for representative donalds. again, the total for representative donalds is 12, one of the things that happens when these maga candidates defeat more establishment conservatives like yourself, sir, is this kind of chaos, i think you would argue. >> it is chaos and there are a lot of folks, the never mccarthy folks like chaos. they want the house to be more chaotic. we've seen that. i have a seen that in private and i now the american people are seeing what i witnessed privately over the last ten years, play out in a very public setting. i want to thank you for the birthday gift you just gave me to remind me that my former colleague who beat me voted against kevin mccarthy. but there's something to think about here too. club for growth, david macintosh made a deal last night with mccarthy that i think he and his organization thought would move some of these individuals off of the fence, off of byron donalds and to kevin mccarthy. but we're seeing that's not the

case. people who had their campaigns funded by david macintosh and club for growth are not listening to him. they're not listening to former president trump so do they really have the influence that they think they have? >> yeah, chaos feeds on chaos, happy birthday, congressman. we'll go up to the capitol to manu raju and, manu, tell us about the key meeting of these rebels, of these conservative holeouts happening right now. tell us more. >> reporter: this can be a pivotal meeting. several members we are looking closely to see how they will vote are holed up in emmer's office, a member of the republican leadership. it includes chip roy, scott perry, byron donalds, dan bishop, all people who have not -- three of the four haven't indicated how they may vote on this particular round. i asked byron donalds himself who first had been nominated here in this ballot whether he will vote for himself. he refused to say.

he would not say whether he would vote for himself. you guys have a camera, we can all see it. you all see it when i go to the floor. he is walking in a very -- a rather tense moment that he and emmer walked out of the room and walked back in engaging in talks. scott perry also just left the room. he would not comment about really much about where he is at the moment. chip roy as he was walking into the room i also asked him whether he's willing to vote for mccarthy. he would not say. it is very clear that there are serious discussions right now because mccarthy sees this vote as essential and so in some level of movement, here is chip roy. mr. roy, have you decided you're going to vote for kevin mccarthy right now? have you made -- have you made a decision yet? jake, i don't know if you heard that. but he said that they are having private meetings behind closed

doors and that all we're getting -- i asked him if you heard are you going to vote for kevin mccarthy here, he said, you know, not really a comment other than they're having private meetings behind closed doors and shows you how significant this moment is. the mccarthy team knows they have to get some support back from their side, go from the 20 opponents, maybe they can get down to 17, 18 or 19. some deal they can cut as they've been trying over the last day intensely. but it's not clear if they are they there. they're not committing right now. >> manu, because your connection isn't great, who did you talk to? was that chip roy? >> that was chip roy. >> so chip roy and the reason we're watching chip roy -- thank you, manu. appreciate it. let's talk more with our panel here. the reason we're all watching chip roy is because he is one of the 20 rebels who seems to have an opposition to voting for mccarthy based in wanting to

liberalize democratize the rules of the house. it does not seem particularly personal to kevin mccarthy as much as an overall dissatisfaction with washington. some people would say i'm being generous with my interpretation but that is my view. he seems like he might be the first one that could change his mind, jamie gangle, if mccarthy makes all the changes that apparently he has already made. >> so chip roy has been more than signaling that and he put out there that he had 10 votes with him. we're now at 14 plus 1 so -- >> that one was for donald trump by matt gaetz. >> he doesn't have it. there is chaos in the chaos caucus but i want to turn to kevin mccarthy for a moment. at what point is it up to kevin mccarthy to show leadership and step aside for the sake of the party and for the house and

getting down to business? >> that's a good question for dana bash. >> i mean, listen, people close to mccarthy are saying hour to hour, day to day now that he's not going to do that for a couple of reasons. not the least of which so far is that for all of the people who are saying, never kevin, he's got -- we heard from congressman james 90% of the caucus with him and of that 90% he has a very staunch core group saying, we need you to do this because we need to fight the proxy battle that audie was talking about against this hard core, not necessarily that they love kevin mccarthy. it's not to say that if he can't get the numbers at the end of whatever this nondeadline is, that he won't step aside. but right now he's telling everybody who he talks to that is not happening yet. >> he actually has 95% of the

caucus just doing the math. thank god i have a calculator on my phone, 95% of the caucus. it's this hold-out 5%. >> the truth remains as we're continuing this conversation about what kevin mccarthy does that you can't beat someone with no one, right? so that scalise question is still very much in play, but i've also heard there are concerns that perhaps scalise wouldn't necessarily -- that number of five is very -- it's a very small number really. they could say we're not willing to do this. i think there are jitters about steve scalise have some of the same problems and go back to the drawing board? >> although matt gaetz has said at least in the past he would vote for scalise so there's one there. >> although lauren boebert on msnbc last night told stephanie ruhle that they don't want -- i

don't how many she means -- they don't want anyone in house republican leadership so no elise stefanik, no steve scalise. none of these people who have been worshiping at the alta of donald trump, none of them are maga enough. >> she's not the one who said only. matt rosendale said it from montana talking about it today and would not support scalise. kevin mccarthy, i talked to mick mulvaney. he was on the hill talking to kevin mccarthy himself yesterday. he said his resolve is strong and that he does not believe he is close to withdrawing his name from this race. one thing to also note against that, warren davidson who nominated mccarthy for speaker says he does not think he can get to 218. he nominated him and said if we're never going to get through kevin, everyone can be mad but at some point we have to have a speaker and find someone. i think there's no alternative until there is an alternative when kevin mccarthy makes clear it's not going to happen. >> his resolve to stay a candidate for speaker is strong.

but his resolve is not strong because he is giving up every day things he says he will not give up. the other day said he would not go from five to one. he did. he's negotiating with hostage-takers. so he's alienating both his left and right if those terms even apply anymore. you know, i don't know how to describe it anymore but his own people, yes, they're staying with him because they see the risk of letting the chaos caucus take over, but they're increasingly looking at him saying you had two years to figure out and everything you've done is a miscalculation so far. he said he would sit there for 135 votes and said can we adjourn? this is humiliating. he keeps breaking his own promise to himself and looking at him and saying weak is getter weaker, why take a day? >> warren dividendson told you that this morning? good interview. he's, you know, he is a maga

republican through and through. >> freedom caucus. >> maga republican through and through so we have the neve of kevin. i would call him a meh kevin. he is in favor of kevin mccarthy right now but he's not particularly enthusiastic about it already saying publicly on cnn no less that maybe it's time for somebody else as did kevin buck -- ken buck, the question is how many members of the meh kevin caucus are there because they might be the first ones to blink. >> congressman joyce told you that two days ago, i'm with him but at some point we have to -- >> have to have a speaker. >> swap out of trump lens here for something else. in a way the house freedom caucus, while it's the members have sort of more or less stayed the same, it's more of -- i don't know how to explain it. it's an ideology to itself, not necessarily tied to trump. right? the people who were in the freedom caucus in the beginning and are in it now have a

specific ideology and it is anti-establishment and kevin mccarthy was never in it. so just because he warmed up to trump doesn't mean he had somehow captured that particular group of people. and right now, they have reached a point of a political maturation, seven years into the group where they're trying to maintain the little power that they have. that's why one of their demands would be please don't mess around in the primary process. we have the advantage. such a specific demand that very clearly is a lesson coming out of the midterm. >> it drop the establishment. they're just anti. >> i guess i don't say that because it makes it sound like they're rational. their internal logic if i don't believe in government but small government to the point of it atrophying i'm doing my job by doing what i'm doing. >> we're conflating a little bit the original freedom caucus. look where jim jordan sits in all of this, right? he is about to get a gavel, right? that's one of the things these 200 people supporting mccarthy are saying, they don't want him to give in on that and give any

of these people not voting another gavel. fine with jordan do it. he's been the leading man of the freedom caucus since its inception essentially. >> and geese to show how much things have changed. jim jordan is now mainstream. >> the tactics were learned from him, so this is reaping what you sow in terms of people have this experience of 2014, 2015, the government shutdown, the debt ceiling, this idea that you have the leverage to halt everything. they learned this from someone. they learn this five, six years ago and now mccarthy is trying to wait them out because that's his lesson. >> let's sneak in a quick break. coming up next more cnn special live coverage of the dysfunction ensnaring the u.s. house of representatives. house republicans fighting among themselves over who should lead their new majority. republicans in disarray. stay with us. >> mccarthy. in" day...

mm. ...a "chow down" day... a "take a big bite" day... a "perfectly delicious" day... - mm. [ chuckles ] - ...a "love my new teeth" day. because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. ♪ ♪ - if you're thinking about going back to school this is for you. ♪ ♪

- i ended up spending less money my entire time at snhu than i did in just one year at my other university. - my time at snhu has given me more confidence. now i can go for that promotion. - if you're ready to go back to school, you can do it. southern new hampshire university has changed my life and it can change yours too. - [narrator] visit snhu.edu. wayfair has deals so big that you might get a big head. because with savings so real... you can get your dream sofa for half the price. wayfair. it's always a big deal. ♪ wayfair, you've got just what i need ♪

what makes every stearns & foster so incredibly comfortable? the attention to detail, that combines time honored craftsmanship... ...and luxurious materials... ...for a mattress that feels as good as it looks. for a limited time, save $400 on select stearns & foster mattresses. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... the tightness, stinging... the pain. emerge tremfyant®.

with tremfya®, most people saw 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. the majority of people saw 90% clearer skin even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®. ask your doctor about tremfya® today. ♪limu emu & doug♪ hey, man. nice pace! clearly, you're a safe driver. you could save hundreds for safe driving with liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance... ...so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] whoo! we gotta go again. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty liberty liberty♪ ♪liberty♪

all right, the defiance continues. conservative republicans again denying kevin mccarthy the job he wants which is, of course, speaker of the united states house of representative, welcome back to our special live coverage of congress paralyzed now. right now we are on round seven of a washington standoff between mccarthy and the gop hard-liners. sort of ultra right if you could even call them that. to lauren fox. so, what is happening right now on the floor here is they wrap up the vote which was a fail for mccarthy. >> reporter: yeah, what you're seeing right now is the fact that after this extensive meeting in tom emmer's office you see that byron donalds still voted for himself here.

they are trying to finish up calling this roll. right now there are 19 votes against kevin mccarthy, obviously this is not great news for kevin mccarthy given the fact that that is similar to what we have seen over the last several days and obviously far away from getting him the votes he needs to be the next speaker. erin, we are still waiting to see if scott perry is voting. that is going to be a key vote to watch as well. >> all right, thank you very much. lauren. and david urban, so still waiting on scott perry, chip roy who had not said no to manu raju a few moments ago has been in the heart of these negotiations, still standing by donalds. >> we were just talking here off the air that, you know, the kevin folks are hoping -- >> you are not recorded. you are not recorded. >> donalds. >> donalds. >> there we go. scott perry for donalds so that now peeling off. >> we were talking in the break

about how the kevin folks are seeing somebody vote present or kind of move a little bit. they may not go all the way and vote for kevin but they're kind of moving in the right direction. >> showing -- >> you've heard chip roy and scott perry and byron have been negotiating trying to move things and so if you're kevin mccarthy and the team you want to see some movement today. you want to see if they go to a neutral corner, right, that's a big win for him today. >> part of what we're seeing, frankly is there may not be anything that the other side -- that they want. this 20 wants. part of the rules of negotiation is there has to be something they want from you. >> we talked about it before. maybe they want no kevin mccarthy. i mean that may be what they want. >> or what you said, they've already won. they've already gotten what they wanted this level of chaos. >> i would just say that. i don't think that's the chip roy -- scott pointed out earlier, chip roy is in one part.

boebert and gaetz in another part if. you're chip roy, scott perry, i've heard from the folks on the mccarthy team those three are trying -- they're trying to get to yes. >> they're behind closed doors, scott is walking in to cast his vote. didn't say no to manu. said they're still behind closed doors then went in and voted for donalds as did perry and donalds. >> they're still talking. what's not clear is what else can kevin mccarthy give to these guys? i mean, there's a lot of concessions made already. you would hope they could get to a place where the roy faction could come over. that would show positive movement. that still does not solve the ga ga ga gaetzes and goods and boeberts. once you solve the roy piece the best you could hope for get them to vote present but they seem -- >> here's my question -- >> to lauren fox now that they

wrapped up the vote. you didn't see anybody moving back over to mccarthy. what else are you hearing, lauren? >> reporter: that is really the key issue right now. you had so many of mccarthy's allies really hoping that those concessions that he made last night, major changes to the rues would make a difference today. obviously what we are seeing after these meetings and these concessions is the fact that things remain at a stalemate and the question now is, if there's going to be secret that can move this down the line. do they need something in writeing? do they need to have something in order to ensure these promises are good on paper or are they actually just going to be always against kevin mccarthy? and i think that is something we are still seeking the answer on. our hill team watching very closely. >> i mean, this vote -- i mean this vote obviously matters a lot, but no one changed here and i think that that is what is so important about what just happened. >> yeah, no, i was going to ask

these guys, do you think -- i mean it seems to me that whoever comes -- if mccarthy goes, it's not like this group is going to say, okay, we're giving back everything we were offered. so in a sense the next person is just going to be in the same bind as mccarthy. >> who is the next person? jake pointed out that lauren boebert was on msnbc last night. she said scalise was not acceptable. in fact, she said no one in leadership is acceptable and so who is the next -- >> that's her. that doesn't mean all five would take the same position. >> my point is at some point you get to a place where there are no alternatives except, you know, twilight zone type scenarios. >> you have ro khanna saying i'll do fitzpatrick. it's their world but possible you're doing -- >> byron is a great guy.

good friend and i just don't think democrats will go there. they've already said it publicly. they're not going to join with republicans. you won't see -- it happened in pennsylvania, we just had this happen. and it's a positive step but i don't see that happening here. it would be good for america but i don't think -- >> it's hard to see it happening, however, if we're still sitting here next week in the same position, some 10 more votes having been lost and these other names, scalise and others having not been able to get the number of votes -- >> there's no incentive for democrats. >> the incentive democrats generally believe in government. >> yes. >> and they may want to get on with governing and, you know, this is an untenable situation. i enjoy all your company, but we can't keep meeting like this. >> you'd have to negotiate out in advance. you have to say if you're fit patrick, i'll be pro-raising the debt ceiling. >> oh, they will very have to make concessions. >> you have to make concessions

to the democrats. here's what we'll do. you meet in another back room and say i'll work with you guys, we'll do this and have kind of a coalition government for lack of a better phrase. >> but then -- >> they could do it. >> if that were to happen and -- >> cats and dogs sleeping together. >> and then you have some sort of i guess from a governing perspective success, that's from a pure political perspective bad for democrats because they don't want that republican to look good. >> it would be a coalition government. >> gives democrat the opportunity to do what joe biden said yesterday, with our leadership we were able to bring together a coalition government. we were able to get some things done. >> what it doesn't do is solve the civil war within the republican party and it will enrage elements of the republican party and you'll see that play out in primaries across the country, so, you know, fitzpatrick has a district that allows him to play that role, not all -- not all republicans do. >> and this is just a result of the election we just saw, the midterms where you had this

incredibly -- you had really conservative members running these districts and then winning a primary and then losing a general. so now you're seeing that played out on the floor of the house, right, the folks that won, a lot of these who won say, look, i got elected. damn the torpedo, full speed ahead. i got elected and this is my platform and they're not even responsive to the president who helped put them there. >> where do you understand that republicans are here in leadership about the sort of plan b, plan c, not talking about mccarthy. he's where he is. but how many plan b, plan c, plan ds are there even out there? >> i don't think there are any. i think there is mass frustration among 200 people that they're being held up here and even among that 200 if kevin mccarthy is not your favorite person in the world now at this point you just don't want the other faction, the tiny faction that's holding up 200 people to win and so i actually think everybody has been wondering if people are going to start peeling away from mccarthy. i think there are people who do

not want to give this five or this 20 the satisfaction of having won this round. >> which is why if you go away you don't go to the next steve scalise. it seems like you are going into the holy cow, we never thought we'd be there. scott perry tweeted. he's been in serious negotiations behind closed doors. are you ready for this. a deal is all caps not done. when confidences are betrayed and leaks are directed it's even more difficult to trust. totally unsat. >> unsatisfied. >> i will not yield to the status quo. that's not a working with you email. >> that's the problem. >> the goalpost never stopped moving. the goalpost never stopped moving. at some point you have to take yes for an answer. that doesn't sound like he's ready. >> by the way, at some point the american people are going to dasher they're going to get tired of the spectacle which is entertaining in a way and they're going to say, holy smokes, like nothing is

happening. i can't get my stuff processed by my congress ago office. i can't -- you know, there will be consequences of this and that pressure, it may not force those 20 to move, but it sure could force the 200 to move who actually care about, you know, governing. >> all right, well, the same 20 conservative hold-outs rejecting kevin mccarthy again and as you can see from the tweet i read, someone they thought they could peel off not going in that direction so the house remains without a speaker. our special coverage returns in a moment. ye cough. later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? hashtag still not coughing?! mucinex dm gives you 12 hours of relief from chest congestion and any type of cough, day or night. mucinex dm. it's comeback season.

we got the house! you did! pods handles the driving. pack at your pace. store your things until you're ready. then we deliver to your new home - across town or across the country. pods, your personal moving and storage team. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis... the tightness, stinging... the pain. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®, most people saw 90% clearer skin at 16 weeks. the majority of people saw 90% clearer skin even at 5 years. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. emerge tremfyant®. with tremfya®... ask your doctor about tremfya® today. if your business kept on employees through the pandemic, getrefunds.com can see if it may qualify for a payroll tax refund

of up to $26,000 per employee. all it takes is eight minutes to get started. then work with professionals to assist your business with its forms and submit the application. go to getrefunds.com to learn more. hey, i just got a text from my sister. you remember rick, her neighbor? sure, he's the 76-year-old guy who still runs marathons, right? sadly, not anymore. wow. so sudden. um, we're not about to have the "we need life insurance" conversation again, are we? no, we're having the "we're getting coverage so we don't have to worry about it" conversation. so you're calling about the $9.95 a month plan -from colonial penn? -i am. we put it off long enough. we are getting that $9.95 plan, today. (jonathan) is it time for you to call about the $9.95 plan?

i'm jonathan from colonial penn life insurance company. sometimes we just need a reminder not to take today for granted. if you're age 50 to 85, you can get guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance starting at just $9.95 a month. there are no health questions so you can't be turned down for any health reason. the $9.95 plan is colonial penn's number one most popular whole life plan. options start at just $9.95 a month. that's less than 35 cents a day. your rate can never go up. it's locked in for life. call today for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, so call now. (soft music) ♪ hello, colonial penn? one prilosec otc each morning blocks heartburn all day and all night.

prilosec otc reduces excess acid for 24 hours, blocking heartburn before it starts. one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. any minute we're expecting a medical update on a remarkable recovery, damar hamlin, of the buffalo bills is now awake, we're told. we're waiting on a press conference at the university of cincinnati medical center where the buffalo bill player has been hospitalized since having his card quack arrest and collapsing in the first quarter of that buffalo bills/cincinnati bengals game. we will bring that to you live when it begins. the other dramatic story this hour, of course, republican leader kevin mccarthy's ambition colliding with republican resistance, a seventh straight vote in the house, once again ending with no speaker, no

movement in either direction towards or away from kevin mccarthy among republicans, one of the republican hard-liners just tweeting, quote, a deal is not done. let's go straight to cnn's manu raju on capitol hill for us. manu, so are we going to ballot number eight or might they adjourn and negotiate further? >> reporter: that is really the key question here, jake. the republican leaders want to adjourn. they don't want to have this vote but as you can see right there, this is a really remarkable angle here. this is kevin mccarthy talking to andrew clyde, one of his detractors in what appears to be an animated conversation on the house floor as they are trying to go member by member to try to get the votes in order for him to become speaker. those votes have not changed. 20 votes against him. he could ask to cut it down to four and i've been spending this

vote outside of a meeting going on in the first floor of the capitol, tom emmer who is the number three republican and the incoming republican majority is having a meeting with several hold-out, chip roy, scott perry as well as dan bishop and byron donalds himself. as they have come in and out of that room other than scott perry they have been pretty tight-lipped. chip roy, none of them voted for kevin mccarthy on this seventh ballot but chip roy would not comment if he thought he was going to vote for mccarthy and byron donalds, i asked multiple times how long will you continue this bid for speaker or will you back off? he got 19 votes in this go round. he would not say how long he would continue this endeavor. scott perry has been sharply critical. he put out a tweet decrying the leaks, apparent reference to our reporting from last night breaking the news about the concessions that kevin mccarthy had offered this group of members, but it appears those concessions have not gone far enough. i asked perry about them.

he said they need to push to make sure congress works better. if we did not have this narrow majority we would not have the leverage we need to make these changes, so they are pushing for more changes but even if they get scott perry and chip roy and byron donalds, it is unclear if they can get those other -- mccarthy can get those other members in order to secure the speakership so we'll see what they died to do right now. it seems unlikely they have the votes to adjourn the house. they didn't have it at the beginning. they may not have it at this vote so may be going to an eighth ballot. 100 years ago, the last time we went to multiple ballots went to nine ballots so we could be seeing and we could exceed that today if they continue to vote here and mccarthy does not have the votes and clearly still struggling to get there, jake. >> do we have that angle of kevin mccarthy still talking to congressman andrew clyde? congressman clyde, the only georgia republican opposing mccarthy's bid so this is not a delegation opposition, it is

just him on his own. let's go over to melanie zanona. melanie, mccarthy allies have been willing to concede quite a bit in these negotiations. but they seem to be drawing a pretty clear line on one issue, tell us about that. >> reporter: you're right, mccarthy's allies have been pretty much willing to swallow every single concession he's made even though they don't like the demands he's given in to but one area is committee gavels and subcommittee gavels for some of the critics and hold-outs. we're told that has been in the mix as part of the negotiations, nothing is final yet, but i talked to two republicans who serve on the gop steering panel. this is the committee that awards committee assignments and committee gavels and those lawmakers said if mccarthy were to make a promise that awarded a committee or -- >> i need to interrupt. i apologize. straight to cincinnati right now. university of cincinnati medical center. listen in to the press conference about damar hamlin of the buffalo bills. >> -- incredible physicians with us today, dr. william knight, a.

knight iv is a professor in the department of emergency medicine at the college of medicine here. dr. knight is also the lead physician for the cincinnati team of unaffiliated neurotrauma consultants. visiting team medical liaisons and emergency medical services support including on-field paramedic, airway management physicians and respiratory therapists. dr. timothy pritz serves as a professor in the department of surgery at the university of cincinnati college of medicine and the division chief of general surgery. i'm going to hand our beginning comments over to dr. pritz so he can begin to share the current medical condition of damar hamlin. dr. pritts. >> good afternoon, everybody. greetings from the university of cincinnati medical center.

our privilege to meet with you and dr. knight and i are representing the many, many individuals and teams that have helped care for mr. hamlin since the on-field event on monday night. we would like to share that there has been substantial improvement in his condition over the past 24 hours. we had significant concern about him after the injury and after the event that happened on the field, but he is making substantial progress. as of this morning, he is beginning to awaken and it appears that his neurological condition and function is intact. we are very proud to report that. very happy for him and for his family and for the buffalo bills organization. he is making improvement. he continues to be critically ill and continues to undergo intensive care in our surgical and trauma icu. he is being cared for by icu

neurosurgery, i'm sorry, ne neurocritical care teams, trauma surgery and a cardiology team as well as our expert nurses and respiratory therapists. they are attending to him and he still has significant progress that he needs to make, but this marks a really good turning point in his ongoing care. >> we are happy to entertain some questions and i believe representatives from the buffalo bills are going to help facilitate those for us. >> 31 question. >> yeah, we can't see the chat, but -- >> dr. pritts and dr. knight -- >> -- will be first. >> dr. pritts, dr. knight, this is cameron wolf with nfl network. really appreciate you spending time with us and sharing updates

here. if possible can you take us through the time line from when damar arrived in your care to where we are now as far as what you guys did with his recovery and where that progress in specific is? >> do that with the person who just posted the last question. >> come through clearly there? >> nope. can you try again? >> yes, apologies. first of all, appreciate you dr. pritts and dr. knight for your time and your care in this situation. this is cameron wolf with nfl network. wanted to inquire if you can take us through the time line from when damar came into your care and to where he is now as far as what you guys have done to get him to this significant improvement stage? >> sure.

and thanks for being here today. what i can tell you is our team involved significant number of care team involved in helping with mr. hamlin on the field on monday night. he was attended to by four of our emergency physicians serving in the various roles as the airway physician, the visiting team medical liaison, a ne neurotrauma consultant as well as one of the team physicians for the cincinnati bengals. as everybody knows mr. hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest on the feel and was promptly recognized by the buffalo bills medical staff and that allowed for a very immediate resuscitation on the field. he was promptly resuscitated. it did require cpr and defibrillation and was met by dr. pritts and the trauma team as well as our emergency

medicine colleagues. he was managed and resuscitated and worked up in the emergency department, had some additional tests in the e.d. and in the hospital and has been managed in the surgical icu as dr. pritts said. it's been a long and difficult road for the last three days. he has been very sick and has made a fairly remarkable recovery and improvement to the point as tim noted he is now demonstrating that sign of good neurologic recovery as well as overall clinical improvement as has been previously reported related to not just his vital signs but a lot of his other individual organ recovery. >> doctor, this is thad brown from wroc television in rochester. thank you very much for your time and all the work that you've done with this. can you speak at all to the

cause of what happened? what caused the cardiac arrest and i think specifically was it simply the actions that happened on the field or was there something existing that, you know, made mr. hamlin i guess something that might be susceptible to this happening? >> the answer to that is that that workup is ongoing. we do not have definitive answers as to the etiology of the arrest and tests will continue to be ongoing as he continues to progress. >> thank you very much. >> hi, dr. knight, dr. pritts, as everybody has said, thank you for everything that you guys have done. i know you briefly mentioned it to cameron's question about what the time line is but can you guys go into a little more detail or explain how critical those first moments were on the field to ultimately get him to this point and what the doctors and the medical staff from the bills and bengals were able to accomplish in that period? >> sure, i think it just speaks

really to the immediate recognition that there was something significantly and seriously wrong by the bills medical staff. tim and i speak together, we cannot credit their team enough. they're often unfortunately there are injuries occasionally that happens on sports fields, be it football or others, but it is incredibly rare to have something be this serious that happens like that and to be that quickly recognized, what they did was immediately marshal the emergency action plan that prompted the airway physician and emergency physician that was out on the field to be at his bedside in less than a minute. he had a prompt recognition of loss of pulse, which gave him immediate bystander cpr which as all many of you know rarely if ever happens so the fact that mr. hamlin had immia bystander cpr in addition to prompt recognition of his

arrhythmia to get defib bring la -- defib bring lated and back to return of circulation speaks to the time line you were asking about to get the spontaneous circulation with immediate bystander cpr that was performed well, all meeting the standard of what we would expect in that scenario led us to discuss these good out comes today. >> i'll second that. you know, the bills training staff who was with him immediately recognized that this was not a run-of-the-mill injury and that they had a significant event on their hands and immediately responded and got the emergency response team involved in his care. and really this was -- went as well as something like this could go under very challenging circumstances. and they did a fantastic job. which is why we're here today. >> and understanding how complicated of a situation this ultimately is, would it be fair

to say if things would have taken a few extra minutes or maybe even a few extra seconds there could have been a different outcome here. >> i think that's fair to say. >> yeah. >> all right, thank you both for everything you guys have done and for the time today. >> this is jon scott from spectrum news in buffalo. you mentioned there are signs of neurological intact -- what have been those signs that you have seen from him that give you the reasoning to make that assessment? >> we are in the situation where we wanted to allow him to gradually wake up as the rest of his body was healing and last night he was able to emerge and follow commands and even ask who had won the game. >> and time linewise, i'm sure you don't necessarily deal with these events regularly but how common is it from monday night to now for that sort of improvement to be made?

>> the answer to that is it's variable. we do manage post-cardiac arrest patients routinely as part of critical care in all of our icus and it's variable but it speaks to his age, his incredible fitness and then again i don't think we could emphasize enough the immediate medical response, the fact that he had highly trained professionals from the buffalo bills in addition to having paramedics, emergency physicians, respiratory therapists all right at his bedside in less than a minute from the collapse, that speaks to that ability that demonstrates that he had good perfusion to his brain that led to no identifiable neurologic deficit. >> thank you so much. >> dr. pritts, i just want to follow up on something you said. that damar spoke last night. can you speak to that? >> i can clarify. he did not speak. he was able to communicate in writing and he is unable to

speak with us yet as he still has a breathing tube in and we are still assisting him with ventilation. so the, you know, when he was communicating with us last night and again today that's been in writing. and to paraphrase one of our partners, you know, when he asked did we win, the answer is, yes, you know, damar, you won. you've won the game of life and that's probably the most important thing out of this and we really need to keep him in the center of everything else that's going on and we really want to ensure a good outcome for him. >> hi, this is todd nikes here in cincinnati, doctor, again, i know so many people are just so grateful for the work that you've done, the work on the feel and so forth. i was fascinated, i think so many of us were to learn about the protocols the nfl has in place, the 60-minute meeting and so forth when the chief medical officer talked about that yesterday and the question was asked a bit earlier but i'll

circle back, had there not been one thing in that protocol that would not have been in place, whether it was equipment or might not have worked or a personnel or so forth, what would that one thing have been that could have led to a more, you know, tragic outcome because i think we're all realizing that the nfl does a lot of preplanning for these kinds of situations? i'm curious to get your take on that. >> i'm not sure there is one thing. i think that really speaking and emphasizing to that team approach that if you see those pictures and that video of the congregation of the team, you had bills professional, bengals professionals, independent physicians, but we have all the right equipment. there's all the ems equipment, airway equipment, advanced cardiac life support equipment, the ability to do cpr, the ability to defib brillate is

there. we had several of my partners that were -- that were teammates that were partners that were helping to resuscitate mr. hamlin. and you have those scenarios where people know each other and train together. there's not a lot of speaking that needs to happen. they know how to work. they know how to integrate no different than when dr. pritts and i are working in the trauma bay and that helps with that overall management. was there one thing or is there one thing that if absent, would have led to a poor outcome, i can't say that there was any one thing because it really is the entire global spectrum of care from the minute he collapsed until the ongoing care he's receiving right now in the icu. >> thank you. >> hi, this is katherine fitzgerald from "the buffalo news." thanks for all of this clarity and everything you're doing. i was wondering if you could just add a bit more context on what next steps will look like for recovery for damar. you mentioned how his health puts him in a good position but just from a human standpoint

just kind of what is the process like from here for him? >> yeah, from our -- a great question and there are many, many steps still ahead of him. from our exchange point we would like to see him continue to improve. to be completely breathing on his own and then to be u. to be discharged from the hospital. those are the immediate next steps. his family has been with him at his bedside as have members of the buffalo bills organization since this began and we really want to get him home to them and so those will the immediate next steps and then we'll talk about, you know, potential plans for the future. >> yeah. >> hey, guys, it is liz bonus from the krct cincinnati, and so great to talk to you for the

first time and you have made such a difference showcasing the city and the great medical care here. i have heard that he had to be trached on the field, and if you can comment on that and as a result some lung challenges. i also wondered, kind of from here, what about the physical constraints now? do you fully expect him to walk and talk, and the brain function is good as you have talked about, but what about the rest? >> i can answer the first question, liz, he was not trached on the field. he was intubated on what i would deem a textbook resuscitation on the field from the immediate bystander cpr and defibrillation and then transport to the hospital. it is critical to do that at the scene where the cardiac arrest is and that portends the best recovery. there was no trach or airway

other than the tracheal tube that he has. as for the long-term recovery, we are focussed on the right now. he has a little ways to go in terms of the liberation from the ventilator and i believe that is the focus right now in terms of helping him to recover, liberate and continue to get stronger and rehabilitate, but it is entirely too early to project into the future. >> so, is there any reason that you don't expect him to make a full recovery? >> again, more focusing on the right now, but i don't have any reason to expect or not expect anything in the future based on what is going on right now. >> and last thing, lots of people are praying for you guys, and they have wondered if you have felt it? >> yeah, we have. it has been powerful. we have been surrounded by a great, and i think that we keep using the word team in that by dr. pritts and i getting to know the amazing family and organization of in a matter of 48 hours having friends and

family of the hugs and the tears that have been already shed by the progress that has been made, but then looking outside and i have to look over my left shoulder, and i can see the vigils and the posters and the well wishers and the food showing up for the hospitals and the support for the family and the emergency department and the surgical icu team, and the support for the family, and demar's family has been great and here for the entire stay, and have we felt it? yeah. it does not take long to look outside and see the blue and red and the support of the city of cincinnati and the support of the fans and the people concerned. and so, yes, it has been very powerful. >> does demar know it, too? >> he is learning it today. >> learning it today. >> excellent. thank you, guys. >> hi, guys, this is colby harvey from espn, and echoing everyone else, and thank you so much for taking this opportunity to talk to us.

i actually have two questions, and i wanted to piggyback on the last point. you have mentioned that there is a level of communication with demar writing. i am curious as to what you are able to see that he's understanding or processing what all has happened to him in the last couple of days? >> yeah, we have discussed, you know, with him what happened, and he is not quite to the point where we can have a conversation, because he has a breathing tube in, an able to communicate with yeses and nos by communicating with brief notes, and he has been surprised that he was not with the world for two days, and, you know, we have talked to him about all of the support given from cincinnati, buffalo and really across the country for him and his family during this time. his mom and dad have talked to him about what has happened, and it is expected to have ongoing conversations with him. again, the first, you know, the first question when he wrote

when he started to awaken is did we win, so we know that it is not only that the lights are on, but he is home, and appears that all of the cylinders are firing in the brain, which is greatly gratifying for all of us and the nurses and the respiratory therapists and the care team at the side for his family and everybody else beyond. >> and the last question is what comes next? what are you all looking to see next as you begin to go forward with his recovery? >> well, we want to see him continue to breathe more on his own, and we want to see him breathing completely on his own, and that is the next big milestone for him. >> thank you, guys, so much. >> doctors, adam kilgore with t "the washington post." at this stage what would you project to be the best case scenario for demar's ultimate

return to function? >> i think that, i mean, what is the best? the best is to get him at the way he was 8:00 monday evening, and complete neurologically intact, strong, good lung function, and no cardiac dysfunction with his heart, and the best outcome is back to who he was before all of this happened. >> thank you. >> hi, this is jacqueline howard from cnn and thank you so much for taking my question, and thank you for all of the work that you guys are doing. i have some questions about the chain of events and what happened. we are curious if he had a second resuscitation at the hospital, and then how long was the defibrillator use and the total minutes of cpr and lastly, can you confirm if he is moving his hands and feet at this time.

thank you. >> i will start in reverse. he is moving his hands and feet, and again, he appears to be neurologically intact to both our exam and neurology exams. so s, he appears to be doing we. he received one defibrillation and cpr on the field. he did not receive a second defibrillation or cpr once he was in the ambulance or at the hosp hospital. >> doctors, thank you for doing this. to clarify something that was said, the best is to get him back to the way he was prior to the injury, and does that mean that the door is open for him to play professional football again and then in the more immediate term, what's the reasonable amount of time to suspect that he will remain in intensive care and in the hospital as a whole? >> i think that the answer to

the first question about his future in professional football is that it is entirely too early to have that conversation. he is critically ill in the icu and our view is to get him on the road to recovery, and it is truly too early to have that conversation, and i already forgot the second question. i apologize. >> the real next steps are to allow him to get better, and we are focused on the day-to-day, and then we will talk about next steps after that. >> this is tom puckett from wben930 radio in buffalo, and i know that you answered chris' question about the time frame for demar hamlin's return to pro football, but how much post hospitalization and physical therapy and the likes will he need before he gets clearance to

return to football? >> yeah, that is a very good question, and this is a very, and it is really individualized to each person, and that process of recovery, rehabilitation starts to really engage and involve physical therapist, and rehab physicians in terms are what are his needs. he was incredibly sick in the icu and we expect that as he continues to recover, we will see what sequilla there is or is not from there. okay. we are going to break away from the press conference that we have been listening to for some time from the university of cincinnati medical center where the doctors were giving an

update on demar hamlin who is the buffalo bill's safety who received a cardiac arrest that was shocking, but the doctors had good news about the substantial improvement that they were significantly concerned after he was brought in. the neurological condition and fitness are intact, they said, although obviously a lot more has to happen before they can come to any long-term conclusions. let's bring in the chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta, and can you give us the headlines that you heard from your medical point of view? >> yes, those are the headlines, jake. 2 1/2 days roughly since the injury and the cardiac arrest, and that is a substantial amount of improvement that they are describing not only in terms of the overall status, but also as you are pointing out the neurological status in