to that point melanie zanona still with us on capitol hill. melanie, we know president biden in his conversation with speaker pelosi encouraged her to stay. and you could certainly understand that. again, she helped shepherd his agenda through the house with a very narrow majority. you can always trust her math. and you always want her judgment and her opinion. i understand you have some reporting that the leader across the aisle in the congress also said maybe you should stay. >> yeah. that's exactly right. senate democratic leader chuck schumer, he was in the audience, he was on the floor for this historic speech, and he told our colleagues walking off the floor that he wanted her to stay and that when he heard the news he told her as much. it's the same thing biden apparently told pelosi as well. this has been a sentiment across the democratic caucus, especially after the strong midterm showing that democrats had, was that she could have stayed around if she wanted to and she could have made a run to continue to lead the democratic caucus. s

and cnn's melanie zanona is live on capitol hill. melanie, what do republicans plan to do now that they have subpoena power? >> well, house republicans are planning a host of investigations into the biden administration. their opening salvo came today when jim jordan and james comber, who republicans who are poised to chair these powerful committees in the new congress, held a joint press conference to outline what they say are their early findings into their investigation into joe biden and hunter biden and their family's business dealings. but this is just one of their many investigative targets. they also want to look into the pullout of afghanistan. they want to look into the origins of the covid-19 pandemic. they want to look into the doj's investigations into donald trump. so there's a whole litany of things that they're going to be aggressively looking into. and i'll remind the viewers at home now that they have the majority that means they have subpoena power, they have the power to call in witnesses, to demand documents, to h

. >> cnn's melanie zanona with more on what is likely to be a tough few days for the gop. >> reporter: republicans are gearing up for a tense series of meetings this week as they return to washington for the first time since their disappointing midterm election results. republicans want to figure out what went wrong, why a red wave never materialized, and they must also decide the fate of their political leaders. in the house, gop leader kevin mccarthy is facing revolt from his right flank. i'm told there are dozens of hard-liners threatening to vote against him for speaker if he does not give in to their demands, and they will have significant leverage since republicans will likely have a razor thin majority if they do win the house. our dana bash asked speaker nancy pelosi whether she thinks mccarthy has what it takes to become speaker. here's her response. >> why would i make a judgment about something that may or may not ever happen? no, i don't think he has it, but that's up to his own people to make a decision as to how they want to be led or otherwise. >> reporter: meanwhile, i

melanie zanona, thanks so much. >>> don't miss a cnn special town hall tonight.mer vice president mike pence will join jake tapper live. tune in at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. >>> coming up next, a closer look at multiple investigations trump is facing as he tries to get his white house bid off the ground. i will speak to a former trump white house lawyer about whether his campaign could potentially minimize his legal trouble. >>> also ahead, a successful launch, it happened while you were sleeping. artemis i now on its way to the moon. we have details on that mission. >>> and a bit later, police in idaho trying to piece together a timeline, trying to figure out how four college students were killed with what is being described as an edged weapon. we will tell you what we know about the investigation and also these young victims. 'twas a wintry day, and at ihop p quite soon hot cinnamon apples would be coaxed with a spoon on the fluffiest french toast with red currants on top we wish you a happy holiday, only aihop. negingersnap apple french toast, part of ounew holi

cnn's melanie zanona live on capitol hill.osi, keeping us all waiting for what the bottom line will be. what are you hearing? >> keeping us on our toes. that's absolutely right. but today is the day. we're finally going to learn whether nancy pelosi will pass the torch or not. and no one actually knows what she's going to do. our annie grier reported that she took home two versions of her speech last night. but there's a few ways this could play out. one, she could announce that she's leaving entirely, leaving congress, leaving leadership. or she can announce she's staying entirely. but then there's this third option where she could announce that she's leading leadership but deciding to stay as a member of congress. we have to wait and see. she's addressing a group of her members right now behind closed doors and expected to make a floor speech at some point after that. we will be watching. but this obviously has massive implications for the democratic party, because there is a group of ambitious young democrats who are waitin

>> melanie zanona. thank you. >>> just a reminder stay with us starting tomorrow election day our special coverage kicks off at 4:00 p.m. eastern. we look forward to seeing you here. >>> coming up next the leader of the oath keepers a man who bought $20,000 worth of guns and ammunition ahead of january 6 back on the stand in his trial for seditious conspiracy. we will take you live to the courthouse. >>> plus, an embarrassing mistake by twitter's new boss. a new report says that elon musk is asking dozens of employees who were just laid off on friday to come back. >> kind of a big oops there. >>> later an iowa teen making national headlines when she was ordered to pay restitution for killing her alleged rapist is now on the run. officials say she cut off her ankle monitor, a new arrest warrant has been issued. we have details for you just ahead. if you used shipgo this whole thing wouldn't be a thing. yeah, dad! i i don't want to deal with ththis. oh, you brought your luggage to the airport. that's ador

cnn's melanie zanona's joining us live from capitol hill. she's got more on the end of this groundbreaking tenure. melanie, what are you learning first of all about who may be next in line to lead the democratic party? >> reporter: well, wolf, the democratic party appears to be very quickly coalescing around hakeem jeffries. he is a current member of the leadership team. he's also a member of the powerful congressional black caucus. as one member told me today, he is ready for this moment. he is prepared for this moment. and two of his would-be challengers have already bowed out of the race. steny hoyer who is nancy pelosi's second in command, announced he will not seek another term in the democratic leadership. and as we preeflsly reported adam schiff has decided to instead explore a senate bid. now, we also have eyes on katherine clark and pete aguilar who are likely to run for the number 2 and number 3 positions respectively. but so far no one has made any official announcements and that is because they want to keep today about nancy pelos

. >> cnn capitol hill reporter melanie zanona is following all of us for us. walk us through the top priorities and what the focus is today. it's going to be a busy day there. >> reporter: absolutely going to be a busy day. first up in the house they're going to take two critical votes to avoid a rail strike. first they will vote on the deal struck in september but has since been rejected, that includes a 24% pay increase and better health benefits. and then the house is going to hold a separate second vote on adding paid sick leave. that's something that unions have been pushing for and the reason why progressives were critical of the deal as-is. all of that will then head to the senate, it is unclear if the senate will take up the paid sick leave portion, but both republican and democratic senate leaders are vowing to get this deal done. so really it's just a matter of timing which can be a little tricky in the senate. this is just one of several tasks facing congress and the administration during these critical lame duck session period. the other thing that

cnn capitol hill reporter melanie zanona sitting down with the man who could be the next speaker of the the chamber, congressman kevin mccarthy of california. >> reporter: house gop leader kevin mccarthy is promising to pursue an ambitious agenda if republicans win back the house on tuesday. >> the first thing you'll see is a bill to control the border first. >> reporter: his closing message a day before the midterms, addressing the falling economic outlook and surging prices. >> first thing we'll do is make sure an economy that's strong, make sure the new regulations that are adding to inflation has got to get curved back. and then make sure america is energy independent. >> reporter: mccarthy also has to keep an eye on the maga win and secure their support to propel him to the speaker's office. >> how confident are you that you have the votes to become speaker? >> i know all the pollsters said last time we'd lose 15 seats and we ended upbeating 13 democrats. if we win the majority, i'll run for speaker. >> do you think you'll have the votes for speaker? >> i believe i'll have the vote

cnn's melanie zanona sat down with the top republican in the house kevin mccarthy for an interview about plans and his tarngts and hopes of becoming the next speaker of the house. a powerful position that as you remember has evaded him before. melanie is in texas with more. what is mccarthy saying now? >> reporter: well, i pressed mccarthy on what are his plans for addressing the issues that have become so central in republican's pitch to voters. and he said they're going to try to tackle inflation and crime and border and providing for brants to police officers and reinstituting the remain in mexico policy and making america nor energy independent. but most of the bills are going to be messaging endeavors because they could not over come the president's veto or the 60 vote threshold. and he will have to deal with raising the nation's borrowing limit. he told me that republicans are going to demand spending cuts in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling. risking a very potential disastrous fiscal showdown. take a listen. >> the view that i give a person a higher limit, wouldn't you first

cnn's melanie zanona on capitol hill this morning. melanie, you read this letter. what are the targets? >> reporter: republicans are ready to hit the ground running with their investigative plans if they take back the house. they have been laying the groundwork for those investigative priorities for months. that includes yesterday when jim jordan sent these letters to a number of biden agencies requesting documents and other information. to the faib jordan is seeking information about the search warrant on trump's residence in florida, mar-a-lago. to the doj they're seeking information about the probe into project veritas. that is a conservative group known for its undercover sting operations and also seeking information about the agency's enforcement of an access to abortions clinic law. i want to read you a quick key line. jordan writes that committee republicans intend to continue to examine these matters including into the 118th congress if necessary. clearly they are putting these agencies on notice and making crystal clear that republicans plan to use their s

. >> cnn's melanie zanona is on capitol hill with more.ting any time in his preparations. >> reporter: no, that's right. kevin mccarthy launched an aggressive campaign to lock down votes for speaker. i'm told he's been working the phones ever since yesterday calling members, asking for their support. making the argument that he's on the verge of delivering the majority, that republicans have picked up seats under his watch two cycles in a row. he's also been hearing from potential holdouts and critics, hearing what their demands are, listening to them but not making promises just yet. he tapped a team of allies to fan out across the party and make the calls and whip the support for the speakership. we saw him meeting with both allies and potential critics in his capitol hill office here. that includes marjorie taylor greene, someone who has been critical of him in the past. she did not say leaving the meeting whether she would support him for speaker. sources tell me there are about two dozen members of the tomorrow trump house freedom cau

melanie zanona is out front on capitol hill. e, in that context, they've got it, but it is going to be razor-thin, whatever it is. republicans have promised again and again that controlling the house means investigations of biden, investigations on his son, investigations on immigration, biden coming out moments ago though and congratulating mccarthy. is this just going to be the beginning of investigations? >> reporter: you're absolutely right, erin. it's a smaller margin than what republicans would've hoped for, but it's a majority nonetheless. with it comes subpoena power. they can launch investigations, they can haul in witnesses, they can subpoena documents. so this is going to be a huge focus of a republican-led house. they are going to investigate everything from the origins of covid, to the border, to anthony fauci, to hunter biden, which is president biden's son. they're also going to have the power to set the agenda. they can act as a firewall against the democratic-led senate and bring whatever bills they want to the f

house minority leader kevin mccarthy giving an exclusive and wide-ranging interview to cnn's melanie zanonaons. he talks about his potential speakership if republicans take the house of representatives. the possibility of impeaching president biden, and what could be a sweeping gop agenda. >> will there be an immigration bill on the floor? >> i think the first thing you'll see is a bill to control the border first. you've got to get control over the border. we've had almost 2 million people just this year alone coming across. >> some of your members are calling for impeachment, what do you say to them? >> the one thing i've always known about the land of america, it's the rule of law. and we will hold the rule of law and we won't play politics with this. we'll never use impeachment for political purposes. it doesn't mean if something rises to the occasion it would not be used, it wouldn't matter if it's a republican or democrat. >> speaking of oversight, marjorie taylor greene says she wants a seat on the oversight committee. will you support that, despite her history of inflammatory remark

let's go to melanie zanona.s someone making calls on his behalf for the speaker's battle. tell us about that. >> reporter: kevin mccarthy is getting key backup from former donald trump. donald trump has been calling people encouraging them to support mccarthy for

let's go to melanie zanona. kevin mccarthy has someone making calls on his behalf for the speaker's battle. tell us about that. >> reporter: kevin mccarthy is getting key backup from former donald trump. donald trump has been calling people encouraging them to support mccarthy for speaker. he wants to protect him from any blame for the poor midterm performance because he needs him if he's going to run for president in 2024. and it does seem that some allies have gotten the message. marjorie taylor greene now saying she thinks it's a bad idea for someone to challenge mccarthy. but not everyone in the party feels the same way. take a listen to what congressman matt gaetz said earlier today. >> right now there are a lot of the establishment republicans in denial, believing that kevin mccarthy can become speaker. what i'm here is tell you is there are definitely at least five people, actually a lot more, who would rather be waterboarded by liz cheney than vote for kevin mccarthy for speaker of the house, and i'm one

cnn's melanie zanona is joining us from the capitol. jeffries is breaking a barrier that's been up for centuries in congress. this isn't just symbolic, though. how is he going to reshape things for house democrats? >> reporter: it is definitely a new era for house democrats. aside from being the first black leader of any party, he's also going to be the youngest leader at age 52. it doesn't sound that young, but around here it is compared previous leadership. giving more opportunities to be involved in writing bills and to give them more opportunities for high-profile positions. that obviously is a nod to some of the frustrations that have pent up in the democratic party for many years. but a big part of jeffries' job as minority leader is going to be beating back against the gop investigations and potential impeachment proceedings into president joe biden's administration. he doesn't have a good working relationship, if at all, with kevin mccarthy who is in line to become speaker next year. they've had somewhat of a contentious relatio

difficult but i think it is notable that trump has basically kept his hands off of that situation, melanie zanona reported that he has been making calls to backup mccarthy. so mccarthy is gonna him something. and how he balances that is gonna be a huge factor in what kind of leader he is gonna before the ruffle comes. >> jeff, i mean, you mentioned this a little bit. but the concessions that kevin mccarthy's gonna have to make within his own party, not with democrats, within his own party, to get to the 218 votes you need to win. i mean, there is a lot of, you know, folks in the freedom caucus who is gonna have to make concessions to? >> he definitely is. and one of the central things is a very arcane washington for a scold the motion to vacate the chair. and a big question hanging over this is if he is gonna have to restore that. and essentially that means that he would put back a rule in place that allows any house member at any time to call for a vote of no confidence, and the new election of a speaker. so no person, of course, wants this. it is essentially what led to the demise of speaker bo

melanie zanona is tracking this for us.e midst of the preparation for the next section, kevin mccarthy is facing questions about his hopes of becoming a new speaker. what are you learning. >> he'll have a lot of work to do between now and january when the speaker vote is an ott house floor. as you remember, 31 republicans voted against him in the internal elections last week and since then there have been two republicans who have come out and put themselves in the the never ken camp. they won't vote for him no matter what, and that includes matt gaetz and andy bigs and two others are signaling they are likely to vote no and that is bob good and matt rosendale. we don't know the margins just yet but it is likely that mccarthy could only afford to lose maybe four members, maybe less, maybe one or two more. and so he is going to have to work to win over the rest of those holdouts. but the risk there is that some of the deals could weaken his own power, weaken his own speakership. it could also turn off moderates who will have

melanie zanona joins us live from capitol hill.e the one who talked to him, you interviewed him last week. how confident is he? >> reporter: not as confident as he was last week, poppy, i can tell you that. look, he is going to win the nomination for his party's speakership today. he only needs a simple majority for that vote. the real test is going to come in january because that's when he needs a majority of the entire house. and as we first reported on cnn, congressman andy biggs is preparing to mount a challenge to him later today. and that is not a serious challenge, that is just the antimccarthy vote, but there could be a significant number of republicans who are in that camp. take a listen to what congressman matt gaetz told us yesterday. >> this is very premature. there is precisely one moment in time when there is a vote to determine who the speaker will be. that is on january 3rd, and i think we'll have far better options than kevin mccarthy. i think you'll see a critical mass say we want to turn the page. we want new lea

let's discuss all of this with paul"the washington po post", cnn's eva mckend, cnn's melanie zanona and rachael bade. i think most people in politics would not have imagined we would be sitting here talking about maybe not even a red ripple at the end of the day. >> oh no. i think when all of the votes are counted, it takes a long time to tabulate. i think you'll discover that democrats got more votes for the house than republicans when all is said and done. i think you're going to see a net gain in state legislative seats for democrats across the board. and they will have gained -- they will -- if they win georgia, they'll have picked up a seat in the senate, and i think they're going to gain governorships. so this is not a red ripple. if anything, this is a draw or a narrow win for democrats. >> for democrats, yeah. it is pretty extraordinary that republicans really blew what was a very favorable environment for them, not just because of the economic conditions, popularity of the president, but also because of redistricting. and the house has been called, but it is very close, it is v

. >> cnn's melanie zanona is up on capitol hill with more. what has a realistic chance of getting done, especially considering that we have to keep the government you open, you don't want a shutdown and also you have the debt ceiling looming? >> reporter: you can really think about it in terms of two ducts buckets, there is the must pass items and wish list items. must pass items, government funding, if congress doesn't fund the government by december 16th there will be a shutdown which no one wants. there is already talk of needing to give themselves a one week extension to get this done. white house is pushing for covid aid, ukraine funding, but we are expecting to pass. also in the must pass item bucket is an annual defense policy bill. that's something that congress has passed every single year so we are expecting that to pass, it's bipartisan. they just need to finish up their work on that. moving over to the wish list items, top of the list is a bill to protect same-sex marriage, already moving through the senate, we are expecting to pa

let's go to melanie zanona right now, who is at events headquarters. melanie, a big achievement for a man who has never been elected to anything before. >> right. that's exactly right. and i am being told that democratic congressman tim ryan has called j.d. vance to concede in this race. tim ryan was always viewed as the underdog. he thought that this race was overlooked and that people had a lot of support from the national party -- as you can hear, the crowd is getting very excited right now as the race is being called. there is a lot of energy in the room right now. j.d. vance is someone who is going to be very different than his predecessor. his predecessor, rob portman, is a long time centrist. j.d. vance, meanwhile, has been a fierce supporter of donald trump, then an election denier, i-2020 election denier, though he did say he will accept the results tonight. i have yet to hear whether he is going to come out and make a speech. we are expecting that to happen at some point. but we will keep you posted, jake. >> all right, melanie zanona at j.d.

we have got capitol hill reporter melanie zanona with me now. capitol hill today, dripping in, dripping in, we still don't yet know full control, though. >> reporter: yeah, exactly right. the general consensus that republicans are very disappointed and i have learned a long with my colleague manu raju there are two dozen members of the house freedom caucus who are willing to vote against kevin mccarthy for speaker. and depending on the margins, that could be enough to put his speakership bid in peril. two votes he has to get through. first, an internal leadership election among republicans, he needs a simple majority for that vote. and then a floor vote in january where he needs 218 votes. the strategy right now among house republicans is to try to put up a candidate, a challenger during that first internal leadership election vote, and that way they'll have someone to vote against mccarthy for and the thinking there is that they want to send a message to mccarthy, show him he doesn't have the votes for that floor vote, and try to force him to th

. >>> with me to share their reporting and insights, cnn's nia mallika henderson, melanie in zanona.s vote to delay the election and want more time to think about this. that in and of itself is a shot across the bow of leader mcconnell. we're watching this play out in the house as well. is it venting frustration or is it real? is his leadership -- he's going to win, that's my bet, i think that's a safe bet, but is his authority undermined by this? >> i think that's the big question. there's also questions about whether mitch mcconnell will continue to serve out for the rest of his term. does he stick around in 2024, especially if donald trump is the republican nominee? he has said he's going to serving through and hasn't answered what he would do beyond that. this is the first time mcconnell has ever faced a challenger and just, you know, 30,000 foot view here is remarkable the amount of unrest we are seeing in both the house and senate republican parties. mitch mcconnell did not think he would be here. kevin mccarthy didn't think he would be in this position right now. it's overshad

let's go to melanie zanona from ohio this morning. folks are headed to the polls.e polls just opened here in ohio. tim ryan already went in and voted. you also had jd vance tweeting out encouraging people to vote. and also saying today's the day we send a message to joe biden. and really that has been a central theme of his message and campaign. he's trying to make this election a referendum on joe biden and the democratic agenda. that was also a theme we heard last night at the jd vance rally, which featured former president donald trump. and another strategy of vance's, trying to tap into the trump base, and trying to enthusiastically gin up that base. he sought out trump endorsement in the primary and hugged him tightly ever since. and then meanwhile you have tim ryan, who is really trying to portray himself as this independent no nonsense fighter who is going to stand up for his own party. he also had a very consistent economic message since the beginning of the campaign. he's trying to make an appeal to his working white collar voters. and he's also been tryin

let's check in right now with melanie zanona who is in columbus, ohio, recovering j.d. vance. cnn caught up with the candidate as he arrived at campaign headquarters. >> reporter: yeah. we spot him outside the hotel. we asked him how he is feeling and he says we're feeling good. he was all smiles. and i can tell you i checked in with a campaign source. and he said the campaign right now is buzzing with excitement as the polls are about to come to a close here. they say -- they are saying low turnout in cuyahoga county, a strong democratic county that includes cleveland that, went for joe biden in 2020. so that's a very important county for tim ryan, the democrat. i checked in with his campaign. they said that there is a potential data lag in cleveland proper where there's less staffing with precincts and that they are seeing good numbers in the suburbs. as you can see, it's starting to get underway here at the election party. this is the ohio gop election night party where vance is. i am told that he's been popping in and out of the room that his team has set up here and he's