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CNN Live Event/Special
Jordan Does Not Appear to Have Votes for Speaker. Aired 12:30- 1p ET
Aired October 18, 2023 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': -- They do not have a functioning majority. Full stop. This is 15 days in and there is no speaker who has the power to do really basic things like, I don't know, fund the government, give the aide that the president is asking for. Let's listen to some of the other votes coming up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jackson of Texas?
REP. RONNY JACKSON (R-TX): Jim Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Jackson Lee?
REP. JACKSON LEE (D-TX): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Jacobs?
REP. SARA JACOBS (D-CA): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. James?
REP. JOHN JAMES (R-MI): Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Miller-Meeks.
REP. DAVE JOYCE (R-OH): Candice Miller, Michigan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Candice Miller of Michigan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The House come to order. The clerk will continue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jayapal?
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Jeffries?
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Johnson of Georgia?
REP. HANK JOHNSON (D-GA): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Johnson of Louisiana?
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Johnson of Ohio?
REP. BILL JOHNSON (R-OH): Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Johnson of South Dakota?
REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Jordan?
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): Jordan.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Joyce of Ohio?
REP. JOYCE BEATTY (D-OH): Jim Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Joyce of Pennsylvania?
REP. JOHN JOYCE (R-PA): Jim Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Kamlager-Dove?
REP. SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE (D-CA): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Kaptur?
REP. MARCY KAPTUR (D-OH): (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: So, we just heard two significant votes, Republican votes. The first is John James, Republican from Michigan, who yesterday voted for Tom Cole, not for Jim Jordan. The hope inside the Jordan camp that -- was that he would change and vote for Jim Jordan. He did not. He voted for Candice Miller- Meeks. So just a completely different Republican. And then Dave Joyce -- Dave Joyce is the Republican who is pretty openly trying to coordinate this notion of giving Patrick McHenry, the temporary speaker, more power.
But in this particular vote, where they are right now, he said he would vote for Jim Jordan. He cast his vote for Jim Jordan. I want to bring in Manu Raju to talk about what we have seen so far. Manu, what does that tell you as we see this chess game going on with the votes that are taken and the conversations happening behind the scenes?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Very bad news for Jim Jordan with Congressman James not voting for him. That had been -- yesterday, we had spoken to him after the voting. He said he was open to supporting Jordan on the second ballot. That did not happen here. He's going in the wrong direction right now, losing two additional Republican votes and counting as Republicans are starting to grapple about what to do next.
I have had several conversations in the hall over the last several minutes with some Republicans, supporters of Jordan. They say if he continues to go in wrong direction, in the aftermath of this voter, they don't think he can continue on with the speakership bid. There is one congressman Pat Fallon, I just spoke to, said we need to go behind closed doors. We need to have another conference meeting and try to hash out what's going to happen. Let's look to see what the final vote is. But if it's worse than it was yesterday, let's figure out a new step.
Another Congressman Jodey Arrington of Texas said something similar. If it's going in the wrong direction, we have to figure out what to do. Arrington has been floated among a number of other Republicans as a potential speaker candidate himself. I asked Arrington if he would consider running for speaker. He didn't want to entertain that question. All he said was I want Jordan to win. Let's see what happens here. If it doesn't happen, then let's talk about it. Clearly, leaving the option open on the table, showing some interest among -- showing that there are several Republicans who could put (ph) their hat in the ring if Jordan ultimately falters.
Another Congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin has been pushed by some Republicans to consider a bid for the speakership. I just asked him if he would be open to running. He said flatly he is not. So, he made clear he does not want to run for the speaker of the House.
[12:35:00]
So, you're getting some -- there is just this moment, Dana, just so much confusion, so much division about what the next steps are, even the idea of empowering Patrick McHenry has caused such division within the Republican conference.
Meaning Democrats would have to support that idea for it to succeed, but other Republicans could put their hat in the ring if Jordan goes down. But if Jordan continues to lose votes, he will lose support from even his key backers in the GOP conference who say this cannot continue on. We got to figure out another plan because Jordan clearly here doesn't have the votes. It's unclear if he ever will at this point, Dana.
BASH: It's very unclear. Though he did just get somebody he didn't get yesterday, Doug LaMalfa of California just voted for Jordan. You are talking about Mike Lawler of New York. Let's listen in and see how he will vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lee of California.
REP. BARBARA LEE, (D) CALIFORNIA: Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Lee of Florida?
REP. LAUREL LEE, (R) FLORIDA: Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Lee of Nevada?
REP. SUSIE LEE, (D) NEVADA: Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Lee of Pennsylvania?
REP. SUMMER LEE, (D) PENNSYLVANIA: Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Leger Fernandez?
REP. TERESA ISABEL LEGER FERNANDEZ, (D) NEW MEXICO: Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Lesko?
REP. DEBRA LESKO, (R) ARIZONA: Jim Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Letlow?
REP. JULIA LETLOW, (R) LOUISIANA: Jim Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Levin?
REP. MIKE LEVIN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Lieu?
REP. TED LIEU, (D) CALIFORNIA: Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Lofgren?
REP. ZOE LOFGREN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Loudermilk?
REP. BARRY LOUDERMILK, (R) GEORGIA: Jim Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Lucas?
REP. FRANK LUCAS, (R) OKLAHOMA: (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): OK. So as of now, Jim Jordan has picked up one vote from yesterday, Congressman LaMalfa, and lost two votes, Congressman Ferguson and Buchanan. So he's still doing worse today than he did yesterday. Nia- Malika Henderson, again I have to note for people out there watching this that none of this is normal. We are in the middle of a speaker race -- I don't know, what month is this? October?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): October, yeah.
TAPPER (voice-over): It's October. This is not -- the fact that we haven't had a speaker of the House for two weeks is not normal. The fact that we're having a speaker race when there is not anybody in that room that has 217 votes is not normal. And it's all rather bizarre.
HENDERSON (voice-over): Yes.
TAPPER (voice-over): Go ahead.
HENDERSON (voice-over): This is chaotic. It's dysfunction on display for the American people. It's inaction, things need to happen out of this body. It's a chaotic world. There are deadlines in terms of funding the government, and there is just no work getting done. Things are at a standstill. And listen, this is in some ways a result of a lot of the things that Jim Jordan has done throughout his tenure in the House. And now, we see in some ways the chickens coming home to roost for him. Sowing discord, sowing dysfunction. And so, today, we see him doing worse than he did yesterday. It isn't likely that he's going to start picking up any more votes. I guess he picked up one or two.
TAPPER (voice-over): Net one.
HENDERSON (voice-over): Net one, net one.
TAPPER (voice-over): No, he lost net one.
HENDERSON (voice-over): He lost net one. So, yeah. I mean, I think everyone sort of knew at the beginning of the day that this is how it would go. People sort of knew this last night. There is a lot of distrust towards Jim Jordan. There's a lot of anger towards him for the way he's treated fellow members, including Scalise in many ways. And so, you see people are voting for Scalise, people are voting for McCarthy and others because there isn't a lot of good feeling towards Jim Jordan. When this will be resolved, we'll see -- we'll see if this sort of plan B to empower Patrick McHenry actually works.
TAPPER (voice-over): And this statement just came in from Former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who people probably remember for a testimony, from Trump voter from 2016, who was wounded during the January 6th attack. And just issued a statement saying, Jim Jordan is an insurrectionist who has no place in being second-in-line to the presidency. I witnessed the deadly assault on our democracy with my own eyes, which is why it absolutely disgusts me that the extreme Republicans could choose an insurrectionist, an election denier as their leader. Someone who knew about January 6 ahead of time, yet did nothing to stop it. This is a very dark time for our democracy and should serve as a wakeup call to all Americans that we can never take our democracy for granted. That's from, again, former police officer Michael Fanone. Jamie Gangel?
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two things, just we really are sort of in the silly season with some of this. Congressman Mike Kelly voted for Former Speaker Boehner.
[12:40:00]
(LAUGH)
GANGEL (voice-over): So, this is -- there's a lot of--
HENDERSON (voice-over): I don't think he wants the job.
GANGEL (voice-over): (Inaudible).
TAPPER (voice-over): I'm sorry to interrupt, but Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa just flipped to Congresswoman Granger in her voter. So Jim Jordan has now lost a net of two. He is three new no voter, with the combination of a pick up of LaMalfa, that's a net of two that he has lost, again, doing worse today than he did yesterday. I'm sorry, Jamie, please continue.
GANGEL (voice-over): Two things just to echo what Mike Fanone said, let's remember what Congressman Buck said yesterday here. There are people who simply can't vote for an election denier. It seems to be common sense. But as we said yesterday, there's very few of them. But there's no question, there are new Republicans who is are emboldened today and it's going in the other direction.
Also, I just want to bring up Kevin McCarthy one more time. Yes, he supported Jordan. Yes, he endorsed him. Yes, he told people to vote for him, but I'm going to invoke the -- I think the gentleman doth protest too much. I don't think Kevin McCarthy, from when I talked to Republican sources, is so sorry to hear this happen to Jim Jordan.
(LAUGH)
Let's remember that Kevin McCarthy is still using the speaker's office. His name is still above the door. And if he can't be speaker, I'm not sure he really cared certainly with Scalise now with Jordan.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR (voice-over): Presumably, he's still using that office space because Patrick McHenry is letting him who is apparently in charge of the office base.
GANGEL (voice-over): Unlike Nancy Pelosi.
CHALIAN (voice-over): --in the Capitol right now. But, we know McHenry is one of his closes allies. The point about McCarthy though is, not only does he have his beef with Jim Jordan -- remember, McCarthy tried to be speaker in 2015 when John Boehner was pushed out and that was unsuccessful. Boehner was -- Jim Jordan was part of that effort to keep Kevin McCarthy from the speakership. But I will -- I would just note, Kevin McCarthy is also on a mission to constantly show, as he says every time to Manu in the hallway between breaks, that the eight members who ousted him have created this. And so, while he may not want Jordan in the job, he also is sort of OK with this display of chaos as a reminder to his fellow Republicans about how they got there -- here.
GANGEL (voice-over): And then there's the question of how you get out of this. Given that gang of eight, and I think Jordan is saying, OK, guys, you want a coalition government, I'm going to dare you to do that and have Republicans vote with Democrats to do that.
KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (voice-over): And I was just struck to see, I mean that was a voter for Jeffries. But Nancy Pelosi is sitting right across the aisle from Hakeem Jeffries and they just shook hands with each other--
GANGEL (voice-over): Yeah.
HUNT (voice-over): --in a show of solidarity. Remember the role they played in ousting Kevin McCarthy. They decided not to help him because they wanted to hold out to see what they could get out of it, and it looks like they may be on track to get more out of it.
TAPPER (voice-over): But you know, the other thing about this that's interesting that I was struck by when I saw Pelosi reach across the aisle and extend a hand of friendship and support to Hakeem Jeffries is, it has been a trope, a cliche in this town to talk about Democrats in disarray.
HUNT (voice-over): Yes.
TAPPER (voice-over): And we noted how much Democrats are in array in the last couple weeks. But, their transfer -- their generational transfer of power from their octogenarians Pelosi and Hoyer and Clyburn to this new generation was seamless, without any at least public (inaudible), just everything was like, OK, now these guys are just going to do their jobs. They all stayed in office, but they are not -- they have given up their leadership. And these other three came about. There was very little drama, if any, publicly at least and that was it.
CHALIAN (voice-over): That was so important, Jake, to Nancy Pelosi. She organized with Hoyer because that was not always like a--
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT (voice-over): Yeah, that's right.
CHALIAN (voice-over): And it was flawless. Again, who knows what they did behind the scenes, but it was flawless and this -- what we're watching now, the Republicans, is a mess.
HENDERSON (voice-over): Listen, the new leadership team on the Democratic side looks like America, right? You have an African- American, a Latino, you have a white woman. And so, you hear sort of the cheers there -- go ahead, Jake.
TAPPER (voice-over): I apologize. I just want to listen to Congressman Rutherford coming from Florida. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roy?
REP. CHIP ROY, (R) TEXAS: Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Ruiz?
REP. RAUL RUIZ, (D) CALIFORNIA: Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Ruppersberger?
[12:45:00]
REP. DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER, (D) MARYLAND: Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Rutherford?
REP. JOHN RUTHERFORD, (R) FLORIDA: Scalise.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scalise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): So, that's 19 votes for Jim Jordan, who is obviously not going to win the speakership on this ballot, unless of course there's a mad dash to flip votes.
(LAUGH)
I'm being told by--
HUNT (voice-over): Which there won't be.
TAPPER (voice-over): --people to leave that caveat in.
(LAUGH)
HUNT (voice-over): Right.
TAPPER (voice-over): But in any case, Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. Lauren, I don't know why Congressman Jordan would ask for a second round of public beatings, but he has done so. What comes after this?
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I spoke with Jim Jordan repeatedly this morning and the last thing that he told reporters is that if he did not succeed on this second ballot, his expectation and his hope, what he asked Republican leadership to do, is to try and put forward that resolution to empower Patrick McHenry because it's something that Jim Jordan is opposed to, but he wants to sort of put the pressure on Republican members to decide what they want to do. Now, we have heard from repeated sources that we expect that at some point, there will be a resolution introduced to empower Patrick McHenry, and likely that it would come after Jim Jordan had failed to get the speakership. But it's really interesting because Jim Jordan is really trying to cast this as a clear black-and-white decision between either giving him the gavel or what he's calling a coalition government. And that is essentially meaning he believes that if Republicans join with Democrats to empower Patrick McHenry, even for a short period of time, that that is not what Republican voters sent Republicans, the majority, to do. His argument is that that would be a problem. His argument is that that is nor Republican leadership. But obviously, he does not have the support.
So, we're going to be watching closely on the floor what happens in the moments after this ballot. But Jim Jordan told us earlier he wanted this resolution to come to the floor. He wants to put Republican members in the position of having to decide whether or not they are supporting a temporary empowerment of Patrick McHenry, which he thinks is a coalition government, or whether they are going to back him. We should also note though that if this resolution is introduced, Republican leaders have two days, two legislative days to bring it up. So it's very unclear -- very unclear what he would do.
TAPPER (voice-over): So thank you, Lauren. While Lauren was giving us the latest, Congressman Jordan lost another vote. I believe that we heard from Congressman Mike Simpson from Idaho voting for Steve Scalise. Again, a lot of Scalise allies really upset at the way Scalise in their view did not get a fair shake. Let's listen for Indiana's Congresswoman Victoria Spartz coming up in one vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spanberger?
REP. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Spartz?
REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ, (RIN): (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spartz. Stansbury?
REP. MELANIE STANSBURY, (D-NM): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Stanton?
REP. GREG STANTON, (D-AZ): Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Stauber?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): So in any case, as of right now, Jordan has tied his poor performance yesterday and the only thing left to see is if it gets even worse, and I believe it will. Because I think there's at least two or three Nos coming up, if not more. Gloria?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I was just going to follow up on what Lauren was saying because I think it's so important about what comes next here. And I think the reason Jordan is saying, OK, let's do that resolution is because he wants to test Republicans on whether they want to form what he calls a coalition government with the Democrats and see which -- put his Republicans -- put pressure on his Republicans to say those moderates perhaps, yeah, I want to share power.
And he is presenting this as power sharing, which it wouldn't be. It would just be a short-term thing where you could start getting the business of the House done. But I think the choice that he wants to make is, do you want to keep it as a Republican majority or do you want to let those Democrats have a hand in running the government and running the House even though they didn't win the majority, or would you rather go for a Republican speaker? So, he's trying to make that choice a little difficult and very stark for members of his own party.
[12:50:00]
TAPPER (voice-over): So Congressman Pete Stauber of Minnesota flipped. He voted for Jordan last time. This time, he voted for Westerman. That's an Arkansas congressman. So yeah, he's going to do worse this time. Kasie, the masochism of this is odd.
(LAUGH)
HUNT (voice-over): Yes, I feel like you're harping on this theme, Jake.
(LAUGH)
I don't necessarily disagree with you. I mean, I think that--
TAPPER (voice-over): I mean, Scalise did not bring it to the floor for a vote. He was the speaker designate.
HUNT (voice-over): Yep.
TAPPER (voice-over): And he purposely did not bring it to the floor for a vote because he didn't have the votes. I mean, say what you will about Steve Scalise, and there's plenty to say, he did not subject himself to this public embarrassment.
HUNT (voice-over): Yeah. I mean, part of me was actually surprised that Scalise didn't try that before he decided that he was going to get out of the race. But I think that says a lot more about the differences in character between Scalise and Jordan. I mean, this is much more of Jordan's way, right, to kind of force a showdown, right, and be public about it, be kind of nasty about it behind the scenes. You know, I think that this really does show you the degree to which your relationships matter in this town. They matter in all of our lives.
And at the bottom of it, it's less this way nowadays, it's much more naturally driven, it is much more driven from the outside. But, this kind of thing is about who your friends are and who they aren't, and Jim Jordan honestly is reaping what he sowed in the role that he has played in the conference here. You know, that's not to say -- I mean, who knows, maybe he'll keep forcing people to do this over and over and over again, and again another unpredictable outcome will show us he eventually becomes speaker of the house. But I think we're sitting here struggling to see what that path is like right now.
HENDERSON (voice-over): Yeah. And he thought the Trump factor would matter. He thought that would put the fear in the hearts of some of these folks who didn't like him, that Sean Hannity's involvement, that the grassroots would make these people essentially bow down and support Jordan, somebody they didn't really like. That didn't happen. It actually pushed people further away from his column. It really made people angry. And you had people who actually liked Jordan like Dan Crenshaw saying that kind of tactic, that kind of bullying tactic -- I think he said it to you, Jake.
TAPPER (voice-over): Yeah.
HENDERSON (voice-over): --was a stupid idea. And so, we see the results of it here today.
HUNT (voice-over): I'm reminded of the famous John Boehner saying, a leader without followers is just a man out for a walk.
HENDERSON (voice-over): Right.
HUNT (voice-over): I think Jordan probably -- you know, he conducted himself for the vast majority of his congressional career as somebody who didn't want to be in the -- to lead the crowd. He wanted to be outside of it. He wanted to cause problems.
TAPPER (voice-over): Let's listen in because Arkansas's Steve Womack who voted for Scalise last time is coming up. And I anticipate he's not going to vote for Jim Jordan again. And then we're close to the end anyway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Wittman?
REP. ROB WITTMAN (R-VA): (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Womack?
REP. STEVE WOMACK (R-AR): (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Scalise. Yakym?
REP. RUDY YAKYM (R-IN): Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Zinke?
REP. RYAN ZINKE, (R-MT): Jim Jordan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan.
(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER (voice-over): OK. So there we go. He was -- he lost 20 of his fellow House Republicans, Congressman Jordan, yesterday. And as we did the math, we noted that he lost an additional three today, picked up one. So we said it was a net loss of two. And indeed, you see on the board there, Scalise got seven, McCarthy got five, others got ten. That's a net loss of 22. The math checks out.
CHALIAN (voice-over): It does.
TAPPER (voice-over): Even though that wasn't my strong suit in high school or college.
(LAUGH)
That's 22 Nos and again, as we anticipated, Congressman Jim Jordan did worse on this ballot. And the desire for why Jim Jordan called for this vote remains a mystery to me. If he calls for a third ballot, I anticipate he'll probably do even worse on that one. What's going to happen, David?
CHALIAN(voice-over): Well, now, he has crossed the threshold. Unlike yesterday, he now has a deeper hole. He has more Nos than Kevin McCarthy ever had in 15 rounds of trying to become -- and successfully becoming speaker back in January. As you noted, Jake, he's going in the wrong direction.
[12:55:00]
It would be hard to imagine, he can hope the psychology of the floor is going to somehow change going forward.
TAPPER (voice-over): Yeah, here are the people who didn't vote before. We're still waiting for Victoria Spartz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Spartz?
REP. VICTORIA SPARTZ, (R-IN): Jordan.
(APPLAUSE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan. Tlaib?
REP. RASHIDA TLAIB, (D-MI): Hakeem Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries. Trone?
REP. DAVID TRONE, (D-MD): Jeffries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jeffries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER (voice-over): OK. So some good news in the loose change there. Victoria Spartz did flip, but that's still 22 votes against Jim Jordan from House Republicans. By the way, not for nothing, look at Hakeem Jeffries there on the top there with 212 votes.
(LAUGH)
HUNT (voice-over): Yeah.
TAPPER (voice-over): Closer to the speakership than he has ever been.
(LAUGH)
But still close but no cigar. In any case, David Chalian, Jim Jordan farther away from the speakership than he was yesterday. He had 200 votes yesterday. Today, he has 199 and he had 20 votes against him yesterday. Today, he has 22 votes against him today. You know, I don't know really what's going on with the House Republican Caucus, but I feel like I can safely predict that Congressman Jordan is not on the path to the speakership.
CHALIAN (voice-over): Certainly not on the path, and I'm not one big for predictions, Jake, but I would imagine, if he were to go to the floor for a third time, he would have more no votes come here because a part of what we were talking before, not that goodwill built up in the conference the way, frankly, Kevin McCarthy had.
HUNT (voice-over): Yeah.
CHALIAN (voice-over): At the beginning, even though it took him 15 rounds, part of what got him there was that he was largely responsible for getting a lot of those members into their seats over the many years. That's not something -- that's not a chit Jim Jordan has. And I just want to note something, you mentioned Congressman Jeffries at 212. Total unanimity among the Democrats. We were talking about Pelosi before, I'm not sure that she would have totaled -- we saw her, when she became speaker, she actually lost the last time she became speaker, 15 Democratic votes. Like, she was more of a firebrand even within her own party, as people were saying (ph). That is not -- Hakeem Jeffries has not been sort of framed successfully in that way by Republicans yet in the (inaudible) that they think there is any danger in being totally unified behind their leader here. You were talking about the generation, the torch passing, that's one benefit of the torch passing here perhaps.
TAPPER (voice-over): Yeah. One House -- one former House Republican just texted me. This is as bad for Matt Gaetz as it is for Jim Jordan. Gaetz would have been celebrated by the base. Now, even the base will turn on him because of the chaos he has created. Although, I don't know. Kasie--
(CROSSTALK)
Some in the base -- some in the base love chaos.
HUNT (voice-over): Yeah.
TAPPER (voice-over): Dana Bash, I'm going to throw it to you.
BASH: To say some in the base love chaos is may be the understatement of the day, and that says a lot. Right, Jake? Thank you so much. We actually have a former member here, Charlie Dent, and as you watch this, you probably call yourself a former squishy House Republican, meaning you are --
CHARLIE DENT, (R) FORMER UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: I know bedwetter squish --
BASH: OK. Pick your term. Knowing your former colleagues as you do, what does happen now?
DENT: Look, there's -- they're clearly very frustrated and angry. I think they're exhausted. They want to move on. So the question is, when does Dave Joyce or some other member make a motion to empower Patrick McHenry? That's the real question.
BASH: Yeah.
DENT: And then do Democrats help in that effort. But I think they're beyond exhausted. Some of these no votes are very dug in. Steve Womack isn't going to change. Kay Granger is not going to change. (Inaudible) Drew Ferguson, a chief -- the former chief deputy WHIP, he just flipped. I mean, Vern Buchanan, total team player, he has flipped. So, I'm not sure -- I don't see a path for Jordan. There's no wisdom in the game (inaudible) third or the fourth.
BASH: Well, except that we talked yesterday about the fact that it is his brand to keep fighting. We said that question, whether there would be a second vote. Now there was a second vote, and he did worse. He lost net two. So yesterday he lost 20. Today he lost 22. One of the questions that we have been asking is whether, once they gavel this vote, whether David Joyce of Ohio would try to offer a --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
