McCarthy Dodges When Fox News Asks About His Call With Trump Mid-Insurrection

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Donald Trump attend a signing ceremony for the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act in the Oval Office on April 24, 2020. (Photo ... House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and President Donald Trump attend a signing ceremony for the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act in the Oval Office on April 24, 2020. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times/POOL/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Sunday refused to disclose the details of his call with then-President Donald Trump during the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, when McCarthy allegedly implored Trump to call off his supporters who were ransacking the Capitol.

The GOP leader dodged when Fox News host Chris Wallace asked if Trump had told him “well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election then you are” during that call, as recounted by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA).

“What he ended the call was saying — telling me, he’ll put something out to make sure to stop this,” McCarthy told Wallace. “And that’s what he did. He put a video out later.”

He remained tight-lipped as Wallace pressed him on the incident, saying that “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,” McCarthy said. “The president said he would help.”

Herrera Beutler, one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection, has stood by her account that McCarthy had told her about Trump’s remark.

McCarthy’s evasiveness on the content of the call comes amid ongoing investigations into the attack on the Capitol, which took place following Trump’s fiery speech nearby that day.

Michael Sherwin, the former acting U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. who led the federal investigation into the insurrection, said last month that the ex-president’s role in the attack was being examined.

“Everything’s being looked at,” he told “60 Minutes.”

Notable Replies

  1. Lying dickhead.

  2. Non-denial.

  3. Look for him on Wikipedia with the rest of the invertebrates.

  4. Avatar for danny danny says:

    While I wasn’t there, in fear for my life, but was here, in my snug apartment tucked away in the midwest, I think I can safely call bullshit, even from this distance.

  5. Telling the truth about this would not be a bad look on Faux News for the cult faithful.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

97 more replies

Participants

Avatar for valgalky23 Avatar for george_c Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for sooner Avatar for meri Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for cervantes Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for lastroth Avatar for schmed Avatar for tena Avatar for isakindamagic Avatar for tsp Avatar for lizzymom Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for katscherger Avatar for maximus Avatar for skeptical Avatar for jm917 Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for visionseeker Avatar for emiliano4 Avatar for ClutchCargo Avatar for geographyjones

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: