this is "nightline." >> tonight, breaking news. kevin mccarthy finally elected speaker of the house after 15 historic ballots. tensions spilling onto the house floor. wrangling to secure votes late into the night. plus jen shah. i wanted to be shah-bulous. >> the flamboyant star of "the real housewives of salt lake city" faces judgment after pleading guilty to serious crimes targeting the vulnerable and elderly, some with dementia. >> i don't think i'm a fan anymore. >> the reality star learns her fate. is it enough? >> she should have gotten more. damar hamlin, awake and

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mccarthy was finally voted speaker of the house in the wee hours. his leadership position puts him third in line to the presidency. but the night involved public displays of arm-twisting and a near-physical altercation between congressmen on the house floor. all the drama unfolding over four long days of closed-door negotiations. broad concessions were made toward the hardline conservative rebels. florida representative matt gaetz, a longtime holdout, flipped his anti-mccarthy vote to vote "present" along with several other "never kevins," clearing the way for kevin mccarthy to win the votes needed to secure the job. this has been the longest protracted speaker battle in years, truly dramatic. kevin mccarthy spoke moments after the final tally. >> that was easy, huh? and now the hard work begins. what we do here today, next

week, next month, next year, will set the tone for everything that follows. i will work with anyone and everyone who shares our passion to deliver a better future for the nation. i hope you'll join me. as a congress, we can only operate if we cooperate. my door will be open. i'd like you to come by. >> let's go now to abc news political director rick klein, who's been monitoring the proceedings all week. rick what do you make of this historic evening? >> well, it didn't happen without some real drama on the house floor, including a near-physical altercation involving one of the harshest mccarthy critics, matt gaetz, and a rank-and-file member who's been very supportive of kevin mccarthy. it happened at the tail of round 15 of the voting where it looked like mccarthy was about to get

the votes, and in fact he didn't get the votes. when it became clear what was going on, what these holdouts were doing. you saw emotios absolutely erupt on the house floor, a scene i've never witnessed before, and it forced everyone to recalibrate, bring things back. cooler heads then did prevail. another round of voting and the final results as we've seen tallied do make kevin mccarthy the speaker of the house at long, long last. >> rick, there was a particularly dramatic moment when marjorie taylor greene stepped over seeming to hand a telephone over to one of the holdouts. and on the screen it said "d.t." there seems to be a lot of discussion around that particular point of rallying. >> yeah, we know how close marjorie taylor greene is to the former president. we also know based on our reporting the former president talked to several of the holdouts on the floor after that thwarted next to last vote and before that final vote, convincing, it would appear, at least some of them to vote "present" rather than to vote against mccarthy. that has the effect of changing the magic number of reducing the number of votes that kevin

mccarthy needed to get. in the end, there were six that did not vote for kevin mccarthy. but because they didn't vote for another candidate, mccarthy was able to win with slightly less than a full majority of the entire house. >> as we discussed, rick, this follows four days of open division among the republican rank and file with the hardline conservatives holding out. concessions were made in order to win this speakership. give us a sense of what mccarthy had to give up in order to win the gavel. >> yeah, juju, we saw some major changes to the way the house is going to operate. for starters, any one member is going to be able to, at any time, for any reason, call for an up or down vote on the leadership of the speaker. it's the shortest of leashes you could possibly imagine. they're making a commitment to putting on the floor a vote that would balance the budget. in addition to that, opening up some of the spending bills to all manner of amendments, for any member of congress to make an offer like that. it's an extraordinary concession

of the centralized power of the speaker. and keep in mind that this vote for the speaker was supposed to be the easy part. kevin mccarthy had to fight hard to get to the speakership that he has now finally won. and he is going to have to fight maybe even harder to keep that speakership because of some of these concessions he has been forced into. >> let's talk about some of the historic nature of this evening's proceedings. because not only was it the most protracted vote for speakership in more than 150 years, it also was a lot of tension spilling out into the public eye. what does this say about the future of this particular congress and how things unfolded and the drama that we saw in front of our eyes? >> we saw things devolve into utter chaos and confusion. members of congress who appear not to have been that good at math at one point seemed like they thought that kevin mccarthy was going to get the votes. when matt gaetz decided to vote "present" rather than for

another candidate. when word reached them that in fact he would fall short, you saw kevin mccarthy march up the aisle to congressman gaetz, confront him, and yes, an ugly moment where it appeared another member of congress was lunging at him. had to be restrained physically. it is an absolutely ugly and chaotic scene that does portend what we're looking at, not just in divided government, where the house is controlled by one party, the senate and the white house by other. but by divisions inside one branch of that government. just inside the legislative branch, to have these divisions laid bare by the ruling party, by the republican party, just gives a little glimpse how difficult it's going to be to govern in a divided america. >> i want to bring in now rachel scott, our congressional correspondent. give us a sense of what it took to strongarm the "never kevins," the hardline coalition that had been holding out against the speaker. and what did you see, what did you witness on the floor tonight? >> reporter: juju, let me tell

you. this was a dramatic finish to a bitter and contentious fight. one that we have not seen play out in american history in 164 years. kevin mccarthy able to clinch the speaker's gavel tonight, but it took making several key concessions. one of the most important ones is what we call the motion to vacate, which essentially would make it easier to force a vote to remove the speaker of the house. kevin mccarthy lowered that threshold to just a single lawmaker to be able to force that vote. that will certainly mean that he is entering leadership in a weaker position than he would have if he did not make that concession. we know he's promised votes on key bills like border security, as well as term limits. for conservative members, they wanted more representation. they wanted more power on key committees. he also made that promise to them as well. we have been watching this moment by moment. i have not seen anything in this battle for speaker, unlike anything that i just witnessed ot too long ago where you had

members exchanging words, you had finger-pointing, you had one member having -- appeared to have donald trump on the phone, trying to wrangle and get together to build some type of consensus. because they wanted to get this done today. mccarthy was so confident heading into this, so much so that he had one member who just had a baby, another member who was not feeling well, come back here to washington, d.c. in order for this to happen. and so tonight, this is a major victory for republican leader kevin mccarthy, now the next speaker of the house. but again what we saw, the bitter, the divisiveness, the razor-thin majority he now holds, that is going to be an immense challenge for him going forward, juju. >> rachel, thank you for your reporting this evening. kevin mccarthy officially voted in as speaker of the house, third in line to the presidency. the grandson of a cattle rancher, son of a firefighter. the california congressman beginning a new era in congress

this evening. stay with us, "nightline" continues.

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♪ welcome back. jen shah of "the real housewives of salt lake city" is facing a harsh new reality tonight, federal prison. the star known for her wild and outlandish antics on the franchise presenting an entirely different demeanor in court as she stood before a federal judge, somber and apologetic, waiting to learn exactly how

>> reporter: the lux life of real housewife of salt lake city, jennifer shah, continues to crumble around her. >> everything's been taken away from me, everything! >> i don't think i'm a fan anymore. >> it feels almost like you're spitting in the victims' faces. >> reporter: the typically flashy reality star -- >> whoa, whoa, whoa, almost killed myself, okay. >> reporter: donning a toned-down camel coat and pantsuit as she walked into a manhattan courthouse to face her fate after pleading guilty for her part in a decades-long fraud scheme. >> there were several rows of supporters in court for jen shah. her husband, her sons, her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, cousins, friends, all there to support jen shah. and the judge made note of welcoming them and said that clearly, as evidenced by their presence, she has done good in her life. but she was being sentenced for causing so much harm to so many people. >> reporter: the 49-year-old shah was arrested in march 2021

for running a nationwide telemarketing scheme targeting the elderly and vulnerable. >> there were people from all walks of life that fell victim to this telemarketing fraud. it caused families to split apart. they were in california, in north carolina, in the northeast, southeast -- >> reporter: she publicly denied the charges on tv for over a year. >> i am innocent, i did not do any of the things that have been alleged against me. >> reporter: then last summer, shah abruptly changed her tune and entered a surprise guilty plea. >> jen shah ended up pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. >> reporter: she faced up to 14 years in federal prison. her defense team appealing to the judge to give her just three years. her husband writing in a letter to the judge that shah's civic commitments and community contributions are limitless and she is truly a good woman, mother, wife, sister, and daughter who made bad decisions. while the judge acknowledged

shah's commitment to her family, he gave her 6 1/2 years, more than double what she hoped for, with a february 17th start date. >> she wants it to be a minimum security prison in texas, which she said is the closest minimum security federal prison to her home in utah. the judge said he would make a recommendation, but there's no guarantee. >> reporter: in early 2020, jen shah was the breakout star of bravo's newest addition to "the real housewives" franchise, salt lake city. >> in this town, i'm queen bee and mvp. >> i wanted to be shah-mazing. i wanted to be shah-bulous. >> reporter: the married mother of two bragging about her lavish lifestyle in front of the cams. >> the first season, i spent every single episode trying to figure out where jen shah's wealth came from, and i came up with absolutely nothing. the second season, i learned that i was not alone in trying to figure that out. all of her friends, all of her

associates on that show, also had no idea where that extravagant wealth came from. >> reporter: that question came into sharp focus in march. >> you have to go? >> yeah. >> reporter: a bombshell dropped in the middle of filming for season two of the show. >> there's police and they have handcuffs out. >> homeland security. >> what inevitably led to jen shah's arrest was following the bread crumbs. they started off with a scheme here in new york city to bust one of the telemarketing schemes. that led its way all the way back to salt lake city and jen shah. >> how you doing? >> reporter: 12 others were also charged. the prosecution claiming in court documents she and her coconspirators persisted in their conduct until the victims' bank accounts were empty. their credit cards were at their limits and there was nothing more to take. >> thousands of lives, mainly elderly, vulnerable women, who in many cases lost everything because of jen shah's telemarketing fraud. >> reporter: in statements to

the court, several victims describe being roped into schemes under false pretenses, through representatives saying they would teach them to open an online business. witnesses described the financial and emotional anguish they suffered because of the scheme. one victim writing, "she took advantage of vulnerable elderly people. i may never bounce back from my medical, emotional, and financial situation caused by jennifer and her partners." another victim saying, "each person scammed has their own story, with a dream of a better retirement and life that was taken away when they were coerced to give their money for false promises." the case grabbing attention from outraged celebrities. >> it comes to older people, i am not as forgiving. i am just not. because that's low-hanging fruit. >> it is. >> and it's -- i'm glad you realize you did something wrong, and i commend you. but i'm not going to be your friend for awhile until i get over that.

>> reporter: while these victims suffered, shah was living the high life. >> i make millions. hey, you got to do what you got to do for money. i'm like the wizard of oz. >> reporter: in a raid on her house, law enforcement found a closet overflowing with luxury items. bags, fur coats, shoes, receipts for hundreds of thousands of dollar splurges at luxury stores. today shah was ordered to forfeit more than 30 pricey luxury goods and pay $6.5 million in forfeiture, plus $6.6 million in restitution to pay back victims. >> the federal government might take the luxury items and auction them off, like they do other items. >> eventually fans of "the real housewives of salt lake city" or jen shah or anybody, really, can purchase some of these luxury items that she owned. they, too, can be shah-mazing. >> reporter: in addition, it was revealed that dozens of her designer bags and jewelry were fake and will also need to be forfeited.

>> she admitted in court she does appear in future episodes of the show. the judge wanted to make it clear, though, she could not profit from her crime. so if she writes a book or if she wants to sell merchandise or if she wants to appear somewhere, that money, until she has fulfilled her restitution and her forfeiture obligations, has to go to victims. >> i do wonder if this will change how people view reality tv. i think a lot of times people sign up knowing they're bringing something that's unsettled only for it to be exposed. maybe people will kind of think a little bit about that before signing up for reality tv moving forward. or maybe fame is still the drug that everyone can't get enough of. >> reporter: shah's lawyer chowdhury speaking out on her client's behalf saying, jen shah deeply regrets the mistakes she has made, and when she is a free woman again, she vows to pay her debt to the victims harmed by her mistakes.

while her bravo-lebrity status remains unclear, some housewives fans have decided her actions are beyond redemption and ratings. >> shocked she only got 6 1/2 years. she should have gotten more. being in the nursing field, i work with the elderly all the time. they don't have anything. they don't have anything, and you take that money, and then how -- they're never going to get paid back, ever. they're people who won't get to retire. they're people who have nothing to leave their family. and for what? a fake pair of louboutins? >> our thanks to erielle. damar hamlin, the special message he shared with his teammates. eww, the toilet sneeze. every flush spews harmful bacteria onto surfaces. that when touched, can quickly spread throughout your home. help stop the spread with microban24.

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finally, the incredible messages of love from buffalo bills safety damar hamlin. the 24-year-old is now breathing on his own and speaking, even facetiming with his teammates, four days after cardiac arrest. >> he made the heart symbol more than anything. it was a little bit hard to hear, but he, as you imagine, he

said "i love you boys." >> that's what we needed. literally, that's all we needed. >> buffalo plays its final regular season game at home this sunday. they'll honor the medics cedited with saving hamlin's life. one programming note. watch "gma" and "nightline" on monday for michael strahan's interview with prince harry. we'll see you right back here, same time monday. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.