CNN "The Situation Room" - TRANSCRIPT Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) Last-Ditch Talks Ahead Of Speaker Vote Tomorrow; Idaho Suspect Expected In Court Tomorrow Amid Motive Mystery; Deadly New Year Of War In Ukraine; House Fight For Speaker Intensifies As McCarthy Loses Third Vote; Idaho Suspect Agrees To Be Extradited To Face Murder Charges. Aired 6-7p ET

Interview

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Joining me now Republican Congressman David Valadao of California who is supporting McCarthy for speaker. And I'll also note, of course, that you voted to impeach former President Trump over January 6th, something that I understand Congressman McCarthy backed you on and supported you on.

So let me ask you, because I know you have known him for a long time. What is his thinking right now as you understand it, Congressman?

REP. DAVID VALADAO (R-CA): What is Kevin McCarthy's thinking?

BURNETT: Yes.

VALADAO: Well, Kevin McCarthy's going to fight until the very end. This is something we've all encouraged him to do. It's something we've been telling him for weeks if not months. Just over the last few weeks, and even this morning, his comments in conference were very strong and very much to the point where he's not backing down.

BURNETT: So, when you all come back in session tomorrow, does that mean you'll go vote after vote after vote? I mean, what does it mean he's going to fight until the end?

VALADAO: Well, like many of us have said, if it's one vote, if it's a thousand votes. And, obviously, we're already at three. So, it's going to at least number four. But, ultimately, we got to keep doing what we're supposed to do.

And our commitment to Kevin McCarthy, a lot of us in the conference, because over 200 of us have been voting for him, is to continue to vote for him no matter how many times it takes. And McCarthy has stood with us and said, and he's willing to be up there and take the arrows for us as we continue to support him.

BURNETT: Okay. So, in that front, you're say you're willing to give a thousand votes. It doesn't sound like you're thinking about anything else at this point.

What is your reaction to what Congressman Norman just said? He opposes McCarthy, he is meeting with him, but saying he will support Jim Jordan as speaker and he'll go, quote, six months to oppose McCarthy I'm not sure exactly what he means when he says that. But what's your reaction when you hear something like that, okay, he's

willing to meet with him, but he still is not going to support him?

VALADAO: So, this is the problem that we've been dealing with for a while. We went through a whole rules conference and package. We debate, people offer amendments. Most of those amendments were adopted.

We've had our meetings. We've had our conference. We've had our negotiations. The rules package passed with unanimous support.

But when we get down to the nitty-gritty today, they still get up and say they're opposed but they don't come up with a direct reason why they are opposed. And there was a little bit of a confrontation in conference today where McCarthy straight up asked, hey, what do you want? What's it going to take? And no one could give an answer.

Well, they pointed to some letter that was written back in December. But changes have been made since then. And, okay, what's it going to take? And they did not want to answer the question, no direct question.

And the whole conference, all the Republicans in the room started to yell, what do you want? And they do not give us an answer. And, so, I don't think they have an argument. And they're nominating a person that doesn't even want the nomination. The person that actually got up and spoke in support of Kevin McCarthy.

BURNETT: So, obviously talking about Jim Jordan there. But here is the reality of the situation. If they aren't going to vote yes, if they're not going to get there, then there's no way for him to get there unless you do some sort of team-up with Democrats.

Is that -- is that even on the table, in your mind?

VALADAO: No, it's not. I think the Democrats are enjoying this. I think Joe Biden is enjoying watching this. I really do.

And I think that a lot of this small group of Republicans -- and it's a very small group of Republicans -- are actually giving the Democrats a win here. And I think they're enjoying it, and I don't think they're going to give us a life line.

And the reality is, when we voted, it was near unanimous, 85 percent for McCarthy. He is the Republican conference's nominee, and people should fall in line.

They got a lot of concessions that they wanted, stuff that even some of us weren't happy with. But they still aren't happy and they can't give us what they want now. They want to be no.

BURNETT: Is there any scenario where you would vote for anyone else, Jim Jordan, Steve Scalise, anybody, if they just simply aren't going to get there, and the math is not going to get there for you, do you switch?

VALADAO: No, absolutely not. I'm with the group of 200 who are supporting McCarthy, the person that's travelled the country, the person that's worked harder than anyone else to be in this position. And we wouldn't even be in the majority if he wasn't -- if Kevin McCarthy working so hard across the country, helping candidates like myself be successful and get through the finish line in November.

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BURNETT: Well, I appreciate your time, Congressman. Thank you very much.

VALADAO: Any time. Thanks for having me.

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