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The Briefing with Jen Psaki

Roughly Speaking: Mike Johnson Narrowly Wins House Speakership

The Briefing with Jen Psaki

NBC News

News, Politics

4.5664 Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jen Psaki dives into the drama filled re-election of speaker Mike Johnson, and how aggressive moves by the Democrats could be the key to regaining power down the line. She is joined by James Carville to discuss what Democrats got wrong in November and where to go from here. Next, Jen is joined by Representative Jim Clyburn for a wide-ranging interview, including his thoughts ahead of the four-year anniversary of the violent January 6 insurrection and how Democrats can find common ground with Republicans in the new Congress. Then, legal experts Neal Katyal and Andrew Weissmann join the show to discuss Judge Merchan's orders for Donald Trump to be sentenced in his hush money case and why Merchan signaled that he will not be sentencing Trump to jail time. Later, Jen breaks down the GOP's attempts to falsely tie the New Orleans terrorist attack to the border and how it reveals their larger goal of stoking fears as groundwork for their extreme immigration policies. Finally, Jen is joined by former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to discuss the latest updates on the Bourbon Street attack and how Trump's disinformation distracts from the real investigative efforts being conducted by law enforcement.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Well, Republicans managed to pick a speaker, but we're already seeing just how chaotic this new Congress is going to be.

0:07.8

And in that chaos, there's going to be some opportunity for Democrats.

0:11.4

Legendary Democratic strategist James Carville is standing by with a few specific ideas about how they can capitalize.

0:18.2

Plus, ahead of another anniversary of January 6th,

0:21.3

Donald Trump was partying at Mara Lago last night

0:24.3

with the architects of the plot

0:25.9

to steal the 2020 election.

0:28.0

I'll get Congressman James Clyburn's reaction to that.

0:30.9

And later, a judge orders Trump

0:32.6

to appear for sentencing next week,

0:34.3

just 10 days before he's sworn in.

0:36.5

The law firm of Weissman and Katiel is here to tell us what to expect and why it matters.

0:50.8

Okay, so on Friday, Mike Johnson was re-elected as Speaker of the House, but not without a

0:57.5

healthy dose of drama. I mean, initially Johnson didn't have the votes, and for a moment,

1:02.6

it looked like we might be headed for another McCarthy-esque multi-day dumpster fire here in Washington.

1:08.4

And then two of the key Republican holdouts decided to vote for Johnson.

1:13.4

Of course, right after getting phone calls from Donald Trump, sometimes that's how it goes.

1:17.0

But whatever it took to get over the finish line, if you're Mike Johnson or anyone working for

1:20.9

him, I think it's safe to say you're probably breathing a big side of relief right now because

1:25.0

it very easily could have gone another way. I mean, just

1:29.0

asked Kevin McCarthy, given when he went through. It was just over a year ago. And it's important

1:33.6

to note before McCarthy's five-day 15 ballot fiasco, the last time a speaker of the House was not

...

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