Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, told Republican lawmakers in the days after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol that former President Donald J. Trump has admitted that he bears “some responsibility” for what happened that day, new audio revealed.
The audio, obtained by The New York Times on Friday, is part of a series of new revelations about Republican leaders’ private condemnations of Republican leaders in the days after supporters stormed the Capitol as part of efforts to suspend certification. the election voted for Joseph R. Biden Jr..
“Let me be very clear to all of you, and I was very clear to the president: he is responsible for his words and actions,” Mr McCarthy said during a conversation on 11 January. “No, if, and or but.”
“I asked him personally today, is he responsible for what happened?” Mr McCarthy said. “Does he feel bad about what happened?” He told me that he had some responsibility for what had happened and that he had to admit it.
Mr McCarthy’s claim contradicts the former president’s refusal, then and now, to take responsibility for the deadly attack. He illustrates the huge gap between the private, ridiculous tone Republican leaders use for the former president and their public flattery of their party’s de facto leader.
Mr Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When Mr McCarthy was asked at a press conference earlier this year to talk to Republicans in the House of Representatives after the attack, he sidestepped the issue. “I’m not sure what call you’re talking about,” Mr McCarthy said.
The New York Times reported Thursday that Mr McCarthy has told Republicans he plans to force Mr Trump to resign. The report is based on the upcoming book “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future.”
Mr McCarthy challenged the report, but in an audio clip received by The Times from a various telephone conversation with Republican lawmakers, Mr McCarthy said he would tell Mr Trump about the impeachment resolution: “I think it will pass and will be my recommendation, you must resign. “The Times reviewed the full recording of the conversation, which lasted a little over an hour.
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