'A disaster': GOP's top speaker prospect loses votes as Republican House fractures

Negotiations about appointing a new Speaker of the House appear to be breaking down among Republicans, as Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is actually losing votes rather than gaining them, and Republicans are debating trying to find a different candidate just a day after nominating him.

That's what CNN correspondent Melanie Zanona reported seeing on Thursday afternoon.

"Congressman Steve Scalise's bid for the speakership of the House of Representatives now appears to be in very serious jeopardy," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "How are Republicans finally going to break this deadlock?"

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"That is the question of the day, Wolf," said Zanona. "Republicans had this closed-door meeting earlier today, and based on my conversations with lawmakers, it was a disaster. Steve Scalise failed to win any holdouts, and in fact, he seems to be bleeding support. Last night, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna told us she was going to be behind Scalise, but she left that meeting telling my colleague she is going to be voting against him on the floor."

"Things seem to be turning in the wrong direction for Steve Scalise," Zanona continued. "He is meeting in his office as we speak with some of these holdouts, trying to win over their support and assuage their concerns. There are serious doubts whether Steve Scalise can ever get there. That is creating deep frustration in the GOP now. Members are warning they don't have that type of time. It's not like in January they can go through rounds of votes and dealing with a crisis in Israel, and they have another government funding deadline coming up."

"At this moment there are discussions about a Plan B," Zanona added. "If Steve Scalise can't get there, they're talking about drafting a new candidate to step up to the plate. There's a group of centrist Republicans talking about empowering the interim speaker to help the House function more properly. At this moment the House is paralyzed and no consensus on the path forward."

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The panel on CNN's "NewsNight" came unglued on Wednesday while discussing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's tax plan, which he shared with CNBC earlier that day.

In an interview with Aaron Ross Sorkin, Bezos claimed that the bottom percentile of workers should pay no income tax. He said that the plan would benefit more middle-income earners, like a nurse in Queens, New York, than economic plans put forward by Democrats like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialist mayor of New York City, to increase taxes on the wealthy.

“You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens,” Bezos claimed.

Bezos's idea set off a firestorm on CNN.

Arthur Aidala, a criminal defense attorney, claimed that Bezos was right that increasing taxes on the wealthy would be detrimental to the middle class. He argued that increasing taxes could cause wealthy people to flee certain areas for low-tax havens.

Aidala also claimed that Mamdani was about to "ruin the economy" in New York by raising taxes on the wealthy, a claim that didn't sit well with other panelists.

"What set of facts do you have to back that up?" Charles Blow, a political journalist, shot back.

Aidala claimed that Citadel Capital CEO Ken Griffin's recent comments about Mamdani putting people like him in danger were one example. Noah Rothman, a writer for the National Review, argued that Florida's population growth shows how Mamdani's tax plan has made the wealthy leave New York City.

"Not everybody in Florida is moving from New York," Blow countered. "So I want to know ... What are your numbers?"

Host Jessica Dean attempted to intervene, but the conversation got more heated from there.

Aidala wouldn't say where he got his data from, which led Blow to attack further.

"We can't just do this whole thing like, 'I know a guy,'" Blow said. "You have no data."

Blow held up a chart showing that millionaires continue to move to New York City despite Mamdani's policies.

"What are you talking about?" Blow said to Aidala.

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A psychiatrist made a frightening prediction on Wednesday about the rest of President Donald Trump's second term during a new podcast interview.

Dr. John Gartner, a psychiatrist and former professor at Johns Hopkins University, told Hugh Dougherty on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" that Rep. Thomas Massie's (R-KY) primary defeat on Tuesday may have emboldened Trump to do something that was once considered unthinkable. Trump may make the call to launch a nuclear strike in Iran or elsewhere, and there may not be anyone left around him who can stop it, he said.

"I know sometimes people accuse me of laughing. I'll try to laugh a little less for this strip, because I really believe that we are going to wake up one morning and he will have launched a first nuclear strike," Gartner said. "I believe that this is going to happen because he wants to do it."

Gartner has frequently said Trump exhibits signs of someone suffering from frontotemporal dementia, a condition that significantly impacts someone's decision-making abilities. While Gartner has not examined the president, he said he feels confident about his diagnosis because of how seemingly disinhibited Trump has become.

"He no longer has the frontal lobe to give him the restraint, inhibition, and judgment that would cause him to inhibit himself," Gartner said. "And he now has a yes-man cabinet of true believers and psychopaths who are not going to be a backstop. We don't have General Mattis, we don't have John Kelly, we don't have Rex Tillerson. There are no more adults in the room."

"And in fact, we just had a primary last night. Massie has been thrown out. There were literally no men or women in elected political office as a Republican who isn't blindly lockstep following him," Gartner continued. "So I think people need to really get their minds around this. This is going to happen."

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice just signaled its broader plan after unveiling its latest indictment, according to one expert.

Melba Pearson, a former prosecutor in South Florida, said during a new episode of the Legal AF podcast that the indictment against Raúl Castro is unlikely to result in Castro's extradition, much less a trial. Even so, it revealed that the Trump administration seems to be chasing a bigger goal because of how the indictment plays politically.

The Trump DOJ indicted Castro on Wednesday for a 1996 airplane shootdown that killed four men, three of them American citizens. Trump accompanied the indictment by claiming that the U.S. would soon impose an embargo on the country, which is already suffering economically.

While the U.S. has indicted several leaders in the past, Pearson noted one key difference in Castro's indictment. Cuba does not have an extradition agreement with the U.S., which means it is unlikely Castro will ever be arrested like Saddam Hussein or Nicolás Maduro.

However, an indictment prevents Castro from leaving the country and using his assets, Pearson said. That points to the larger aims of the Trump administration.

"Castro's indictment is kind of following that same path, which then leads me to believe what the bigger plan is, which is something that has been stated quite plainly, a takeover of Cuba," Pearson said.

The Trump administration has been threatening to invade Cuba for months. Reports indicate Cubans are preparing for a U.S. invasion, and the Cuban government has been reportedly buying up drones in preparation for a conflict.

Pearson noted that the indictment of Castro may be a way for Trump to play to Cuban voters ahead of the midterms.

"They came out in strength in support of this president, and they're one of the most politically active voting blocs in the state of Florida," Pearson noted. "So this indictment is again looking at the timing ... this is a nod to the Cuban community."


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