vote for hakeem jefferies.hink they will. they will not be voting for mike johnson. and i think that it's highly unlikely that johnson gets this on a first vote. for one thing, as people have already point out, tom massie is absolutely a no, and i fully expect he will stick to that. i disagree with him on a lot of things, but he is a man of principle and says what he means and i don't think he will yield. i don't expect any freshmen republicans to vote against mike johnson simply because it's a lot different than it was when kevin mccarthy's speaker fight occurred. right now president trump is pulling all of the strings, and i don't think there are any newly elected republicans in that conference who want to have donald trump's attention shining on them because they didn't vote for his choice of speaker. i mean, having said that, i know it's been reported that trump's allies are starting to be concerned and looking about for who might be an alternate speaker, and that could very well -- and if the tide changes,

as our leader, hakeem jefferies, stated when we had the speaker race a couple of days ago, there will be no election denying on the part of the democratic caucus. while we are not happy with the consequences of the election, elections have consequences and donald trump will be sworn in as our next president. and then we will go about the business of trying to protect the rights of all americans as well as the social fabric and all of the benefits that americans have, whether that's our veterans, our elders with medicare, social security, which the republicans have threatened to take away. that's what i have been thinking about this time, that i am so grateful for individuals lining yourself, who are reminding us of the importance of the rule of law and those like my good friend chris wray, who i worked with as a member of a republican administration for trying to keep the law. >> let's talk about that because you also served on the committee about the weaponization of government which sort of seemed to weaponize government a good deal. that threat is greater against some colleagues, l

certainly, johnson will need to keep hakeem jefferys' cell phone on speed dial because he'll need himnd the government, passing appropriations bills and continuing resolution. expect republicans to need a big lift from democrats on major issues of governance. >> yeah, what the priority is and the desire is and what the reality is can smack you pretty hard in the face when you're heading to capitol hill for this new congress. good to see you, charlie. thank you so much. john. >>> all right. this morning, bloodshot eyes and history in detroit. the detroit lions have been playing football for forever. overnight, for the very first time, they locked up the number one seed in the nfc heading into the playoffs. again, for the first time. cnn's coy wire has all the action. >> 272 games were played until the 2024 season. it took every one of them to decide which team would take the number one seed in the nfc headed into the playoffs. the finale between the lions and vikings in detroit started as a defensive slugfest. 10- 9 midway through the third. then the lions' jameer gibbs scored three to

before the congress, give us time to sit down for him, to sit down on the democratic side with hakeem jefferiesd common ground. they found common ground and got the votes they needed. that's all you need in order to get deals passed in the house of representatives. and we are not going to be fully constituted. so he has to get to 216, 215 in order to get an agenda passed. sit down with the opposing views, find common ground, and get it done. he is showing us that he can do it. let's hope that he will. >> there is an idea that james carville, among others, and, obviously, you have been a part of minority rule of the house in the past, put forward, which is kind of forcing the opposing party to vote on things that are very popular with the public. that you have long been an advocate for, like raising the minimum wage, codifying abortion. are those things that you think democratic leadership will push forward? i saw, obviously, jeffries gave a speech about protecting social security and medicare the other a day. do you hope you have the votes to force votes on those issues? >> yes, but i think we

every single issue that's come up, he's going to need hakeem jefferies.t coral and keep this caucus together. they're all free agents. trump is a lame duck. its still his party. this is going to be two years of absolute hell for mike johnson. >> let me try something out on you here. mike johnson as speaker with a democratic president is a different mike johnson as speaker with the republican president, one. and a republican president who is named donald trump. trump's no winner in all this, because what was shown yesterday was that there were nine people who were willing to defy him because he came out and said vote for mike johnson. >> yeah, but jonathan, everybody was expecting two to three to four days of craziness. trump made sure that didn't happen. trump made sure that didn't happen because he wants his election certified on monday. make no mistake. >> all back to trump. >> it is. it's him and his calendar. that's all this is about. that's why when you get into policy issues, but forget about it. >> forget about it meaning -- >> it's going to be cha

joining me now is house democratic leader hakeem jeffries. leader jefferyse back to meet the press. >> good to be with you? i want to start with the ceasefire agreement with israel and hamas. in this extraordinary move the outgoing biden administration and incoming trump administration did workrk togeer to try to secure this ceasefire agreement. since then we have seen both mr.ed bien and mr. trump try to take some credit for this deal. let me ask you, leader jeffries, do you believe that president-elect donald trump deserves some credit for this ceasefire agreement? >> what's most important is that it was an act of diplomacy that was accomplished and first put into the public domain, of course, by president biden in may of last year having to secure the support of the then israeli war cabinet and the u.n. security council. we are thankful that israeli hostages and american hostages are on the way home. humanitarian assistance will be surged into gaza to provide relief to palestinian civilians and that the foundation will be laid for a path to a just and las

i am voting for hakeem jefferies for speaker. i think every other democrat will as well.her. >> all right. democratic congressman tom suozzi of new york. congressman, thank you for joining us this morning. his opinion piece in "the new york times" available online now. doug, your thoughts on the speaker race. what you have seen from house speaker johnson to this point. donald trump was content to let him twist in the wind wind for a couple of weeks. is now backing him. what do you make of his time as speaker so far? do you think it will continue? >> he has a calming demeanor as you just heard from our democrat across the aisle that people like him well enough. i thought that when elon musk kind of firebombed potential government shutdown that you were going to get more of a war going on this time in early january, but seems like things are being quite cohesive. so i think he is the person. trump likes him well enough. musk is going to have to learn to respect that he has a skill of vote counting and doing what he does that's different than making millions of dollars like