Happening now, breaking news. Kevin McCarthy trying to seize the momentum right now in the fight

for the speakership. The House is preparing to return to session at 10 p.m. Eastern tonight after two very dramatic

votes saw the Republican leader flip more than a dozen hardliner holdouts coming

up just short of a majority.

All of this as the country marks the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection.

President Biden honoring the defenders of democracy in a very solemn and moving ceremony over at the White House today

including several police officers brutally attacked while holding off the mob at

the Capitol.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

I'm Wolf Blitzer, you're in the situation room. This is CNN breaking news.

Let's get straight to the breaking news right now.

The momentum in the Speaker's race swinging heavily toward House Republican leader. the Hill right now. Mano, I understand you're getting new information.

Yeah, intense discussions happening behind the scenes as Kevin McCarthy is confident that

tonight is the night he will finally become elected speaker after 13 failed votes. The first time there has

been a multiple ballot election for a House speaker in a century. The longest time

there's been a ballot number of ballots in any speaker's race for since the mid 1800s but

Kevin McCarthy believes he is finally there. They are planning to vote tonight at

10 p.m. they're holding a vote late in order to allow two members who supported him who

are out of town to come back into town and there's also an effort to convince a number of

hold us to go his way. We are learning that Kevin McCarthy and his team are urging a number of

these holdouts to vote not for him but to vote quote present. In order to do

that that could actually help McCarthy by lowering the threshold of what

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