a scramble in congress with no speaker in the house. republicans need to pick a new leader and quickly as the chamber is paralyzed until a new leader is chosen. what we're learning about who is vying for the powerful position. leaving court and unleashing new insults. former president trump is still slamming the judge overseeing his civil fraud trial in new york and the state's attorney general, this as he heads back home to florida. sending seized weapons into a war zone. cnn has exclusive reporting on where the u.s. will transfer millions of iranian ammunition and weapons and why the biden administration spent months weighing whether it was even legal. we're following these stories and many more all coming in

right here to "cnn news central." right now republican candidates seeking to be the next house speaker are facing a divided conference. more moderate republican members are calling for a change to the powerful tool that matt gaetz used to oust kevin mccarthy. currently the rule allows for a single republican member to offer up a resolution that would remove the speaker. now a growing course of moderates say they don't want that chaos seen on the house floor yesterday to happen again. let's take you live to capitol hill with cnn's manu raju. so far two republicans have officially thrown their names up for consideration, steve scalise and jim jordan. what are they saying about some of the most divisive issues they'll need to deal with almost right away if they become speaker. >> reporter: right now they're trying to say they can unify

this badly divided congress, culminating in the historic note yesterday. unprecedented removal of the house speaker by his own colleagues after kevin mccarthy lost his job after seeing eight republicans break ranks, vote with democrats, to push him out of office. now those members, jim jordan who chairs the house judiciary committee and also steve ska lease who is now the number two republican in the conference contending they can try to bridge the divide within the conference between one of the more moderate members, the mccarthy allies and some of the far right members. that's easier said than done. there are a whole range of issues that divide them. one is how to deal with the so-called issue of a motion to vacate, pushing out the current speaker. a single person can do it under those rules. more moderate members want that gone. mcconnell lent his support to

the more moderate members. there are policy issues, like the issue of ukraine. such a central issue right now being pushed hard by sending gop leaders and by the white house, but something that has divided house republicans. kevin mccarthy when he was speaker put the brakes on more ukraine aid. what will the next house speaker do? such a key question. i put that to jim jordan earlier today, and he made clear he's not in favor of a new aid package for ukraine. >> with ukraine, are you willing to move forward with an aid package if you're speaker? >> i'm against that. the most pressing issue is not ukraine. it's border security and crime on the streets. >> it doesn't make sense to put it on the floor without conversation about why we're doing it. >> reporter: that last comment is from kevin hern.

he's flirting with a possible bid for speaker as well, also taking a more measured approach on how he would deal with ukraine, saying he would review it first before going ahead. jordan's comments undoubtedly -- already i'm hearing concerns from the holloways from members, people who support ukraine aid, worried that if he becomes speaker, that could cut off the billions of dollars going to ukraine. he didn't go as far as to say he wouldn't allow any dollar to go to ukraine, but his comments certainly are a warning sign. there's a long way to go before any of these men could be elected speaker. they have to get nominated by the conference next week on a majority vote. then a majority of the full house, 218 members, need to vote to elect the speaker. if only five republicans break ranks, that could be enough to undercut it. just a lot of questions in this leadership vacuum as republicans

grapple with what's next. >> one key question over the snowfallout from what we saw yesterday, and that's what we saw to congressman matt gaetz who led the effort to oust mccarthy. you're learning there are some members who want him expelled. >> reporter: major frustration, they say what he was doing was completely out of bounds, that he was doing it for a personal vendetta, going after kevin mccarthy to boost his own profile, raise his fund-raising numbers, something that gaetz has denied. there are still support to boot him from the republican congress altogether. i talked to republican freshman mike lawler who represents a swing new york district. he told me he does support kicking out matt gaetz from the conference. that would require two-thirds majority support. we'll see if it gets to that. that just shows you just the bad blood that still exists over matt gaetz and those seven other

republicans who voted to kick out kevin mccarthy. the question is can they put the pieces back together, get their agenda going forward, name a new leader. all are still major questions over this conference at this key time. >> and looming on the horizon, a potential government shutdown in some 40-odd days. manu raju live on capitol hill, thanks so much. i want to talk more about with republican congressman dan hugheser from pennsylvania. you heard manu lay it out that the new york gop rep, mark lawler told manu raju he supports kicking matt gaetz out of the conference. i'm wondering what you think about that? do you support that as well? do you think there could be enough votes for that to actually happen? >> the only way you can really kick someone out is if they're doing actions that are unbecoming of a member of congress. there are ethics issues as well that matt gaetz is facing, but i

don't think any of that is grounds for terminating his tenure here. his district will deal with that. that's who votes, that's who sends him here. i do think he was dead wrong. i do think they weaponized -- i do believe they weaponized the use of vacate the chair. vacate the chair has been in existence for a long time. nancy pelosi is the one that removed it. all that being said, we have far more important things to worry about than the future of matt gaetz. >> congressman jim jordan and steve scalise, they have officially thrown their hats in the ring in this race for speaker. will you support either of them? >> actually, they're my top two who i would like to see run and be speaker. both jim jordan and steve ska lease are very high quality individuals. i know them extremely well. they have great moral fortitude. they are talented. they're dedicated, they're

patriots, they're conservatives. yeah, they know what they're doing. they both would be excellent. >> if you had to vote today, who would it be between the two? >> i'm not sure yet. we will hear what they have to say. i'm also interested in their priorities. that matters to me. we have to get beyond some of the little things, the symbolic gestures that seem to be what some members like to engage in. we really need to dig into our budget. we need a strong conservative budget that is not just conservative, in the interest of the american people, we have to get some fiscal sanity. we've got to deal with the border and i believe we need to bring impeachment proceedings on secretary mayorkas, not to weaponize impeachment, which i can't stand, but because he is derelict in his duties of enforcing our immigration laws.

and there doesn't seem to be any correction in the near future. we have to build our brand so as the american people believe that we're on their side, middle income, low income, high income. and in so doing, it should allow us to win the white house which is key to the future of america. >> of course, as you know, the administration says, look, the ball is in congress' court as it pertains to the border and figuring out a comprehensive solution to what's going on there. i do want to ask you, jim jordan says he's opposed to more aid for ukraine. what do you think about that? do you agree with him? what's the fate of ukraine funding? >> i don't entirely agree with him, no. that's the great thing about jim jordan and steve scalise. these are discussions we will have. what i do agree is that united states taxpayers have delivered over $110 billion to the ukraine effort which i support. however, our eu partners and the

uk on similar gdps, even up ratios are at about 60% of where we are. they need to fund at levels equivalent to us so the american taxpayer isn't the ones on the hook here, and we need a much more level of accountability, transparency and understanding where every dime of the taxpayers' money is going, and we also need a plan. whether we have that in a classified setting or what, we need to have a better understanding of where we're going with ukraine. the last thing we should be doing is giving putin any feeling that u.s. is in any way departing or abandoning or weakening our support for the sovereignty of ukraine. >> mccarthy made so much concessions to the farthest of the right flank to gain his speakership. will the next speaker have to go even further?

what do you think about the one-person threshold for the motion to vacate that mccarthy agreed to, do you think that should be on the table for the next one? >> as i stated earlier, that's actually been on the books for years. nancy pelosi removed that one person could stand and do a vacate the chair. again, it should be discussed in conference. there should be a good reason for it. in this case with kevin mccarthy there was president a good reason. i think they had this vendetta from the beginning, looking for the opportunity. kevin mccarthy did a six-week cr, so they decided to gang up -- eight of them. not much of a gang -- and remove him. it shouldn't be weaponized. it should be taken very seriously. if we can remove it, fine, maybe have the majority to allow a vacate the chair, but it shouldn't be weaponized. it's existed before. if it's used properly it's a

tool we shouldn't have to worry about. >> congressman meuser, thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. right now dominican republic is -- donald trump wrapped up the court appearances the same way he started, ranting from the judge and the state attorney general a few yards from where he faced him. leticia james saying she would not be bullied. brynn, walk us through the latest comments from letitia james. >> reporter: unlike the former president, we haven't heard from the new york attorney general since the first day of this trial before court even started. this is really the first time. she took her time to basically address all the times that we've heard from the former president. let's listen more to what she

had to say. >> trump's comments were offensive, were baseless, they were void of any facts and/or any evidence. what they were were comments that unfortunately loemented violence, comments described as race baiting, comments that appeals to the bottom of our humanity. this case was brought simply because a case where individuals have engaged in a pattern and practice of fraud. i will not sit idly buy and allow anyone to subvert the law. la lastly, i will not be bullied. >> reporter: so those comments coming after the former president took to the mic for the last time before he headed to mar-a-lago, essentially saying the same things he has been saying, taking verbal

lashes at james herself and even at the judge. this is even in despite of the gag order by the judge to not talk about anyone on his court staff after that picture was posted by the former president on truth social. as far as what's going on inside the courtroom, i can tell you before we took a break for lunch, there was a lot of visible frustration with the cross examination of trump's former account, frustration on the part of the judge, frustration on the part of the former president. a lot of fiery exchanges going on. right now they've switched testimony. it's cameron harris, an audit partner. they're having discussions about financials related to eric trump who is still inside the courtroom. we'll continue to watch that for you. as of now, the former president no longer inside the courtroom of day three of this civil trial. >> alina, as brynn pointed out, trump is on his way back to mar-a-lago now. before leaving court he told a miss truth, one of several we should point out, but he claimed

he was stuck at this trial. he's actually there on a purely voluntary basis. so the question is why did he wind up going? was this purely for publicity? >> reporter: there are a couple of reasons, boris. one of them is definitely for publicity. he knew this was a great political opportunity for his campaign. i've spoken with his advisers over the past several days and weeks. they've actually lamented his rallies aren't getting as much coverage as they wished, definitely not compared to 2016 when he was running. they welcomed the media attention. we saw them get to court earlier this week and throughout the past three days that he's been there, they knew where the camera ang lgs were, where the media would be and they seized the opportunity. another big reason is this is a trial that personally means a lot to donald trump. it's going after his business, his empire. something he ran on in 2016, in 2020 and again on the campaign trail in 204.

he wanted to be here for this. he wants to attend and defend himself. that's part of the reason why you're hearing him say he wants to testify as a witness. some skepticism of whether that will actually happen. that's behind some of the motivation of him showing up in person over the last three days. >> let's zero in on the gag order after trump went after a court clerk on social media. is there anyone on his team concerned that this could get him in further trouble? >> i think there are definitely some concerns and mixed feelings within donald trump's camp. look, they continually say, it's his first amend. right to talk about the case. i think it will be very interesting to see how he moves forward because the gag order was simply about the judge's staff. he may avoid some of that. i think it's interesting to note his rhetoric. we've had a preview over the last few days of what we're likely to see next year when

donald trump is seesawing between the courtroom and the xain. even though his rhetoric, he doesn't face a lot of consequences for that on the trail, he is facing consequences in the legal sense. we know there's a proposed gag order in the special counsel's case relating to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. this is going to continue to be a key theme throughout many of his indictments and his legal battles. boris? >> alayna treene, brynn gingras, thank you. still to come, the chaos in washington is having real implications on ukraine's fight against russia. why a former defense secretary is saying this is good news for vladimir putin. plus, amid a surge of migrants, democratic leaders in illinois are speaking out saying cities like chicago are at their breaking point and need help from the white house. later, the man arrested for the murder of tupac shakur was in court this morning.

a critical hearing in that case is now delayed. we'll tell you why in just a few minutes.

tensions are high between officials in the city of chicago and the white house as the migrant surge continues to have an impact far from the southern border. the governor and mayor of chicago, both democrats, confronted top administration officials this week over their handling of the surge in migrants, demanding action. governor j.b. pritzker is asking president biden to name a czar to manage the ongoing crisis. he worries chicago is reaching a breaking point with winter approaching quickly. there are over 17,000 migrants in chicago alone and leaders fear that number could double. it comes as texas governor greg abbott is ramping up the number of buses carrying migrants to that city.

there are something like 2 powe 300 migrants living on the floors of your police stations. you're a former policeman yourself. i'm wandering what your biggest concern about that is. >> well, especially as we enter into our winter months, those that are sleeping outside and at our police stations, i'm very concerned about their safety. the 2,300 that you mentioned, of that, the majority of them are still living outside. we're approaching our winter months where in chicago it gets quite cold. we have to be concerned about their safety as well as the well-being of the migrants which also includes young children and families. >> alderman, there's been some tension, not only between your governor and chicago's mayor and the white house, but also between local officials as well over what to do.

i'm wondering what you would ask the white house or biden administration to do to intervene immediately to help alleviate the issue. >> i think immediately the president has done it, and that's authorizing temporary work permits, but i think there needs to be an even greater step and more security at our borders right now. we're getting an inflection of people from particularly texas. it is my belief that our president needs to step up and tighten border security until we can get this growing problem under hand. >> on that question, what would you say to texas governor greg abbott? he argues as bad as things are in chicago right now, they're much worse and the southern border. >> well, i don't think -- nothing that we say or nothing we've been able to say over the

last several months and specifically over the last year greg abbott has listened to. so i think our biggest concern knowing that governor abbott will not listen to the residents of the city of chicago, but our elected officials as well and the governor of his state. we have to do what we can to provide for the well-being of the residents -- the mike grants that are coming here. rather than argue with governor abbott, we have to do whatever we can for the migrants that are arriving in the city of chicago. >> on the idea of listening to residents, you held a community meeting last night that became very contentious with people booing at local officials. they're concerned that they haven't been consulted with certain decisions, one specifically about using a park in your community as a place to house migrants. what is your message to those

neighbors? >> i agree with our neighbors. they were quite outraged, as i was outraged, at the fact that we're shutting down a community resource, a park where our youth, our young adults, our seniors enjoy programming and enjoy the use of that park. so they were quite outraged. i was outraged as well, simply over the fact that we're closing down this resource where it's much-needed in and underserved community, a community that had not been invested in in decades. i think that move required some bit of conversation with our community before the decision or the final was made. >> alderman taliaferro, we appreciate your perspective. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, boris. i appreciate it. still more to come this

afternoon including a huge question. how did our solar system form? a sample from an astroid estimated to be 4.5 billion years old may hold some clues. what nasa scientists are now revealing about it. if you're still upset that netflix started charging more last year, you better brace yourself. a new report says prices may continue going up.

get ready to pay more for netflix if you don't want to watch ads. the "wall street journal" is reporting that netflix will hike prices in the u.s. and canada as soon as the actors strike is resolved. streaming services are charging us about 25% more just this year for their services if you don't want to watch ads. cnn media reporter oliver darcy is here to explain this. oliver, why are we seeing these price hikes? >> reporter: according to the "wall street journal," netflix is planning to raise prices after the conclusion of the writers strike and the actors strike which is still ongoing and the studios are still trying to find a solution for that. that's likely because costs are going to go up. they're going to have to pay writers more money and actors more money, so passing along perhaps that price to the consumer might make some sense.

the big overarching theme here is that wall street was at one point rewarding subscriptions at any cost. the name of the game in streaming was grow your subscription base, pay whatever, don't worry about profitability. that's changed in the last year or so. now there's a big push to be prof profitable, to squeeze as much money out of the consumer as possible. so you're seeing companies across the landscape raise prices, and netflix would be just the latest. >> right. so with the raising of prices, though, then they could risk more consumers quitting? what kind of trend line are we seeing on that one? >> i think what they're trying to do here, you'll notice they're raising prices on the ad-free tier, the advertisement-free zone. what they'd like to do is push the consumer toward the

advertiser-supported tier. that's because the tier that relies on advertisements is more lucrative for the companies. while it's cheaper for the consumer, it's actually a way to make more money for netflix and theeps other companies. that's why you're seeing companies across the board raise prices on the ad-free models pushing the consumer toward the ad-supported models. yesterday warners brothers did the same thing, raised the ad-free model from $6.99 to $8.99. i think this is a trend you'll continue seeing as the companies try to increase profits to satisfy wall street. >> oliver dorsey, thank you very much. boris. now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. the man accused in the killing of tupac shakur made his first

court appearance. duane davis was arrested last week. the 60-year-old was scheduled to be arraigned this morning. his attorney wasn't there so the hearing will be delayed until later this month. davis is being held without bail. overseas, activists in iran are accusing the country's morality police for assaulting a girl for not wearing a hijab. the family claims the 16-year-old was hospitalized after suffering from low blood pressure. activists suggest the teen suffered head trauma and has been in a coma since sunday. cnn has reached out to iran's government for comment. a russian journalist who lashed out over the war in ukraine has been sentenced in absentia to 8.5 years in prison. she was found guilty of spreading false information about russia.

she escaped house arrest with her daughter last year and is now in paris according to her assistant. still to come on "news central," cnn exclusive reporting as to what the united states is doing with millions of seized iranian weapons, plus how the chaos here in d.c. on the nation's capitol is being felt more than 4,000 miles away in kyiv. we'll be right back.

at a time when congressional dysfunction could tie up further ukraine aid in washington, and nato is warning it's running out of ammunition to provide kyiv, ukrainian is getting a boost from iran. for iran, this is not by choice. the u.s. recently seized weapons and ammunition from the iranian regime. cnn has exclusively learned that those assets are being sent to ukraine. let's bring in cnn's natasha bertrand who broke the story. tell us how this works, natasha. >> these are munitions and weapons that the u.s. navy seized from ships sent from iran to yemen to fuel the war in yemen and support the houthis there. these are ships that the u.s. has essentially intercepted and taken thousands of weapons from including rifles and other things like grenade launchers and rocket launchers as well as

a million rounds of ammunition over the last several months. the argument from advocates has been why don't we use all the weaponry and equipment we have seize friday the iranians as part of this crackdown on this elicit smuggling route to send it to the ukrainians instead of keeping it in storage. apparently, according to central command, they have already started to transfer some of this seized equipment to the ukrainian forces as recently as monday. according to a statement we received from u.s. central command, quote, on october 2nd the u.s. government transferred aptly 1.1 million 7.6 millimeters rounds. the government obtained ownership on them july 20th, 2023 through the civil forfeiture claims against iran's revolutionary guard corps. this is key because it's the way the u.s. is able to seize this

weapons and send them to ukraine, through civil forfeiture. they work with the justice department to request these iranian weapons and equipment be forfeited, essentially allows the u.s. government to take ownership of them. at that point the u.s. can then transfer them to a third party, to the ukrainians as they wish. now, this is really important because the iranians have been working with the russians to support the russian is' war in ukraine. this could drive a wedge between the rarns and the russians as the u.s. works to take seized iranian weapons and put them in the hands of the ukrainian forces. once the russians see those weapons ending up on the battlefield and the ukrainians being replenished with this equipment, it could raise some concerns, of course, among the russians and potentially drive a wedge in that partnership. >> nah dasha bertrand, thanks so much. historic vote to remove kevin mccarthy from his

speakership is further complicating the process of providing aid to ukraine. right now the house is adjourned until next week, and no legislation can be passed until a new speaker is elected. this leaves president biden's request for an additional $24 billion of aid in limbo. it's estimated ukraine's current burn rate of weapons and munitions is nearly $2.5 billion per month. the pentagon has warned that money for ukraine is running low with about $5 billion currently available. that's essentially two months' worth of money. of course, all of this is happening as ukraine's counteroffensive against russia grinds on with little change on the front lines. >> things look a lot better if you're vladimir putin sitting in moscow. he sees the u.s. government that's dysfunctional right now, that can't provide the aid that ukraine needs. of course, if u.s. aid to ukraine falls, we're like the big jenga block, you pull that

out and a lot of other western aid risks being lost as well. >> let's take you live to eastern ukraine with cnn international correspondent fred pleitgen. fred, what's the reaction been there to the chaos unfolding in the house of representatives? >> i think a lot of fear and concern among the ukrainians. he were able to speak to ukrainian soldiers who were fighting there and have the issues with ammunition, a very, very afraid at this point in time that there could be delays in further shipments from the united states and possibly that further aid could maybe not dry up altogether but considerably be less than it was so far. the troops tell us that right now they already have a lot less ammo that the russians do. they say it's a big problem for them. we're on the eastern front where the ukrainians have been advancing a good deal over the past couple weeks. we've been witnessing all this. even the troops we were with today, and it was a unit that

had a howitzer with ammo from the united states. they said for every shot they could fire, the russians fire ten. that's as the ukrainians are trying to advance and they need a lot of am me to do that. for them, it would make things more difficult than they already are. you have to keep in mind that the u.s. is the largest provider of arms to ukraine. when you go around the area of the battlefield here in the east or even in the south, it is quite staggering how much u.s. equipment you see here, u.s. vehicles, u.s. armored vehicles, u.s. guns, u.s. ammunition as well. it would be difficult for the ukrainians to make up for any shortfalls that could occur as they are there are behind the russians as far as ammo is concerned. there's certain types of ammunition that nato partners could also provide, like, for instance, artillery ammunition, bullets, mortars, things like that. there's also specialized items that only the u.s. can give the ukrainians.

if we look, for instance, at himars, multiple rocket launching rockets, to replenish those, also surface-to-air missiles could only be replenished by the u.s. a lot of that is causing a great deal of concern. here on the front lines, soldiers we're speaking to, but also in kyiv as well among ukrainian officials who very much are banking on the united states as they continue to try to bring that offensive forward. but also, of course, in the defense of the country here. they say it could cause serious issues if the u.s. were to provide less aid than they already are. it's something on the mind of the leadership here in this country, certainly something we're hearing as well. >> fred pleitgen from eastern ukraine, thank you very much. houston, we have a problem. scientists have opened up an astroid sample capsule. we'll tell you what they found in just a few moments. stay with us.

well some things are worth the wait. nasa scientists are getting their first look at a sample of dirt and dust taken from an asteroid. a sample that a spacecraft collect and brought back to earth but the unveiling is taking longer than expected. john foreman joins us with the latest on nasa's mission here. scientists say it may have clues to the start of the solar system but there could be a problem. >> there is a problem. it is going too well. this thing, look at when it was dropped off here last month. unbelievable. this probe out here called osirus rex had visited this asteroid and as it came back to

earth, it dropped this thing off at about 63,000 miles above the earth. there it is dropping and falling back to earth. which you could barely see it over the left. and traveling about 30,000 miles an hour. it comes down here and comes by parachute and it lands and now they're opening it in the lab. and what they're saying is that the sample they got from this asteroid, the asteroid bennu, between us and mars, when they got this sample, they got more than they expected. so we're talking about a half pound of material here and they're opening it very carefully so they don't lose any of it to see what it could tell us. the sample runneth over. >> and it is good problem to have. so what exactly is nasa hoping to glean from this asteroid sample. >> in bennu is such a soft asteroid out there, if you were to stand on it right now, it would be like being in a ball pit and you could sink down. what they did manage to do is get material from this asteroid

considered to be from the beginning of the solar system. really critical. it is a period of time in which we could learn about the makeup of the solar system. so what they're trying to do is analyze all of this material, this dust and these little rocks to see if they could find signs of organic material to offer scientists a window into the time when the sun and plant planets were forming. and they looking for organic material, or anything that would suggest water. give them an idea of where we all came from. bennu, a interesting choice to look at right now with this sample. the first ever to come back from an asteroid. >> this is fascinating. i think this is so cool. that they could learn more about the start of the solar system how we all came to be. so tell us more about this asteroid and what happens now? >> well what happens now is osirus rex, the egyptian god of rebirth an life, this would be

the king of all that. now it changes the name to osirus apex and it spins back out into the atmosphere out there, or the lack of atmosphere out there to go find another asteroid and come back. billions of miles of journeys to collect this kind of material which could mean so much to our understanding of everything, being done by a robot out in spate. >> what a fun assignment today. tom foreman, thank you so much. and still ahead, it is most wonderful time of the year. that is bear week. that is ahead.

don't walk, run. because it is officially fat bear week. no embarrassment from these grizzlies as a celebration of success as the bears beef up before hibernation. >> so here we go. with us. i'll give you a run down. with before and after pictures. you no he there could be puns. with a segment like this. so 806 spring cub won the fat bear junior competition and now gets to hang with the big dogs or bears taking on 428 described as a pudgy 3 1/2-year-old. >> and it is the veteran mom versus the first time momma bear. 402 has had eight litters and 901 just had her first one in early summer. >> well if you want to get on the action, just head over to fat bear week.org. the champion will be crowned next tuesday.