started saying seven or eight hard know's. of the seven or eight there are turk wrote the drama from oklahoma that emily just mentioned and he changed his mind and so has luna from ford we just mentioned. >> harris: we are all over it on fox news channel. leave it where it is. "america reports" now. >> sandra: you have been watching it live play out there on capitol hill, a 12th vote is underway and right now it appears california congressman elect kevin mccarthy has made some in-roads with several hard liners in recent minutes flipping for him. we are watching all of it. hello, hi, john. >> john: welcome to friday, this is "america reports." cheers echoing throughout the chamber repeatedly as hold-outs switch their votes to mccarthy, what is the longest contest to

elect a speaker since the 1850s continues to play out. he has not yet reached a deal with the senate, mccarthy remains optimistic. lawmaker reportedly even making more concessions to hard line conservatives, some say they still will not support him. >> sandra: we will likely know a whole lot more as the minutes go on here. we are watching it with you. some mccarthy allies are acknowledge never enough compromise for some hold-outs. warren davidson is backing mccarthy's bid but more than four never kevin lawmakers who will never vote for him. we will have more with the congressman-elect, davidson. he is in front of the camera right now, we'll get to him in just a moment. >> john: fox news live team coverage, martha will join us with more perspective on the speakership fight, and chad pergram kicking things off this afternoon, live from capitol hill and here we go for a 12th

time. >> here we go again but also some changes. we indicated earlier this morning kevin mccarthy was going to have to see some progress after the meetings last night and guess what, we have seen the dam start to break slightly. the past few minutes, six republicans who here to for had been opposed to kevin mccarthy who voted in favor of him. it started when byron donalds name was not placed into nomination at the beginning of the vote series here. here is the math that i have, the six who have voted for kevin mccarthy. we have dan bishop of north carolina, josh birkeen, andrew clyde, byron donalds, and anna maria luna. there are six. he probably to get higher than this. we are told probably 3 or 4 republicans out. so what that does is it lowers

the bar as to what the total number is needed in the house of representatives to win here. the other issue, though, might hurt if some of the people are against him. >> john: chad pergram, more cheers in the house chamber as votes are switched. listen in for a few minutes. >> nunn of iowa, mccarthy. obernottle, ocasio-cortez, jeffries. ogles, ogles -- omar, jeffries. owens, mccarthy. palone, jeffries.

palmer, mccarthy. panetta, jeffries. pappas, jeffries. pasqual, jeffries. payne -- payne -- pelosi, jeffries. peltola, jeffries. pence, mccarthy. perez, jeffries. perry, mccarthy. [cheering]

peters, jeffries. pederson, jeffries. pfluger, mccarthy. phillips, jeffries. pingre, jeffries. pokan, jeffries. porter, jeffries. posy, mccarthy. presley -- presley -- quigley, jeffries. ramirez, jeffries. raskin, jeffries.

reschenthaler, mccarthy. rogers of washington, mccarthy. rogers of alabama, mccarthy. mccarthy. rogers of kentucky -- rogers of kentucky -- mccarthy. rose, mccarthy. rosendale, hearn.

ross, jeffries. rouzer, mccarthy. roy, mccarthy. [cheering] ruiz, jeffries. ruppertsberger, jeffries. rutherford, mccarthy.

ryan, jeffries. salazar -- salazar -- salinas, jeffries. sanchez -- sanchez -- santos, mccarthy. sarbanes, jeffries. scalise, mccarthy. scanlon, jeffries. shycowski, jeffries. schiff, jeffries. schneider, jeffries.

skolton, jeffries. schiwer, jeffries. schweikert, mccarthy. austin scott, mccarthy. david scott, jeffries. scott of virginia, jeffries. s self, mccarthy. sessions, mccarthy. suel, jeffries. sherman, jeffries.

sherrill, jeffries. simpsons, jeffries. smith of missouri, mccarthy. smith of nebraska, mccarthy. smith of new jersey, mccarthy. smith of washington, jeffries. smucker, mccarthy. sorenson, jeffries. soto, jeffries. s spanberger, jeffries. spartz, mccarthy. [cheering]

stansbury, jeffries. stanton, jeffries. sauber, mccarthy. steel, mccarthy. stefanik, mccarthy. steil, mccarthy. steube, mccarthy. stevens, jeffries. stewart, mccarthy. strickland, jeffries. strong, mccarthy. swalwell, jeffries. sykes, jeffries.

takano, jeffries. tinney, mccarthy. tenadar, jeffries. thompson of california, jeffries. thompson of mississippi, jeffries. thompson of pennsylvania, mccarthy. tiffany, mccarthy. timmons, mccarthy. titus, jeffries. tlaib, jeffries. tokuda, jeffries. tonko, jeffries. torres of california, jeffries.

torres of new york, jeffries. trahan, jeffries. trone -- trone -- turner, mccarthy. underwood, jeffries. valadao, mccarthy. van drew, mccarthy. van duyne, mccarthy. van orden, mccarthy. vargas, jeffries. vasquez, jeffries.

veasey, jeffries. wagner, mccarthy. walberg, mccarthy. waltz, mccarthy. wasserman schultz, jeffries. waters, jeffries. watson coleman, jeffries. weber of texas, mccarthy. webster of florida, mccarthy. wenstrup, mccarthy. westerman, mccarthy. wexton, jeffries.

wild, jeffries. p -- williams, jeffries. williams of new york, mccarthy. williams of texas, mccarthy. wilson of florida, jeffries. wilson of south carolina, mccarthy. whitman, mccarthy. womack, mccarthy. yakym, mccarthy. zinke, mccarthy.

>> reading clerk will now call the names of the members elect who did not answer the first call of the roll. >> alford, mccarthy. buck -- buck -- berchat. [inaudible] >> mccarthy.

kasar, jeffries. diaz balart, mccarthy. goldman of new york, jeffries. gosar, mccarthy. [cheering]

hunt -- hunt -- ledger fernandez, jeffries. ogles -- [inaudible] mccarthy. [cheering] payne, jeffries.

presley, jeffries. salazar, mccarthy. [applause] sanchez, jeffries. trone -- trone -- >> if there are any members-elect who did not answer the call of the roll they may come to the well and vote at this time.

>> john: a little math to be done here, there were a couple, or three members who did not appear to register a vote but a number of votes, more than 12 flipped for andy mccarthy, the others now down to seven, and people like andy biggs, lauren boebert, matt gaetz and others are on an increasingly small island as kevin mccarthy appears to be gaining ground here. i don't think he's got enough to be speaker on the vote based on the absentees, but chad pergram is following that, and a final answer for us soon. a lot has changed between yesterday and this afternoon. >> sandra: and to your point, chad is there, tallying, the magic number is 218, but mccarthy passing -- 217, to that

point, 217, mccarthy at 213, jeffries 211. you are looking right now, 14 holdouts, mccarthy gaining support from 14 holdouts. you are looking live at kevin mccarthy on the house floor right now, i mean -- john, these negotiations have been happening for a long time, and it has come down to this moment where he has finally changed the minds of people like scott perry of pennsylvania who was on the program with us yesterday making it very clear that while he was leading the efforts against mccarthy, that he still saw a pathway for him. when he stood up to cast his vote for mccarthy, by the way, i think he was the ninth holdout to flip, he said with good faith, mccarthy. he has been deeply involved with the negotiations. this is a remarkable moment in all of this. >> and remember that scott perry is the chairman of the house freedom caucus and it's the house freedom caucus leading the charge against kevin mccarthy.

now if the chairman of the house freedom caucus is on board, jim jordan, the first chairman of the house freedom caucus has been supporting mccarthy all along, the seven others find themselves on a shrinking piece of real estate and the arm twisting is going to continue, probably increased pressure to change their votes. mccarthy, based on that vote count would need four more votes in order to become speaker. i don't know if he's going to get them or not, but i would imagine that there may be three more people in there who in the next vote could potentially flip. >> sandra: and victoria spartz voting in the present column in the past couple of days, she, too, voted for mccarthy, so we are witnessing the changes happening in realtime. bring in ohio congressman-elect warren davidson, he cast his vote early on and patiently waited in front of the camera. ralph norman of south carolina was also a holdout, he too

flipped, the eighth flip. congressman, your reaction to what we are seeing play out in washington right now. >> i'm happy the conference is looking like we are coming together. we would have loved this prior to january 3rd. i think the benefit for the american people, frankly the world, you get a little more insight into how this happens. of course we did not have cameras in all the negotiations, there's been tons of hours of negotiations over the course of this week and frankly lots leading up to it. so there was real progress made ahead of january 3rd and i'm really excited about the progress that's been made since we started voting earlier in the week. so hopefully this does it and gets us across the finish line and we'll see shortly. >> john: congressman-elect, notable flips, including dan bishop of north carolina said he would leave congress if conservatives did not come up with some changes for the way that business is done there in the chamber. chip roy of texas also changed his vote.

let me come around to what the freedom caucus was demanding, and we still don't know exactly what they got. but they were demanding a one-member threshold and motion to vacate the chair, two seats on the house rules committee and seats on other committees as well. at least hold a vote on term limits and stand alone votes on the 12 individual appropriations bills. at least two of those things, the one member threshold and the motion to vacate the chair and appropriations bills, that's the way congress did business for decades. so are they asking for too much here from the potential speaker on in line the way business should be proceeding under regular order? >> i think you are right, those have been long-standing rules. we had a conference debate earlier and the conference did not agree to go to that. kevin had to work hard to get people to go along with that support for the rule change so it was not just kevin's decision to make, the conference had to

work together to get there. i think we are there on the rules changes. those have been committed to and adopted, so beyond that as you also alluded to, commitments on bills and i think that's the concern because when republicans campaign on smaller, more accountable government, the american people get so frustrated when they see things like this big omnibus and yes, it was a minority of republicans but still stated as a bipartisan, you know, the most bipartisan thing in congress is bankrupting the country. that's how we are nearly 32 trillion in debt, and so conservatives in particular are saying when are we going to do what we said we would do on spending and knowing that we are in the minority in the conference and the minority, democrats control the senate and the white house, how do we have enough leverage to make a difference. a lot of what the fight has been

about and i'm excited about the progress made, i know there is some collateral damage, emotions are running high, i hope we can work together going forward at a fast rate. >> john: press you on one thing, did i hear you confirm there is a deal on the one member threshold for a motion to vacate the chair? >> that's an agreement and kevin made that verbally ahead of january 3rd, made that, documented that, socialized across the conference. >> john: no, he said five. they want one. >> there was five committed in the rules, there was a verbal commitment ahead of it, now done. one member, and really rationally you are arguing over nothing, as the 20 have shown finding a few extra members is nothing at this point. >> john: ok, that can. >> sandra: congressman, can you stand by quick? we want to get to chad pergram to clarify the math, how this is playing out. what can you tell us? >> it's a movable target on each

roll call vote. so here we have by our tally, 214 votes for kevin mccarthy, 211 for hakeem jeffries, seven votes total for somebody else. by my calculation here, the winning number should have been 217. again, it does not have to be 218, it's not a hard number. it is the majority of those casting ballots for someone by name, and in this case, 217. two absences, wesley hunt, his wife had a baby, and he is a freshman, and ken buck had to go home to colorado for a medical issue. i was told he would come back later tonight. so you see two things here. you don't know every vote how many you are going to need for that magic number. so, 217 by our calculus here is what they needed. he's a little short. the key here is kevin mccarthy finally started to show progress. this will be in a stasis for a

while and we have also had other speakers win the job without 218 votes. it's happened three times in the past, you know, 27, 26 years, newt gingrinch in the late 1990s with him, it happened with nancy pelosi two years ago, it happened with john boehner. so, sometimes actually when you have the lower number you can win with fewer than 218 votes. it's not a hard number, it is the majority of those casting ballots by name and so the magic number was 217. my calculus here, it was 214, cheryl johnson, the clerk, will announce the total and what she says from the chair is the official total. >> sandra: i wanted to circle back on that, the graphic on the screen was 213. we heard you say 214, chad, could you clarify that quick for us? >> and again, that's a manual total here. that's why in the house chamber you have multiple tally clerks and you've got 5 or 6 of them, it depends who hears a name, i might not have heard a name there, that's the number i have. and so that's why it takes so

long. that's why we are in this waiting period because they are checking their math too, and they might come up with a different number and why you have so many different people doing this on the dias. so 213, 214, i had 214. looks like the magic number should be 217, kevin mccarthy is short. whatever cheryl johnson, the clerk of the house, announces from the chair is the official total. >> john: warren davidson a moment ago said there was a deal for a one member threshold on a call to vacate the chair. seems to me that's new that we had heard that was floated but did not know there was a deal on it. >> just a couple hours ago, you know, kevin mccarthy told fox in the hall, aishah hasnie, my colleague, there was not a complete deal yet. so again, there's an old saying here on capitol hill as you know, john, nothing is decided until everything is decided, and the way we will tell that it's decided is, a, kevin mccarthy is

elected speaker of the house if that's in fact the case, and number two, and i want to direct people's attention to this, once they get the speaker elected and swear in the members, the thing they have to do at the house is approve the rules package, that would be part of that, and they have to vote on that. so until they vote on that, that is not definitive, john. >> john: so we'll continue to watch and wait for that to happen. back to congressman elect warren davidson, republican from ohio for more on all of this. we still have seven holdouts, congressman elect, he needs 3 or 4 more votes depending on what the final tally is. can he get them today? >> i think there are probably those -- you are seeing the number of people i don't know what would move them at this point. i think they are pretty fixed. and you know, we'll see. the other thing that as chad pergram alluded to, the number depends on how many people cast a recorded vote by name for

someone else. so is there a deal to be struck by someone who did not vote for mccarthy who does not cast a vote and that number can change over time by attendance or holding a vote, and that's really the only play left. i think at this point. >> sandra: just digging through the flips that we saw today, did you anticipate that there would have been more or is this right where you had it heading in? >> it was to me the maximum reachable number. having said that, it's not over 'til it's over, and you know, those seven, there may be something for any one of them, any several of them that does eventually say you know, if that's the case and that's on the table, then i'm for it. and you know, one of the things that does have to be done here, how do we work together after this, and as i was saying, emotions have run high, people have said very disparaging things about one another, and at some level arguments become

personal, they tend to escalate over time, can there be some healing across the conference and maybe if that's a sign of hope for my colleagues, maybe at least withhold a vote, if not cast a vote for mccarthy. i don't know what it does -- what does move this, the rest of the way, though. >> sandra: congressman, appreciate you joining us, thank you. >> john: thanks, good to see you. we'll watch it unfold. >> sandra: martha maccallum has been patiently sitting with us, and bret baier from washington, great to have you as well. martha, you've been watching this with us. reaction. >> martha: sausage-making at its finest in the house of representatives here and i think what we are learning is that this is what it's going to look like in the 118th congress in a lot of ways. we heard a couple of members who stood up, scott perry, the chair of the house freedom caucus among them who said with good faith i place my vote for kevin mccarthy when he flipped his

vote. now, it does sound -- it's hard to imagine that they did not get these flips without an agreement which you just heard from the congressman that you were speaking with, davidson, to go down to the one-vote threshold, so this is pretty much what it's going to look like on a week to week, day to day basis, the negotiations going on with the group and that's if kevin mccarthy can get to whatever the number of the moment turns out to be, based on who is voting and not voting. somewhere between 215 and 218 is the best guess. he's given away quite a bit of power to this house freedom caucus but has flipped a number of these votes. so we are going to see where this goes. keep going back to the omnibus vote that, is what has really wrangled this group deeply. they want appropriations bills to be split up, voted on, amendments on, their say on the floor of these and i think there is broad agreement when you talk

to voters. a fascinating process you are watching play out and resolving republican conference here that is looking different than it did in the past. so we wait for the next vote but clearly there has been a big change that we just watched unfold. >> john: bret, the math is still a little bit unclear here because there were a couple members that -- buck is not there, a couple did not vote, so the math is either 217 or 216, i'm not sure what the exact count is, and we will hear it when the final roll is called here. but mccarthy is within spitting distance of getting the speaker's chair. how does he flip three, maybe four more -- probably three, how does he flip three more people? >> bret: that's a good question. i think a couple things to point out. one, the first time he's actually beaten hakeem jeffries in the plurality of the vote. in all of these ballots.

he now has more than the democrat hakeem jeffries. 2, 7 holdouts, four went to mccarthy, how do you get those folks to come over if they have not come over with the concessions so far. i don't know if you can. and then it becomes a matter of who is in the hall. chad talked about this earlier, and you've just mentioned it. the magic number shifts. now, if a couple of others on the democratic side go to the january 6th ceremony at the white house or, you know, there is some other absences, the number shifts down and if it hits 213 and he could make this number again, kevin mccarthy could be speaker. and if he did, as martha pointed out, it will be a bumpy ride in legislating, but a ride past this moment which have been

excrutiating for the mccarthy alice. >> buck and hunt, trone was the democrat, lowers the majority needed to 217 as chad was describing. martha, a couple other scenarios chad has been previewing as this has been going on. they could also decide, i don't know how likely this is, but decide as has happened in history to lower the threshold to not having to actually get a majority, to bret's point, the first time mccarthy has had more votes than jeffries and just decide to go with who is getting and garnering the most votes. >> martha: it could happen, and significant as bret pointed out that mccarthy is ahead of jeffries but only by two votes right now and you have the other seven who are dug in. so there are some rules that could be voted on, they would have to be voted on by a majority in the house to change that framework for this, and there's lowering the threshold by people not showing up as bret pointed out, too. so, there are a few ways, and i thought it was interesting --

you might have thought that kevin mccarthy would be smiling after this vote, he looked as intense as ever, a lot of bartering going on. elise stefanik next to him very stern-faced, they know they don't have it locked down yet. >> sandra: probably not a lot of sleep either. >> martha: eli crane was off to the side, and george santos has gone next to a few members, he has been alone for most of the process as well. >> john: a little color here -- go ahead, bret. >> bret: rosendahl, one of the seven, he stood up and yelled kevin and then he paused and with a smile said hearn as he was standing for his vote in the center aisle. so, not mccarthy, kevin hearn. >> john: still a little bit of

cheekiness in the house. when we take a look at the math, any way you cut it, he's got to get three more votes and whether he gets those from people who voted for others flip or maybe like trone, there are different ways to get to the magic number. but i'm just wondering what you make, bret and martha, of the fact that the house freedom caucus chair scott perry changed his vote, he said he was open to changing it, unlike matt gaetz. dan bishop and chip roy. they must have gotten a promise from mccarthy that a lot of their concerns will be met and as we heard congressman-elect warren davidson say a moment ago, he believes there is a deal which is the one-member threshold to vacate the chair. >> martha: yeah, absolutely, john, and goes back to the appropriations bills in doing things in regular order, frustration that people get

elected. >> john: imagine that. >> martha: they get to congress and have no say, they feel two people are in charge, head of the rules committee and the speaker of the house and what good is it getting elected if you don't have any say on the floor when the bills come down. we have, you know, as davidson just explained, $32 trillion debt if you look at the full picture. and a lot of fromustration in t rest of the country, and in the d.c. world -- outside of that world, people are glad the conversations are being had. >> sandra: bret, you were mentioning color from the floor. one of our reporters also bringing to us that after the vote rosendale, the rep from montana and the gop whip elect steve scalise were in intense conversation in the back of the chamber, appears gop leaders are pressing to flip more votes. we can only imagine some of the conversations being had right now.

>> bret: what's amazing is heading into this moment there was some thought that they would do this vote, they would see some progress, and then they would move to adjournment to, i mean, just -- the bottom line is that this weekend is -- there are a lot of fundraisers, democrats and republicans, in places like jackson hole and deer valley and all kinds of places, and these people want to get to those fundraisers and they want to come back on monday. that's the bottom line of the politics. but they have things to do here and now with mccarthy this close it's interesting to see if they move forward and take another vote here. the afternoon, obviously, 1-6 remembrances at the white house and other places that democrats also want to attend. there is the prospect of, you know, possibly holding this together -- there was a conference call earlier today where some of the members that

support mccarthy were expressing frustration that he was given away the ranch on concessions and what are they getting, and so it's -- it's a delicate balance here to hold the 213 together while you are going after the 7 others. >> sandra: fair point. we'll stand you both by, bret and martha. i believe we have another member joining us from the floor. >> john: we do, victoria spartz from indiana is with us. thanks for joining us. you had been voting present for the last number of rounds. you changed that vote to andy mccarthy. what prompted -- you said you were not going to engage with the nonsense on the floor of voting and voting and not getting to conclusion. what changed your mind from present back to voting for mccarthy. >> i believe, you know, working in a tight majority and government will be important to be at the table and have conversations. i was very happy to see that

both sides in the space were going to go back to the table, don't look at grievances and figure out the path forward. there were some legitimate concerns that needed to be addressed and we need to make sure we can deliver what we promise to the american people. so happy to see the positive change of tone and having the conversation and we are not there yet but very good change of tone and that will make our conference much stronger and it will make us as republicans much stronger to reconcile differences now so we can govern as a unit. happy to see that, we made a lot of positive change and glad to see that happening. >> sandra: congresswoman-elect, do you know what brought around your other colleagues, specifically? >> well, i think you know, there was some changes in, you know, the rules that, you know, done by speaker pelosi that existed for 100 years and we are not dictatorship, we are freedom-loving people, independent people and we are not going to have queens and kings and speaker pelosi wanted

to be a queen. republicans are not going to be suppressed. we need to make sure the institution is reform and we bring more democratic mechanism. i think democrats should like that, too. and we shouldn't be afraid to have actually everyone expressing -- we are representing the same amount of time. very important. our institution has low approval rating for reason because we are not delivering, and bickering and playing politics and not giving people a change. we also have a process where we actually have uncontrolled spending and this is the most important function, this institution needs to do, and we need to make sure that we as institution are able to have rules that allow us to be able to stop some crazy things that could happen and it's been happening and a lot of people were not able to do it, even kevin mccarthy when he was in the minority, he was not able to stop some members to collaborating with other side and pass some terrible

legislation. so i think that is very positive move and i think this principled people stood the ground but were willing to work compromise, it's ok, very productive. >> john: congresswoman-elect, no matter how you cut it, mccarthy still needs three more votes if he hopes to become speaker. if ken buck comes back, he's going to need four more votes, he's an mccarthy vote, he needs three more. so some of the other ones flipped or maybe more democrats like trone don't vote, he could get to the magic number. how do you get those three votes? a very knowledgeable republican strategist tells me he believes that mccarthy will work on people like andy harris, andy biggs and eli crane to woo them over.

how does he get the three votes outstanding between now and, gosh knows, whenever the ultimate vote is taken? >> i think the only way how a new leader should do, talk with them, discuss and figure out how he can get them on board. it's not the first or the last time you have to do it and if he wants to lead the conference he needs to figure out how to do it and i think there is a lot of support, a lot of good people there, and i think he needs to work personally with them and figure out how to get the board. we have a lot of good people and they want to make sure we do good for our country, but address concerns and i think he'll be working on that. we made progress and i think we can get it done and i can tell you we'll have a republican speaker. sometimes we have to go through some pains but pains make you only tough and stronger, it's actually good for us and good for people to get together, and listen to each other. we haven't even talked to each other, never been in the chamber together and for the american people -- it's a good civics

lesson, too. it's good. >> sandra: congresswoman, we'll let you go. do you know if it's going to roll into a 13th vote? is that happening shortly, have you been told anything? >> we'll see where it's going. i think you know, we'll discuss and depends what both sides do. i think there is more time that needs to happen and how people want to handle it will decide. thank you. >> sandra: appreciate you joining us. >> john: good to be with you, thank you. >> sandra: martha and bret back with us now, seeing a statement out by scott perry, who obviously is the head of the very important group that was leading the charge against mccarthy, he just put out, we are at a turning point. he says i've negotiated in good faith with one purpose to restore the people's house back to its rightful owners. the framework for an agreement is in place, says perry. so in a good faith effort i voted to restore the people's house by voting for gop leader mccarthy. martha. >> martha: scott perry is going to join us on "the story" at

3:00, and waiting to hear as you are whether they will go forward with another vote. it tends to happen very quickly when they make the decision and you'll see the clerk step to the podium there. but you see the shrinking group of lauren boebert and matt gaetz sitting together and talking basically on their own at this point. and then you also see eli clark having some discussions with steve scalise, and matt rosendale in deep conversation moments ago as bret pointed out said kevin, and then said kevin hearn, and four votes for jim jordan, he does not want the position. you look at those people to see if perhaps they can -- you know, some sort of practicality weighs in on the fact that person is not interested in the position and they need to peel away to either hearn or mccarthy, but it's looking like a three-vote

margin, and ken buck will be returning hopefully tonight apparently or possibly tomorrow. so, very interesting to watch this play out. i think it's a very rare moment in political history when you get to see the sausage being made and all of the tugs and pushes that are going on right now in the house of representatives, guys. >> john: what's that old adage, if you saw how the sausage was being made you would never want to eat it? [laughter] bret, the other night you had lauren boebert on, talking about jim jordan not wanting the job. she pointed out george washington didn't want the job either but eventually took it. does not look like jordan is going to get the job. down to three, and i'm told that mccarthy will start arm twisting andy biggs, andy harris and eli crane. do you think he can win them over? >> bret: i think it's possible. no way matt gaetz is going over. i don't think there's a way that good is going to change. i think it's tough to imagine

boebert getting off what she's been talking about. so there you have four left who they could, you know, work over. some of those folks have said they want to wait to see it in writing, that takes 72 hours for the rules committee to be officially in and that would be voted on after the speaker is settled on as chad mentioned before. that becomes the rules of the house by which this next session, 118th congress, will deal. and it's going to be bumpy but it's possible he gets these other 3 or 4, depending on who is in the chamber, based on what's in that rule and what is coming out on paper. >> sandra: also referencing the fact that mccarthy did say on that conference call, right, martha, that more votes are possible over the weekend, to chad's math, that could

dramatically change the threshold and the magic number that was 218, appears to be 217 today because of the absences. if you go into the weekend with the votes, we are going to have to rework the math potentially, more people would not be present. >> martha: calculator on their phone right now, kind of playing around with these numbers. three absences today, two republicans, one democrat, and it's interesting when you look at the list that we have been discussing of people who are potentially peel-offable, if that's a word. eli crane from arizona, one of the people kevin mccarthy worked hard to help get elected, mccarthy raised about a half a billion dollars across the country and spent a lot of his time going all over the country to try to create a majority, really, that would be a huge majority, which was one goal and another goal was to make sure he would not have to face what he's facing right now in order to become speaker. that really fell apart on

election night and they ended up with a very slim majority. but eli crane was one of the people who mccarthy may feel owes him this vote based on his support in arizona. see if he's able to pull him over the threshold and trying t figure out as we all are whether they are going to go to another vote this afternoon, guys. >> bret: we are told mccarthy does not want to adjourn. he wants to move forward. >> john: several of our fabulous members of our viewing audience have pointed out i have referred to the man there, kevin mccarthy, a number of times, andy mccarthy, our esteemed legal contributor, it has been a long week. but bret, to your point a second ago that mccarthy, kevin mccarthy, does not want to adjourn for the weekend. does that mean he thinks he can get the numbers today? >> bret: i'm just getting this text from kevin mccarthy now, no, kidding, i saw him on the

phone there. he's not texting me. but people in the room are texting me and saying that they have heard that mccarthy wants to press forward. there was some thought that they were going to adjourn, and there is this ceremony, remembrance of 1-6, obviously two years after the capitol riot on this day, so that sits in people's minds as well as they get through the work that they have to do to elect a speaker. democrats, there are some who wanted to go over to the white house, apparently, we are trying to get the numbers and if that's the case. mccarthy has said to want to go forward, and that comes down to a vote about adjournment or moving forward to the next ballot. >> sandra: bret, while you have mccarthy on text -- i know you are just joking, maybe we could ask him if he plans to speak on the house floor. larry kudlow says he's been urging a lot of his republican colleagues to have mccarthy take

to the microphone on the floor and make the final pitch to win over the holdouts and to your point about reporting he does not want to take a break here, i don't know, that could potentially happen, right, martha? >> martha: it could happen. and i'm wondering, you know, who the person will be put into nomination of the remaining seven names here, and whether or not they are going to push for hearn, byron donalds was a big moment when he stood up and said he was going to support mccarthy, his name got 20 votes at one point in this process. people seem to be moving aside and making room for this majority for kevin mccarthy to grow. so it's going to be interesting if they keep going. p yes, i'm hearing also that they are going to push forward and that another vote is coming. so you can only assume they feel they have peeled away another vote in the discussions we have been watching here, certainly

powerful for kevin mccarthy to do, imagine he wants to pick the moment to do that, and we are about to find out, i think. >> john: so bret, what changes the minds of the seven holdouts? i don't think gaetz is going to change his mind. he's gone so far out on a limb in opposition to mccarthy, i don't think he can ever climb back. i don't think boebert can as well. but there are several out there who might be able to given the right concessions, the right tone, be able to come back. so, how does he get them back in the next little while -- is the clerk about to -- no, just a second. we have a second here. how does he get them back, bret? >> bret: i think it's more making sure that the concessions are clear, that they know that this is what they are going to get. there are some of these names of the seven who don't like mccarthy, they just don't trust him, period, the end and they are not going to move. i will say there are some who are using this for fundraising, they see some support, they are getting from their base, a lot

of cheering, and they are going to continue but i think they are going to move maybe 3 or 4 more, according to what we are hearing. >> sandra: gavel dropped a few seconds ago. back to capitol hill. >> agree in the tallies total number of votes cast is 431, of which the honorable kevin mccarthy of the state of california has received 213. [cheering]

honorable hakeem jeffries of the state of new york has received 211. [cheering] honorable jim jordan of the state of ohio has received 4. the honorable kevin hearn of the state of oklahoma has received 3. no member-elect having received a majority of the votes cast, speaker has not been elected. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky rise?

>> i rise on behalf of the republican party to nominate kevin mccarthy for speaker of the 118th congress. [cheering] >> gentleman is recognized. >> for the past two years one party democrat rule has resulted in multiple crisis harming americans without any oversight or accountability from this body. americans are facing historic inflation, skyrocketing energy costs, the worst border crisis in american history, and surging fentanyl overdoses. one of the reasons is no congressional oversight. there's no sense of urgency from this white house or the bureaucrats that populate this town to move.

i want to talk about that. oversight of our tax dollars, that's our responsibility. we've all heard reports of hundreds of millions of dollars of potential waste and fraud in the unemployment insurance programs in all 50 states. we have all heard reports of misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars of the stimulus money, of ppp loan funds, but yet there has not been a single hearing in the house oversight committee about this. the border crisis, we've made several trips on this side of the aisle to the border. we have listened to the border patrol agents. their message is loud and clear. under president biden, the border patrol has become the welcoming committee. they are begging for help to do

their job. law enforcement officers in all 50 states are begging congress to force this administration to secure the border to do something about the fentanyl crisis that plagues every community in every state in our great nation. [applause] americans watched in disarray at the debacle in afghanistan, and americans were left with many questions. how much equipment was left behind for the taliban? how many americans were left behind? the origination of covid-19 -- we all know someone personally who lost their life during covid-19. they deserve answers to what really happened in that lab in

wuhan, china. [applause] those of us who had kids in the public school system can testify that our kids have lost a year of their education because of the forced virtual learning that so many of our schools put our children through during the covid pandemic. congress ran the debt up at least $3 trillion in the name of covid-19. yet as i mentioned earlier, there has not been a single hearing in the oversight committee to deal with potential waste, fraud or abuse of the covid funds, not a single hearing. and we all know despite what dr. fauci said american tax dollars were sent throug