Politics
Kevin McCarthy refuses to answer Chris Wallace’s questions about Trump call during Capitol riot
KEVIN McCarthy skirted questions today about his January 6 phone call with Donald Trump as the Capitol riot was underway.
The House Minority Leader insisted his conversations with the former president were a personal and private matter.
Kevin McCarthy refused to answer Chris Wallace’s questions about Trump call during Captiol riots[/caption]
McCarthy was being quizzed by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace[/caption]
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, McCarthy said Trump was not aware of what was going on at the Capitol when he first reached him.
He said: “I was the first person to contact him when the riots were going on.
“He didn’t see it. What he ended the call with saying was telling me he’ll put something out to make sure to stop this.
“And that’s what he did. He put a video out later.”
As host Chris Wallace pointed out, the video Trump posted was “quite a lot later,” and he said it “was a pretty weak video”.
In this the then-president urged the rioters to “go home”, saying “we love you. You’re very special”.
My conversations with the president are my conversations with the president
Kevin McCarthy, House Minority leader
When asked about the call shared by Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., which was introduced more than two months ago during Trump’s second impeachment trial, McCarthy said: “My conversations with the president are my conversations with the president.
“I engaged in the idea of making sure we could stop what was going on inside the Capitol at that moment in time.
“The president said he would help.”
In February, Beutler, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his conduct surrounding the deadly riot, released a statement.
It said: “When McCarthy finally reached the president on January 6 and asked him to publicly and forcefully call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was Antifa that had breached the Capitol.
“McCarthy refuted that and told the president that these were Trump supporters.
“That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said: ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are’”.
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Days after the deadly Capitol riot, McCarthy said on the House floor that Trump “bears responsibility” for the violence,
He added that the then-president “should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding”.
But just three weeks after the insurrection, however, McCarthy had made up with Trump, visiting the ex-president at this Mar-a-Lago gold resort to discuss the future of the Republican Party.
