According to a CNN report, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Donald Trump had an expletive laden phone call on Jan. 6 during the riots when McCarthy called to ask Trump to call off his supporters storming the Capitol, lawmakers briefed on the call by McCarthy told CNN.
Trump reportedly told McCarthy that the rioters cared more about the election results than he did.
“Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,” Trump said.
“Who the f–k do you think you are talking to?” McCarthy said.
Republican members told CNN that the call “provide critical insight into the President’s state of mind as rioters were overrunning the Capitol.”
“You have to look at what he did during the insurrection to confirm where his mind was at,” Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler said. “That line right there demonstrates to me that either he didn’t care, which is impeachable, because you cannot allow an attack on your soil, or he wanted it to happen and was OK with it, which makes me so angry.”
“We should never stand for that, for any reason, under any party flag,” she added. “I’m trying really hard not to say the F-word.”
“I think it speaks to the former President’s mindset,” Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, who voted to impeach Trump said. “He was not sorry to see his unyieldingly loyal vice president or the Congress under attack by the mob he inspired. In fact, it seems he was happy about it or at the least enjoyed the scenes that were horrifying to most Americans across the country.”
At Trump’s impeachment trial Friday, his lawyers argued that Trump did in fact try to calm the rioters with a series of tweets while the attack unfolded. But his lawyers cherry-picked his tweets, focusing on his request for supporters to “remain peaceful” without mentioning that he also attacked then-Vice President Mike Pence and waited hours to explicitly urge rioters to leave the Capitol, CNN noted.
