor Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Wait until you see what his team did.

You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A relatively peaceful protest followed by an assault on the halls of Congress. Sound familiar? Well, this is not January 6th two years ago in Washington, D.C. It's happening in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, today. Devout supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro breached security barriers this afternoon. They have spent hours vandalizing Brazil's Congress and Supreme Court and the presidential palace.

CNN's Rafael Romo has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Over the last few hours we have seen protesters breaking windows and doors, vandalizing offices and clashing with police and government employees as they storm government buildings in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.

Protesters not only stormed the congressional building but also the Planalto Palace which is Brazil's presidential building, as well as the country's Supreme Court building. In the last hour Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva who took office only a week ago reacted to the events describing them as barbaric and calling those responsible for acts of vandalism fanatical fascists.

These people he said are everything that is abominable in politics to invade the government headquarters, the headquarters of Congress, and the headquarters of the Supreme Court like true vandals, destroying everything in their path.

It started a few hours ago as a peaceful protest in front of the army's headquarters in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. Then a numerous group of protesters started marching towards the area where government buildings for all three branches of government are located. At one point, protesters stormed the building that Houses the Brazilian Congress before other groups did the same at the Planalto Palace, the seat of the executive power, and the Supreme Court.

Initially they clashed with the few government employees who were trying to stop them. There is a video of a man sitting at the desk of Brazil's Congress president. Other videos show protesters carrying flags and throwing objects amid tear gas clouds. Police in riot gear and the armed forces have been dispatched to the area where there have been clashes in the last hour.

Brazil has a new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office exactly a week ago. His predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, lost the second round of the presidential election in October by less than two percentage points.

As you can imagine, Brazil is a polarized and deeply divided country. Bolsonaro instead of attending the swearing-in ceremony decided to leave the country and travel to Florida where he is currently.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, it may be one of the most emotional games in NFL history, just six days after Damar Hamlin collapsed to the ground after suffering a cardiac arrest. With tributes to him on the field and in the stands and Hamlin cheering them from his hospital bed and tweeting up a storm. The Buffalo Bills played football today, a game that felt much bigger than just a game. Hamlin wasn't there of course but his name and his number they were everywhere. And the game unfolded like it was scripted by a Hollywood producer.

With the Bills scoring a touchdown on the opening kick-off and not looking back as they went on to win, 35-23. Next up for the Bills, the playoffs. Next for Hamlin, an uncertain road to recovery. But a recovery that has inspired his teammates after he came so close to dying while playing the sport he loved.

Coy Wire joins us now. So, Coy, what's the atmosphere like in Buffalo? As a former Bill this has to be such a special day for you. COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It's a celebration. It's -- I don't know

if people are going to sleep tonight. It's very emotional. Thankfully very good news, right, after all the sad and bad that we had earlier in the week, Pamela. This was no longer just a game against Division rivals Patriots. This was a celebration of life as Bills head coach Sean McDermott described it. Buffalo's first game since number 3 Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest on the field earlier this week and as players, Pamela, ran out of the tunnel, the power of three as you mentioned was everywhere.

Players holding the flags as they came out of the tunnel. They were wearing the patches on their hearts of their jerseys. Fans were holding handcrafted signs everywhere you looked in the stadium.

[18:05:01]

And it was quite the emotional moment when Damar's image popped up there on that jumbotron. A powerful moment also when the medical workers and training staff were singled out. They pounced in with poise and precision to save Damar Hamlin's life. They walked to midfield getting an ovation as big as any I've ever heard. And then game time. On the opening play the Bills' first since the tragic injury, goose bumps. Here is what happened as told by Bills announcer Chris Brown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS BROWN, BUFFALO BILLS ANNOUNCER: Going to be short. Fielded at the fourth by Hines. Coming straight up the middle to the 20. Cuts it back to the 25. He's got an alley down the right sideline to the 40, 50, down to the 40. 35. 30. 20. 15, 10, 5, touchdown. 96 yards. Run, run as fast as you can, you're not catching Hines. He's your end zone man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: What are the chances? Are you kidding me? It had been, listen to this, three years and three months since the Bills had done that. Bills star quarterback Josh Allen said it was spiritual, bone- chilling, and he kept yelling at the team, God is real. Hamlin watching from the hospital bed tweeting, God behind all this. No coincidence.

But that wasn't all, Pamela. Nyheim Hines would return another kickoff for a touchdown for his second of the game. Something that had not been done in the NFL since 2010 and you guessed it, week number three. Here is star offensive lineman Dion Dawkins talking about what he has learned through all of this from the tragic injury that occurred earlier in the week to his beloved teammate until now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DION DAWKINS, BUFFALO BILLS OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: Situations like this just remind you why life is so special. You know, why, you know, in a split second, in any incident, like you could be jogging, like you could be playing football, you could be playing basketball, lifting weights. You know, like not any second is promised. And for the situation to happen it just opened up all of our eyes, like it has made me become a better father. It has made me become a better teammate, a better person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: A life lesson learned for all of us, learned through sport, so well put by Dion Dawkins there, Pamela. It has been an emotional rollercoaster for this team, for this city. Tears and fears early to start the week now. The outpouring of love and support we're seeing now is pretty magical stuff happening. They will play in the first round of the playoffs, the Miami Dolphins, Pamela, for their third time this season.

BROWN: Wow. And you just had to love feeling the excitement from Hamlin as he was tweeting and, you know, the pictures of him smiling from the hospital bed. It was really a beautiful thing to see considering what happened just six days ago to him.

WIRE: Yes, and it has been those gradual, positive, progressing in the right direction updates that have lifted this team to be able to go out there, Pamela, imagine, from even the training staff, the way they jumped in, and the emotional rollercoaster that's been. I mean, they performed CPR on somebody in a moment's notice that saved his life, and now imagine doing that on someone you love and care about, someone you have laughs with every day.

You know, it's just incredible what the players all went through, this whole organization, this city went through, and now to be here and to be able to go on and create some more magic into the postseason is truly something special happening here in Buffalo.

BROWN: Certainly. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

And here with us now is CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan.

Christine, I mean, first I want your reaction to the Bills' return today. Just how powerful was this game and historic, I mean, in many ways?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Absolutely. I mean, it was the best possible result you could have. I mean, he is doing well. Of course as Coy was just saying, better than expected. I mean, to think six days ago --

BROWN: Exactly.

BRENNAN: You know, the fear of the nation, the concern, everyone. I mean, this became a national, international story. It wasn't about football as you well know. It was about a man's life, a young 24-year- old, would he survive? We had watched what we'd watched. And to think of how far this story has gone in such a positive way, it was almost magical out on that field, the two -- of course the two kickoff returns.

BROWN: Yes. Yes. BRENNAN: Starting the game that way. The game ball being given to the

assistant trainer who did the CPR. I mean, the story line, it truly will be something I think that Hollywood dives into. But this was even better than any Hollywood movie.

BROWN: Yes. You couldn't script it, right, any better. You know, it's interesting, though, for the players and all they've been through, CNN is reporting that many of the players they're not ready to speak publicly about Damar. You know, they're still processing what they saw but of course they still had to set foot on that field today. What do you make of that?

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BRENNAN: They're professionals. You know, you know football well. Your mom, my hero.

BROWN: Well, my mom did. I don't know it too well.

BRENNAN: Well, I think you learned a little bit.

BROWN: Although I've learned a lot through the story.

BRENNAN: Your mom, my role model and paving the way, Phyillis George, for all of us.

BROWN: Thank you.

BRENNAN: I mean, it's a national game. And I think, you know, we've all grown up with it, right? And we watched these incredibly powerful men and almost for our entertainment in some ways. You know, we're there, you know, people are buying tickets or watching and these guys are there to entertain us. No, I mean, yes, they are, but more than that. It's -- they're human beings. And so of course as professionals, the last week of the regular season, of course they're going to go back out there. But it wasn't easy for them.

And I am hoping that the nation, Pamela, learned a little more about these young men that we all cheer for or people yell, you know, sounds terrible to say now, kill the quarterback, get them, you know, pound them, I hope the language of our nation, the sports language that everyone might take a step back and say, yes. They're out there. And of course they went out there today. They're strong. They're tough. And they're getting paid to do this.

They do this. They're professional athletes. But it wasn't easy for them and maybe we all need to take a step back and say, you know, let's tone down the rhetoric.

BROWN: (INAUDIBLE).

BRENNAN: Exactly. I think that's what the nation has had over these six days and what a result. Wonderful turn is it.

BROWN: It really is. And there is so much positive that's come out but also, look. The reality is it also shines a spotlight on player safety concerns, what is next for the NFL on that front?

BRENNAN: I think, you know, we should keep having that conversation. Mostly as you know it's been about CTE, about concussions. And not just NFL players but our kids. Girls playing soccer, girls and boys playing, you know, boys playing soccer and ice hockey and things like that. Not just football. I think we need to continue to have that conversation. This was it appears a freak injury in the sense of where he was hit at the exact moment, that millisecond with his heartbeat as we're hearing.

But the fact that it was a routine play and it could happen like this, I think for everyone to take a step back and to have that conversation, I wouldn't be surprised if we hear about more players potentially retiring at the end of this season or considering retiring. When you go back and talk to your family and all of a sudden you see what you saw the other day, so I have no reporting on that.

But my intuition covering football for all these decades is that maybe we will see people saying, you know, is it worth it? And it may be other sports as well. I do think this is one of those moments, these watershed moments that we will be talking about as we are right now but we'll be looking back in history years from now talking about what happened that day.

BROWN: Absolutely. You know, you said it is your intuition. It's a very informed view. You've been covering the sport for a long time. You've seen a lot. And as you noted, this is just -- this is an important time for sure.

BRENNAN: It is.

BROWN: Christine Brennan, thank you so much.

BRENNAN: Thank you.

BROWN: Well, turning south now, all the way to the U.S.-Mexico border where President Biden is making his first trip to the region since taking office. He is in El Paso meeting with officials to evaluate border enforcement operations. And this hour he has been touring a migrant aid center. Earlier the president went to a bridge spanning the U.S.-Mexico border.

Republicans and even some within his own party say this trip is long past due. He is now on his way to the airport and a flight on Air Force One to Mexico.

CNN's senior White House correspondent M.J. Lee is in Mexico City, the president's next stop on this trip.

So, M.J., the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, wrote a letter to President Biden saying that he is going to be involved. In a carefully staged photo-op, he is not going to actually see the real reality on the ground. So what will the president actually be seeing and what has he seen?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, you make a really good point that of course republicans in particular have been hounding President Biden for months and months now to go down to the U.S. southern border and see with his own eyes the situation unfolding there. And the White House had really resisted those calls until now. They ended up tacking on this brief visit to El Paso, Texas, before he makes his way here to Mexico City.

And what we saw him all day is meeting with border personnel agents and visiting this migrant center and trying to get a better sense of what is going on there. But I think it is really important to note actually to Governor Abbott's point, according to my colleague Kevin Liptak, who has been serving as the TV pooler all day, it's pretty clear that the president actually did not get an opportunity to meet with many migrants if any at all, and didn't really get to see some of those scenes that we have been seeing from the border the past few weeks of really overstretched resources, of migrants outside just waiting to learn what their fate is going to be.

[18:15:03]

So I think that's potentially an area to watch and potentially an area where the president could get some criticism after this visit. But I think just in the bigger picture, too, we are seeing the president so vividly sort of having to confront what a big political problem and liability this has been for him. This, of course, referring to the record number of migrants who have been trying to cross over into the U.S. in the southern border.

You know, Title 42 and what to do about that policy has been a huge issue for the administration even though they have said this is a policy that should end. Just this week we saw the administration announce basically an expansion of that program and that has gotten a whole lot of criticism from advocates and Democrats and Republicans alike. So this is going to be a big issue for him to discuss here in Mexico City in the coming days as well.

BROWN: All right. M.J. Lee, thanks so much.

Well, there are a lot of questions right now about a tragic situation in Virginia. How does a 6-year-old get access to a gun? And how is he able to take it to the school and shoot a teacher like police say? We're digging deeper into this case, up next.

Plus, can thousands of New York nurses and their hospitals reach a deal before the clock strikes midnight? We'll talk to one of the negotiators for the nurses' union, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:26]

BROWN: Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, will be closed tomorrow and Tuesday. That's where a 6-year-old student shot and wounded a teacher on Friday. Police said there had been an altercation between the teacher and the student. They say a single shot was fired and no other students were involved or hurt.

CNN's legal analyst Joey Jackson joins us now.

Wow, I mean, this is such a troubling case on so many fronts, Joey. Virginia law prohibits leaving a loaded gun where it is accessible to children under the age of 14. Now the child could be criminally charged. What type of legal scrutiny falls on the parents or adults in this case?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, quite a bit, Pamela. Imagine what we're speaking about. We're speaking about a 6-year-old, who was a first grader, shooting a teacher in the school, and the police having reason to believe that it was intentionally done. Wow is that significant. And it's even more significant in as much we're examining what the laws really allow the state to do with the child, which is another matter I'm sure we'll get to.

But with respect to the parents, you know, look. You know, there are certainly the amendments, right, that everyone believes in which is the right to bear arms. And that's something that people can freely exercise but it comes with a certain responsibility. And that responsibility is to ensure that you do not allow a child to endanger themselves or someone else with regard to you not being very, very clear about where that gun is and the fact that it doesn't get into their hands.

So I think an investigation will reveal, again, we don't know and I don't want to presume but how does a 6-year-old get a gun? I think they will determine that and if there is anything that parents or relatives or guardians did that was inappropriate, reckless, or otherwise endangering, then I think they'll have criminal culpability. To that specific point there is a law that you just mentioned which criminalizes, right, the person who would allow this to occur.

And so yes, I think a parent or guardian would have significant legal exposure here, Pamela, in the event that that's found to be the case.

BROWN: How does intent factor in here? Because this is different from a little boy finding a gun in his home and accidentally shooting himself or someone else based on what police have told us. Under Virginia law a 6-year-old cannot be charged as an adult and the minimum age to be sentenced to a juvenile prison in Virginia is 11. So how do you see this playing out in the courts?

JACKSON: Yes. So under normal circumstances, intent is what you would examine, right. If you are looking to charge someone you examine what their mental status. Us lawyers have a fancy word, we called it mens rea, that is that act intentionally, did you act recklessly, that is with a conscious disregard to what your conduct can cause? Did you act negligently? That is, were you not careful?

As it relates to a child, though, there are significant issues. When you talk about a 6-year-old the fact is, is that unless we're dealing with a 14-year-old, Pamela, or older who could potentially be charged as an adult what do you now do? When you look at child laws not only Virginia but every state they're focused on rehabilitation. And so what you look at and examine is, how do you get the person, the child at issue the care that they need so that they could improve, they could develop themselves, they could advance.

Obviously a child's brain works differently. And so I think what they'll do is the authorities will get together to see what the best course of action. Should the child be detained? There are certain laws that say you can't detain a child in a secure facility. Is there a child welfare agency that they could be detained? Are there some programs that they could avail themselves to. So I think there's a lot of questions authorities will ask themselves to get the help for the child, the rehabilitation for the child, and certainly look to issues of accountability and look to the critical question, is how this could happen and how do we prevent it, Pamela, from happening again.

BROWN: Yes. It is just heartbreaking. Joey Jackson, thanks so much.

And we're just learning that President Biden left El Paso, Texas, he's leaving right now we're told. He's on his way to Mexico City, going up there to Air Force One, walking up the steps right now, heading to Mexico City as he visits the border under mounting pressure.

Well, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM, thousands of New York nurses are poised to go on strike in a matter of hours. So will they reach a deal in time? We'll speak with nurses' union negotiator in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:15]

BROWN: Right now in northern California more than 400,000 customers are without power after high winds and rain slammed the region overnight. And the threat is not over. More than 30 million people in California are currently under flood and mudslide watches as a massive storm system bears down.

CNN's Camila Bernal is on the ground for us in San Francisco, and meteorologist Derek Van Dam is tracking the storm for us.

So, Camila, first to you. Tell us what you're seeing there. How are people preparing?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pam, so right now it is really the calm before the storm. The problem is less and less time between these storms. Now, officials here are telling people that they need to prepare for power outages and for extensive flooding because that is what you're going to see throughout most of the state.

[18:30:02]

And so the ground is already saturated from the previous storm. So when you add more water into it what that means is the possibility of more mudslides and the possibility of sink holes. Two things that have already happened here in San Francisco thanks to the previous storm. Officials here saying that they're also worried about communication outages.

Here is the executive director of the Department of Emergency Management here in San Francisco.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAY ELLEN CARROLL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Many of the infrastructure for even communications, that's our cell and internet, is underground. And so as we get more inundation from the rain we are seeing more failure around those what we call lifeline systems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: Now there are still people dealing with the power outages. And I've seen people in neighborhoods near the ocean already with sandbags because they have already been flooded. So they're preparing for a second round. But keep in mind a lot of people are just not used to dealing with this type of rain here in San Francisco, Pam.

BROWN: And Derek, to bring you in, where is the system right now?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Pamela, the storm located now just about 500 miles off the California coast. But it's already filtering and funneling in this almost pipeline of water into the central portions of California here going forward overnight and into the next two days. In fact, the weather prediction center has a moderate risk of flash flooding. This could be increased to a high risk according to some of their communication today.

But look at this. It now includes Los Angeles. So we're really upping the ante here especially when we talk about a two-day event impacting not only some of the greatest population densities across the central and northern parts of the state but also across the southern portions of California.

Check out these rainfall totals. This is just since the beginning of the year. The radar is quiet now as she was talking about a moment ago in her live hit, the calm before the storm, but the rain is not far away. More than 30 million people impacted by these flood alerts. And check out some of those gauges. We do have the potential at least for major river flooding as this fire hose of moisture just kind of oscillates from north to south, starting overnight tonight eventually working its way towards Los Angeles throughout the day on Monday and into Tuesday.

We will be measuring snowfall in feet across the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. Interstate 80 from Tahoe right through Sacramento to San Francisco basically impossible in terms of snowfall and the difficult nature of this travel. Look at the snowfall totals. Those are not typos. Some of the National Weather Services out here using words like five feet plus. A high impact event according to the San Francisco Weather Office.

Here's the winter storm warnings in place. Prepare yourself and really what sets this storm apart from the previous storms is that it continues to pile on the rain, the snow, and the wind, toppling more trees and of course more power.

Back to you, Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Derek Van Dam, Camila Bernal, thanks so much.

And negotiations are under way right now to avert a New York nurses' strike. Members of the nurses' union are threatening to walk out Monday morning and already some hospitals are making plans to deal with the possible strike including moving patients, diverting ambulances, and postponing elective surgeries.

Michelle Gonzalez is a nurse in New York and part of the negotiating team.

Hi, Michelle. So what is your union hoping to get from hospitals that you haven't gotten yet?

MICHELLE GONZALEZ, NURSE, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: Hi, Pam. How are you tonight? Thank you for having us. My name is Michelle. And we are -- as you said we're trying to get staffing enforcement. We want better ratios. This is a fight for our patients and for patient care.

BROWN: So staffing is clearly a big issue then. Can you explain for us how staffing ratios could threaten quality of care?

GONZALEZ: So, Pam, currently we are all as healthcare workers dealing with a problem of short staffing. This has affected all of us. It affects our patients and it affects our ability as healthcare workers to provide safe care. When we have too many patients we aren't able to do the assessments and the timely interventions that we need to do. So that's why we're doing this. That is why we need safe staffing ratios.

BROWN: Yes, I mean, I've seen it firsthand in emergency rooms. And a lot of nurses from what I saw had left because of the pandemic, seeking other jobs, and there was a shortage of nurses and the doctors were doing jobs that the nurses were supposed to do. Patients were waiting out in the hallways on stretchers. Tell us a little bit more about why now and how long this issue has been going on for you and the other nurses there to reach this point?

GONZALEZ: So for nurses at Montefiore in the Bronx we've had a really rough time over the past two years. Our hospital Montefiore has some of the highest volume of COVID patients. That affected us in a lot of ways. And we are still dealing with some of that today. What I mean with that, Pam, is that when COVID happened, we were working short and since then we have been continuing to work short-staffed.

[18:35:10]

That has impacted a lot of people in the industry because when you are working short staff, it's not only unsafe but it's demoralizing. And a lot of us are struggling coming to work every day under these conditions.

BROWN: Right. And that could lead of course to burnout, nurse burnout. Can you give us an example of that?

GONZALEZ: I think burnout is happening to a lot of healthcare workers, it's not just the nurses. And I think that's why it's so important that we're standing up right now. Healthcare workers are struggling with burnout because we don't have the conditions that we need. And you can hear this from everybody from the respiratory therapists, the nursing attendants to the doctors.

BROWN: All right. Michelle Gonzalez, best of luck in your negotiations. Thanks for coming on the show.

Well, now that the House has a speaker it is time for members to get down to business. Will they be able to do that after such a chaotic first week? I'll speak to a Republican strategist for his take, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:15]

BROWN: Tomorrow House Republicans face a big, new hurdle right on the heels of their bruising fight over the speakership. They now have to vote on the rules package that will set the parameters for how this Congress will function over the next two years. If the chaos of last week's 15-round fiasco is any indication Monday's vote won't be a cakewalk either. We'll have to see, though.

Joining us now with more is CNN's senior political commentator Scott Jennings.

Hi, Scott. You watched this play out.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hey, Pam.

BROWN: It was the longest, most combative speaker's battle in more than 160 years. But Steve Scalise, the new majority leader, is one of many Republicans now putting an optimistic spin on it. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): At some point in time there was going to have to be a confrontation about changing the way that Washington works. You know, a lot of us as conservatives have been frustrated with that. This game has got to end. And those were the discussions we've had. And I think that's healthy, by the way, that we took a few days to make sure that we can set up a Congress that can work for the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Scott, do you think the majority of American people view what happened over the past few days as politically healthy?

JENNINGS: I think some of the conservatives do, certainly. I'm sure Democrats think it's a sign of dysfunction. And I think a lot of Americans in the middle were probably watching it all with some amount of amusement but are waiting to see whether the Republicans can actually address the things that they ran on -- inflation, border, and so on and so forth. So to me, that is the real question here is not the -- what it took to get McCarthy into the speaker's office but now that he has it, you know, how do the rules work? And then what's the floor going to look like over the next few months.

BROWN: Right. But I mean, you can learn a lot from watching that fight break out and how the hardliners might be moving forward. Right? You know, did this experience teach the hardliners to govern with their party or did it teach them to fight until they get their way? Right?

JENNINGS: They certainly learned a lot about the word leverage in this fight, I guess. I guess we'll find out when the rules package comes out, what it really looks like. But I think we were always in for a very closely divided Congress. There's only 222 Republicans. And then of course within the Republican Party which was on full display last week there are between six and 20 that at any given time are willing to, you know, take matters into their own hands and buck leadership.

And so I do think there is going to be a lot of tumult. I mean, there are people in Congress for instance who are not going to want to cut defense spending among the Republicans and there are Republicans who are going to want to do that. That's going to be a debate for instance. So I do think we are in for a little bit more must-see TV on the House floor. And we should expect that really for the next couple of years.

BROWN: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is offering McCarthy a spot in the political lifeboat today. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): We look forward to trying to find some reasonable Republicans who are willing to break from the extreme element of their conference to do the business of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Do you think McCarthy will try to work with moderate Democrats?

JENNINGS: No. I don't. And I don't think he needs to at the moment. What he needs to do is try to drive as much cohesiveness among his own conference. Now we'll see how long that lasts. There are debates to come, however, that lend one to believe that there may have to be some bipartisan work done to do the business of the American people when the debt limit comes up in the summer. For instance, you can imagine a world where that has to happen for the debt limit to be raised.

But in the short term, what he has to do is get everybody believing they're on the same team. That's one thing about last week that troubled me was that there are a few people that I don't think necessarily believe they're on the same team as the other 200 or 215 people. And that's troubling if you have folks out there who care more about themselves than they do the team. So to me that's Kevin McCarthy's first task, drive a team mentality among all 222.

BROWN: All right. So before we let you go, I have to ask you, you know, there has been a lot of criticism from Republicans of Biden not visiting the border. Now he has gone there but does it change anything really? Did it make any difference? This is what Republicans have been calling for.

JENNINGS: Yes, long overdue trip in my opinion. But maybe now he'll see what the American people see on CNN and other news outlets every night which is chaos and crisis at the border. And maybe he'll do something about it and maybe, and just maybe, you'll see both parties decide to work together. You know, this is like that long, vexing problem, immigration, but it truly is a humanitarian crisis as well as a national security crisis.

And when you have a problem this big you'd like to think that the president of one party and the Congress of another party could get together and do something. So maybe that will be the start of it. But hope springs eternal and the glass is half full. That's how I choose to look at it tonight. I think this is a long overdue trip.

[18:45:03]

BROWN: All right, Scott Jennings, fellow Kentuckian, nice to see you. Thanks so much.

Well, Kevin McCarthy could face a job much tougher than past speakers. We'll explain the historic challenges he is facing, up next when we run the numbers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, it took Kevin McCarthy 15 tries to get the job as speaker of the House but he could have an even bigger challenge ahead of him. Actually doing the job.

CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten joins us now to run the numbers.

[18:50:01]

So, Harry, if being speaker of the House was a popularity contest, Kevin McCarthy would probably not even be in the running. His favorite building numbers are nothing to sing about. How does he compare to past speakers?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, I brought this up before. I am a huge fan of British politics and I'm reminded of something that Tony Blair once said about his rival, Major, which was essentially these numbers are weak, weak, weak. That's what these numbers are.

Take a look at the net favorability rating, that's favorable minus unfavorable for a potential first-time speakers. Look at Kevin McCarthy. Minus 19 points. That is even weaker than Newt Gingrich back in '94 when he was at minus nine points. The rest of them are in positive territory. You know, Nancy Pelosi at the top of the list at plus 18 points. Republicans always love to run against Nancy Pelosi.

Democrats especially after this week I think they are licking their chops. They can't wait to run against Kevin McCarthy because the fact of the matter is he is an incoming speaker who is just not popular at all.

BROWN: So what does his popularity look like just among members of the Republican Party?

ENTEN: Yes, you know, I think this kind of gets at why Republicans, you know, Republican leaders had such a hard time essentially putting pressure on those Republicans on the right flank to get behind McCarthy. Because look, his net favorability rating is positive, right, plus 30 points. That's good but it's not exactly great, right. You know, again, look at some of these other folks on the list. John Boehner plus 56 points. Nancy Pelosi plus 54 points. Paul Ryan plus 48 points.

This is the type of net favorability rating that you would expect from somebody that, you know, their own voters like but not love. Republicans are perfectly fine with having Kevin McCarthy as their speaker but they weren't exactly going, oh, please let it be Kevin McCarthy. It's more like, OK. This guy can lead the party, sure. OK.

BROWN: And of course he will oversee a very small majority. How does that stack up against past speakers?

ENTEN: Yes. I mean, look at this. How big is a potential first-time speaker majority? Look at this. Of course you obviously need 218 for a majority. Kevin McCarthy's majority at this point is just 222 seats. That is the smallest, the smallest for a first-time speaker since 1931. You have to go all the way back to John Nance Garner, you know, when you're bringing that name up and you're talking about 1931, you're talking about 90 years ago.

This I think is sort of a representation of why it was so difficult for McCarthy to actually win that vote was because all it took was five folks to basically say, on the Republican side, eh, we're going to run out this clock and essentially make everybody's day very, very late and then cast so many votes. It felt like it was never going to end. But I guess 15 was the lucky charm.

BROWN: I guess so. Well, I can't let you go before asking you about your beloved Buffalo Bills. They've been through a lot. Had a huge win, though. But of course after a traumatic experience with Damar Hamlin's injury this weekend, there's a lot of people talking about football. The game has faced a lot of criticism about safety in recent years. Has that affected how many kids play the game?

ENTEN: Yes. I think there were kind of two questions in there. I'm going to first put in a plug for my Buffalo Bills. Today was fantastic. They were able to win by 12 points. It was the first time in about a dozen years in which the kickoff returner had two, not one but two kickoff returns for touchdown. That was amazing. A lot of energy.

In terms of high school sports, not really much of a surprise to me given all the safety concerns since the beginning of the century, essentially 20 years ago, football participation is down 14 percent. It's, still, look, Football is still king but soccer and cross-country are coming up on the heels of football. They have grown in popularity while football with safety concerns for parents are less likely to get their kids to play the game.

BROWN: All right. While we're talking about sports, tomorrow the University of Georgia and TCU will battle for the national championship. Who is the favorite to win?

ENTEN: Georgia. Not much of a surprise here. You know, obviously, we got some folks on CNN including some of the producers in my ear right now who just told me how much time we have left. 70 percent chance to win. TCU at a 30 percent chance. Look, TCU would be the great underdog story. A lot of folks didn't expect them to be here. Georgia of course is the big let's say bulldog in the room you might say. They are the clear favorite. But you know what? It's going to be a fun game. You never know with sports, right, Pam?

BROWN: Who thought TCU would be in the final game, right? You never know. We'll be watching.

ENTEN: You never know.

BROWN: Harry Enten, thanks. Great to see you. Be sure to check out Harry's podcast "Margins of Error," you can find it on your favorite podcast app or at CNN.com/audio.

And still ahead in our 8:00 p.m. hour we're going to break down tomorrow's college football national championship game. Who will win, the dogs or the frogs?

And while members of Congress are sworn in ceremoniously, some may look to the sky and see a bird or a plane, but for one member it could be Superman. We'll explain, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:54:18]

BROWN: Well, once the House chose a speaker, new members of Congress were sworn in. Among them Congressman Robert Garcia of California, and he tweeted that he would later be ceremonially sworn in with a copy of the Constitution, his citizenship certificate, a photo of his parents and a copy of the original Superman comic book.

That's on the right side of your screen. Garcia says comic books helped him learn English as a child after his family immigrated from Peru, and the Library of Congress tells CNN it has agreed to let the congressman borrow its copy. That edition has sold for many millions of dollars in the past.

Well, that's all for now. I will see you again at 8:00 p.m. Eastern tonight for another hour of NEWSROOM. "WHO'S TALKING TO CHRIS WALLACE" is up next.