House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended Donald Trump’s response to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot on Sunday, noting that Trump released a video asking for the rioters to go home.
Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked McCarthy to confirm an account from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), one of the 10 House Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching Trump, who said that when the McCarthy called Trump on the day of the riot for help, but Trump responded: “Well Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
“Is she right? Is that what the president said to you?” Wallace asked.
McCarthy did not answer the question confirming Rep. Herrera Beutler’s account, instead he said he was the first person to call Trump who eventually put out a video.
“What I talked to President Trump about, I was the first person to contact him when the riots was going on. He didn’t see it. What he ended the call was saying — 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,” McCarthy responded.
Wallace noted that Trump’s widely panned video came “quite alot later” and was “pretty weak” before pressuring McCarthy to once again confirm Rep. Herrera Beutler’s account.
“Listen, my conversations with the president are my conversations with the president,” McCarthy said. “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.”
Five people during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 including Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick.
McCarthy initially blamed Trump for the riot during a speech on the House floor, saying he “bears responsibility for the attack,” adding “he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.”
But, that didn’t last long as McCarthy went to meet with Trump at Mar-a-Lago days later to discuss plans to retake the House in 2022.
Asked by Chris Wallace on Sunday if Trump has ever reached out to him since that report came out to discuss what they talked about on the Jan. 6 phone call?, McCarthy said no and agreed with Wallace that that would be witness tampering.
“But it never happened,” McCarthy said. “Never even came close. Never had any conversation like that. Never even heard that rumor before today.”
