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CNN This Morning
House of Representatives Fails to Elect Speaker after 11 Votes; Father of One of the University of Idaho Victims in Courtroom During Arraignment of Suspect Bryan Kohberger; Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) Interviewed on Kevin McCarthy's Continuing Efforts to Become Next House Speaker; McCarthy's Bid For Speaker Fails For 11th Time Amid GOP Revolt; NFL Will Not Resume Bills-Bengals Game After Hamlin's Injury. Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired January 06, 2023 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[08:00:00]
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: But to see the descent from America's mayor. And one of the things, the principles he advanced, one of the ideas I love was he said to be locked into partisan politics doesn't permit you to think clearly. And I think a large part of the descent of Rudy Giuliani into the election ire is about being locked into participated politics and not thinking clearly.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It's like two different people. And you know what, I was Donna Hanover Giuliani's producer at Channel 5.
AVLON: You would produce stories for her?
LEMON: Yes.
AVLON: We'll talk more about that.
(LAUGHTER)
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: A trip down memory lane for you. John, thank you very much. And you guys, everyone is not going to want to miss this. New CNN original series, "Giuliani, What Happened to America's Mayor," premieres Sunday, this Sunday, back-to-back episodes start at 9:00 p.m. eastern only right here. CNN this morning continues now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long do you think this is going to drag out for at this point?
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: I would love to know, but we're working through it and we're making progress today. So we'll continue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're three days into this. This is the longest since the 1850s.
MCCARTHY: Well, I have the longest speech on the floor, so apparently I like to make history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So it's another round, but the question is, is it the last call for Kevin McCarthy? Good morning, everyone. Kaitlan live in Washington, D.C. at Capitol Hill once again.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: This is becoming my new home. I miss you guys. Do I still have a chair in the studio, or did you guys get rid of it?
HARLOW: Bring Kaitlan's chair back. She's coming back on Monday. I swear if you're not here, we're coming there.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: Yes, it's remarkable. Day four of the speaker's election. Don, as you see just what's playing out here.
LEMON: It certainly is. The House will be on their 12th vote when they reconvene in just a few hours. McCarthy has failed on the previous 11. Somehow, he says he sees some progress, but is there still a path to become speaker?
Plus, this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to definitely look this guy and look him in his eyes. He's going to have to deal with this. And he has been dealing with this for seven weeks. It's not about to end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The father of one of the four murders Idaho college students speaking out as new evidence reveals how police tied the suspect to the killings.
HARLOW: Also, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin showing dramatic signs of improvement just days after he suffered that cardiac arrest on the field. Great news to share on that front.
LEMON: We'll get back to all the chaos in Washington in just moments. But first, this morning, we are learning chilling new details about the murders of the four college students in Idaho. The arrest affidavit links 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger to DNA found on a tan leather knife sheath that was on the bed of one of the victims. And phone records place Kohberger near the house of the four victims on at least 12 different occasions prior to the murders. The affidavit stating, quote, "All of these occasions except for one occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days."
And CNN's John Miller has learned that a surveillance operation that led to the arrest of the suspect who was seen placing garbage bags into neighbors' bins. Our very own Jim Sciutto spoke to the father of 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves. Here's what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF IDAHO VICTIM KAYLEE GONCALVES: You read the affidavit, and you just find out that nobody understands exactly why, but he was stalking them. He was hunting them. He was just a person looking for an opportunity and just happened to be in that house. And it's hard to take. She had her phone right next to her and she couldn't call 911. So these were just girls who went to sleep that night, and a coward, a hunter that went out, and he picked his little opponent that was girls. Probably why the house was targeted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: So for some perspective now, we go straight to CNN anchor and chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. Jim, hello to you. This was the first time the father came face-to-face with the alleged killer. What else did he say about that moment?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, first, I would start, I have been speaking to Steve for a number of weeks here. Here's a father who lost his daughter. I'm a father, I have a daughter. And whenever I speak to him, I can't imagine the pain he's going through. And it is real, real pain, and you hear it in his voice and the emotion.
I will say, I noticed something different in speaking to him this time in that now that there is a suspect, I sensed resolve, right. And he said that directly to me. He said that this killer picked the wrong family to wrestle with. And they're going to fight back now. He sees a path towards justice here. But of course, this is still a family that is deeply, deeply wounded, going through the loss of their child.
[08:05:00]
I will say, when I spoke to them, I had a number of questions for him given the affidavit is out, now we know the trail of evidence that led to Kohberger now as a suspect. I asked him what it was like for him to be in the courtroom with Kohberger yesterday, and have a listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF IDAHO VICTIM KAYLEE GONCALVES: I was pretty angry. I was pretty heated. I wanted him to look me in the eye. He knows I want him to look me in the eye. So he's -- he didn't. He didn't give me that opportunity. But I feel like he's scared to look at me in the eyes and start to understand what's about to happen to him. He picked the wrong family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: He didn't look him in the eyes, Kohberger would not look Steve in the eyes in that courtroom here. The other thing I'll just note, Don, in the earlier piece of the interview you played there, he was describing, one thing we learned in the affidavit was that one of the surviving roommates had an encounter or saw the killer in black, she said, wearing a mask, the other roommate said. And then froze, in effect. She said she was petrified. Understandably, these are young people. Petrified to do something in the wake of that. Just so many layers to this case. We're going to continue to be on it, we're going to play a lot more of the interview when we're on the air at 9:00.
LEMON: Fascinating and heart-wrenching interview. Jim Sciutto, thank you so much. Poppy?
HARLOW: Kevin McCarthy is just a few hours from a fourth day of voting in this record-breaking, historic -- I guess it's not a full record, but the first time in 164 years in this race to be House speaker. The California Republican claims he is confident that he can still win what has become the longest race for the speaker's gavel since 1859, again, 164 years ago. Will the next vote be different than the first 11?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No persons having received a majority of the whole number of votes cast by surname, a speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
A speaker has not been elected.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Eleven times. McCarthy is defending a laundry list of concessions in his quest to become speaker while acknowledging there is no timetable for a solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: No, no, I'm not putting any timeline on it. I just think we've got some progress going on. We've got members talking. I think we've got a little movement, so we'll see.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: Joining us now to talk about everything that has happened, all the failed votes, is Republican Congressman David Valadao of California. He is one of only two Republicans who is returning to Congress out of the 10 who voted to impeach former President Trump. He is supporting Kevin McCarthy's bid for House speaker. Is that still the case? You're still voting for Kevin today?
REP. DAVID VALADAO, (R-CA) SUPPORTS MCCARTHY'S BID FOR SPEAKER: Nothing has changed on that. And I would say the vast majority of us, nothing has changed on that either.
COLLINS: Is there any threshold of your limit of how many votes you'll cast for McCarthy?
VALADAO: No, because ultimately, I don't believe this is just about Kevin McCarthy. Some of these folks are trying to change the whole structure of how this place works. And I understand people at home are frustrated with the way this place works, but you want members with experience that know how to work with colleagues who know how to legislate to work their way up. And what they're trying to do right now is basically bypass the process, weaken the average member, and put themselves in a position where the speaker has no power. And so a consensus candidate or any other situation is basically putting no person will want to be speaker or have the ability to be speaker, an effective speaker. They'll be a figurehead who will just take the fall whenever they gets mad.
COLLINS: But if everything was resolved right now and they took the deal that Kevin McCarthy offered them, wouldn't he be weakening himself as speaker with the concessions he's given them?
VALADAO: And we haven't seen the specific details, so I'm hopeful that sometime this morning we get a chance to actually read into them. But from what I'm hearing, there is a lot of work around there that still gives him a lot of flexibility to be able to be an effective leader.
COLLINS: You still think the concessions he's offered so far, he will still be a powerful speaker.
VALADAO: I still think he has the ability to be effective. Powerful and effective, I think, are two very different things. I don't know if we necessarily want someone who is powerful person in any position here in Congress, but we want people to be effective and have the tool necessary to pass legislation to get the things done that they need to do.
COLLINS: He's had these 11 failed votes. Where is his mindset? Is he still committed to this do you think?
VALADAO: Absolutely. I had a conversation with him on the floor yesterday. He's absolutely committed. And even in the closed-door meeting I had with him and about 60 or 70 votes, the vast majority are here, if it's one vote or if it's 1,000 votes, we're there for him.
[08:10:01] COLLINS: And you have said that they are pushing for McCarthy because the concern is that if there is an alternative to him that emerges, we've talked about Steve Scalise, we've talked about these other names, that person you believe would also still face the same standard that these hardliners are putting on Kevin McCarthy.
VALADAO: Absolutely. As far as if it's Kevin McCarthy or if it's someone else, what they're asking for is basically to weaken the average member. And they say the opposite in public, but the reality is they're trying to put themselves in a position where they have more power than the average member. And we don't agree with that. And obviously, if it's not Kevin McCarthy, the next person that would jump up in line, if it's Steve Scalise or whoever a consensus candidate would be, is going to have to agree to these same types of terms. And we just don't like that.
COLLINS: Are there are conversations happening among Republicans that you have spoken to about a consensus candidate or about asking Kevin McCarthy to bow out of the race?
VALADAO: No, that's not happened. I've not had that conversation.
COLLINS: So you haven't heard from Republicans who would like him to bow out?
VALADAO: There's Republicans who are frustrated with the situation, but they also understand what's going on. They understand if it's not McCarthy, whoever the next person in line is going to face these same types of issues and dilemmas and have to fight for the same issues. And I don't think there's anyone better for that role right now than Kevin McCarthy to fight and try to negotiate some sort of compromise here.
COLLINS: And you're kind of remarkable because you were here when everything happened to John Boehner. Did you ever think you would see that happen again?
VALADAO: I would hope it wouldn't, but no. I don't think this is going to change. There are members that come from areas where their constituents appreciate this and want this type of action. And sadly, it's going to be part of our process for a while. So I think we just have to come to a compromise that accommodates everyone.
COLLINS: How difficult do you think governor is going to be with this group of 20 hardliners and a slim majority?
VALADAO: I think the slim majority is going to be a more difficult issue than the hardliners, personally. They're going to have needs as well for their districts. They also got have to also produce for their constituents, and their constituents expect them to effective. And for them to be able to do that, they're going to have to negotiate not just with the speaker but they have to pass bills off the House floor. And there's a group of members right now that are watching what they're doing to the Congress, and probably aren't going to be very happy with them and aren't going to be very easy to work with over the next two years. COLLINS: Congressman, you have got a call coming up this morning,
right, with other Republicans?
VALADAO: That's the hope. I haven't seen the schedule yet, but I have been told that we'll be getting a call sometime today.
COLLINS: OK, we'll be staying in touch. You've got a busy day ahead you. Thank you for taking time to join us this morning.
VALADAO: Thank you.
COLLINS: Don, Poppy, as you hear there, we're just a few hours away. He says They're committed to McCarthy because, of course, the concern is that whoever is after McCarthy, if there was an alternative, that they would still also face basically the same standards and the same demands that Kevin McCarthy is facing.
LEMON: Kaitlan, I'm just exhausted, and I think that I speak for everybody --
HARLOW: You're exhausted? She's working on the --
LEMON: I said I speak for everybody, especially Kaitlan, but especially the people. It is literally "Groundhog's Day." I can't even watch it anymore. I have moved to Netflix.
HARLOW: I will always watch you.
LEMON: Not her. She's not there saying, I nominate this person because --
HARLOW: I am counting how many more times we can say "remarkable" or "historic." Kaitlan, what do you think?
COLLINS: It's quite a few. And I have been talking to some of these Republicans. They're up late at night having these closed-door discussions talking about this. They're talking about it late into the night. They still have a lot of questions about what is being said behind closed doors, though, and what concessions are being made as well, something that you should note.
LEMON: This is our text chain last night between the anchors, Kaitlan and I.
HARLOW: Why are you spilling our beans?
LEMON: Because I'm spilling the bean, you were like, you may have to go on early if they go late into the night. We're like, no, make them adjourn, Kaitlan.
(LAUGHTER)
HARLOW: Send Kaitlan home to New York for some clothes. But you look great. I don't know where your clothes come from.
All right, we've to get to break. Kaitlan, thank you. LEMON: Please, please, that's all we're hearing now. Next, CNN's
Chris Wallace is going to weigh in on this chaos, right.
HARLOW: We are also -- we have good news. There he is.
LEMON: Hi, Chris.
HARLOW: We have good news for you this morning on Damar Hamlin.
LEMON: Finally, right.
HARLOW: A teammate of the Buffalo Bills safety who has made remarkable progress after suffering cardiac arrest during the game, Hamlin even asking his doctors, this is amazing, by the way, this is what he asks when he wakes up, if the Bills won.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he asked, did we win, the answer is yes, Damar, you won. You won the game of life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:15:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): So, in just a few hours, the House will be back in session after Republicans failed to elect a new House speaker 11 times since Tuesday. 20 Republican holdouts have been voting against Kevin McCarthy, though the two sides have been negotiating since last night. The session was adjourned. I don't know if the progress is but I don't know maybe Chris Wallace has some insight. I think, yes.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): He knows all.
LEMON: Chris, you know all. So, Chris, what do you know about this? Do you know -- do you have any inside scoop any information on what's happening?
CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): I think the most interesting thing I've read is that some of the McCarthy people are getting understandably fed off and they basically have yet got a path to 218 or don't have a path. And they were calling for a meeting of the caucus today where he would explain the situation and also explain all the giveaways he's given to those 19 or 20 oppositionists.
And McCarthy didn't agree to a meeting in person. He agreed to a call. And that's what you heard Kaitlan talking to Congressman Valadao about, which of course is much easier to control. And they haven't even officially announced the call yet. So, I think the natives are getting restless in the sense that they're beginning to say -- you know, they got real lives and they're doing this over and over and over again, 11 votes they're in today, and I think some of them are getting frustrated.
LEMON: But here's the thing though. If he gives away too much, he stands to lose -- he could lose the support that he has from the 200 or so people who are already voting for him.
WALLACE: Absolutely.
LEMON: That's the issue.
WALLACE: No, no, he set some balancing act --
LEMON: Yes.
WALLACE: He's got to give away the store, but not in such a way that his 200 supporters say, no, that's enough.
LEMON: Yes.
WALLACE: And then there's another question which is, of course, if he drops out, and let's say, Steve Scalise --
HARLOW: Be in the Hill.
WALLACE: And many people think as the number two would then move up, does he have to abide by the deal that McCarthy made or can he say, hey, we're starting from scratch guys?
HARLOW: Is Kevin McCarthy going to be the next speaker?
WALLACE: We wouldn't bet the farm on it today, would you?
HARLOW: Would you bet much on it?
WALLACE: No.
LEMON: No.
WALLACE: No, I wouldn't. it -- look, it --is it kind to happen? Yes. Is there a possibility of a deal? You know, but I am struck by two things, so far, how resolute the opposition is have been, that twenty -- those 20 people who continue despite a lot of concessions on the part of McCarthy, but also by how firm the pro-McCarthy vote has been, the 200. At a --at a certain point, somebody has got to give. Either the opposition is going to break or the support is going to break. If I had to bet right now, I think the supporters going to run.
[08:20:09]
LEMON: I'm looking --
HARLOW: Isn't that amazing?
WALLACE: Am I boring you? I mean you're reading you --
LEMON: No. The reason I'm doing this is because I'm just -- you know -- HARLOW: It happens to me every day.
LEMON: You're not boring me. This is a method to my madness, so I just --
WALLACE: OK.
LEMON: Did a cursory glance through the post.
WALLACE: Yes.
LEMON: And I've gone through you know 14, 15 pages so far, I have not seen Donald Trump mentioned once here, right? And it used to be the paper who loved him. I held up yesterday The New Yorker magazine it was a party of one, him sitting at a dinner table by himself. He said you know, put a vote on Truth Social, vote for Kevin, everybody, do your thing, and whatever. And nobody abided by it.
WALLACE: NO, it's -- that's been striking too in this.
LEMON: So, his influenced -- he still is influenced but waning.
WALLACE: Absolutely. I mean, Lauren Boebert who has been a total Trump supporter, basically went out the floor you know, at this point, I forget whether it was yesterday or the day before, and said, you're my favorite president, Mr. Trump, but you're wrong about Kevin McCarthy and he needs to step down. That's it. That's a tell when suddenly some of the ultra MAGA congresspeople, you know who would have been totally supportive of Trump including, you know, we should call today what it is, a day of infamy --
HARLOW: Yes.
WALLACE: January 6.
HARLOW: Yes.
WALLACE: I mean the day of the insurrection two years ago when people who backed him through all of that are saying no, voting for Kevin McCarthy is a bridge too far.
LEMON: But then Gaetz nominated him and he only got one vote.
HARLOW: Yes. I've been like --
WALLACE: I kind of understand that.
HARLOW: All right. Wait, OK, I want to --
WALLACE: I wouldn't read too much of that.
HARLOW: I want to get to something that's not going to --
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: You know, you're like over that -- you want to watch Netflix instead of Netflix --
WALLACE: Yes.
LEMON: No.
HARLOW: Instead of Netflix, I think --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: (INAUDIBLE)
HARLOW: Of how much? I'm joking.
WALLACE: Yes. Do you know that on HBO Max right now --
HARLOW: Yes, watch.
WALLACE: You can watch who's "TALKING TO CHRIS WALLACE," we have two great interviews that are dropping today, James Cameron about avatar, which is --
HARLOW: Let's start -- can we start and then play this great clip from James Cameron?
WALLACE: You're going to play -- sure, OK. Yes, you can play a clip from my show. OK.
HARLOW: It's great. I want people to see it. Watch this, folks.
WALLACE: Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CAMERON, DIRECTOR, AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER: It looks like just with the momentum that the film has now that will easily pass or break even in the next few days, actually. So, it looks like I can't wiggle out of this. I'm going to have to do these other -- these other sequels.
And I'm sure that we'll have a discussion soon, you know, with the -- with the top folks at Disney about, you know, the game plan going forward for Avatar three, which is already in the can, we've already captured and photographed the whole film. And then Avatar four and five are both written. We even have some of four in the can. So, you know, I think we can see that -- I think we've begun a franchise at this point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: You know, what's interesting about it is -- in which way I wanted to interview James Cameron after the movie came out rather than before, is because it's become a business story. He says he needs to make somewhere between one and a half billion which is he already made, which is more than Top Gun: Maverick. And 2 billion for it to turn a profit and for Disney to say go ahead with three, four, and five which go all the way out to play 2028, he's there. He is -- he said that you can see as a franchise and then wait, there's more, Don.
LEMON: Wait, there's more.
WALLACE: Yes. Hugh Jackman.
LEMON: Yes.
WALLACE: Who is -- you know, super talented. That's not Hugh Jackman.
LEMON: But he can --
WALLACE: He could do that.
LEMON: He can actually play that role. Yes.
WALLACE: He's could ride that mythical animal. He's got a great movie out called The Son. He's nominated for a Golden Globe Award next Tuesday. And he's also just finishing up music man, and we're going to have a great season. We've got Andy Cohen, we've got Ina Garten, Jane Fonda, Bryan Cranston.
HARLOW: Do you cook with Ina Garten?
WALLACE: No. I don't. And in fact, I asked her to bring food and I was told no, it's too complicated.
HARLOW: I would just want to see Chris Wallace in the kitchen.
LEMON: (INAUDIBLE)
WALLACE: I do. Look, I will say this.
HARLOW: Yes.
WALLACE: I -- My specialty is scrambled eggs and I make the best eggs and the scrambled eggs. And they -- and the key to scrambled eggs --
HARLOW: Yes, what?
WALLACE: -- Is you can't over cock them. They got to be a little bit runny, a little bit soft, and you know not hard on congealed.
LEMON: No.
WALLACE: No?
LEMON: I think I disagree. I like my egg scrambled hard.
WALLACE: Hard?
LEMON: Yes.
WALLACE: No, no, no, they need to be runny.
LEMON: All right.
HARLOW: The control room really wants us to continue talking.
WALLACE: Yes, all right. You know what? Some time, you and I --
LEMON: We have an egg scrambling contest.
WALLACE: We'll have an egg go off.
LEMON: All right. By the way, I saw The Son.
HARLOW: Is it good?
LEMON: The Hugh Jackman movie. It's fantastic.
WALLACE: It's -- and you know, he is fantastic --
LEMON: He's fantastic, yes.
WALLACE: But forget Netflix, HBO Max, and then, of course, on Sunday night at 7:00 p.m., we have the best of those.
LEMON: Yes.
WALLACE: So, because sometimes I find you got to watch it twice or three times to get the full subtext.
LEMON: Yes.
HARLOW: Good salesman.
LEMON: Thank you.
HARLOW: Bring the eggs next time, Ok?
LEMON: Thanks, Chris Wallace.
HARLOW: All right, Chris.
LEMON: Who's talking to Chris Wallace? We are right now. But who saw on Sunday, "WHO'S TALKING TO CHRIS WALLACE" returns for a new season Sunday night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
HARLOW: Next. You're going to want to see this. What we're learning about the man who saved Damar Hamlin's life moments after he collapsed on the field?
LEMON: And this morning's number is 415 million. I know what that is. Harry Enten is here to explain.
[08:25:03]
HARLOW: I don't know -- I don't know what it is. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HARLOW: So, officially, it's official. The NFL has canceled the week 17 game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals which leads us to CNN's senior data reporter Harry Enten with this morning's number. Good morning.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER (on camera): Good morning.
HARLOW: What is it?
ENTEN: What is this morning's number is $415 million. That's the weekly revenue generated by NFL games. I should note that's a conservative estimate based off of last season's data. It's from ticket sales, TV ad sales, and gambling revenue. So, the idea that they might have canceled this week's games, there was a lot of money that was on the line. And the NFL is a huge business and it's becoming an even bigger business. So, the NFL is becoming more profitable.
Taking into account inflation. The average franchise worth is up to $4.5 billion. That is all the way up from 20 years ago when it was just $869 million. And give you an idea of how much the TV stations are making. The Superbowl ad revenue, in 2022, it was five -- about $500 million.
HARLOW: Yes.
ENTEN: That's up from $214 million back in.
