Good evening. Once again, I am Stephanie Ruhl thrilled to be back with you. Welcome to the first

nightcap of the new year and the official start of the 119th Congress. Let's take a deep breath

for that. This afternoon, both chambers were sworn in and House Speaker Mike Johnson

held on to his gavel on the first try, eventually. In the end, Donald Trump did make some

calls to put him over the finish line, but the president-elect is not the only one throwing

his weight around this week. Today, President Joe Biden formally

blocked Japan's Nippon's deal from purchasing U.S. Steel, citing national security concerns.

Both companies responded to the move, saying the following, quote, the president's statement

and order to not present any credible evidence of a national security issue is making it clear

this was a political decision. With that, let's bring in our nightcap. Evan McMorris,

Centoro joins us, reporter for notice. Ron Insana is here, CNBC senior analysts and the CEO of

ifi.a.i. Mary Harris joins us, host and managing editor of Slate's Daily News

Podcast. What's next? And Brendan Buck is here. Former Chief Communications Advisor for both

Speaker Paul Ryan and John Boehner. Brendan, let's start with you and Mike Johnson. This was

obviously dramatic. It made a lot of headlines. but at the end of the day, Donald Trump

has one priority to be sworn in as the next president of the United States of America. Did anyone

really think that there was a single Republican elected official that was going to stand in the way

and block Mike Johnson and delay Donald Trump?

Yeah, there were enough Republicans who thought that they could maybe get some attention for

themselves, maybe have a little weekend where they all keep everybody in session.

But when there were only three people at the end of the day who voted against him,

it was very clear, I guess, before they switched their votes, it was very clear that Mike Johnson was going to be Speaker of the House again. When Kevin McCarthy lost his vote, he lost 19 people, a lot more than a lot of folks expected. That number ultimately rose to 20. These folks were on an island very

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