Top House Republican Defends Trump's Response To Capitol Riot: 'He Put A Video Out'
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
· Senior reporter, HuffPost
During an exchange on “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace asked McCarthy to confirm a GOP congresswoman’s account of a phone call between McCarthy and Trump that took place as rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington said McCarthy told her that he had asked Trump to call off the attack and the president 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, refusing to answer the question directly, responded that he was “the first person” to contact Trump as the attack unfolded. He claimed the president was unaware of the riot until their call. (Trump was reportedly “delighted” as he watched news coverage of his supporters breaking into the Capitol.)
“When he ended the call, he was ... telling me he’ll put something out to make sure to stop this," McCarthy said. “And that’s what he did. He put a video out later. ”
“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.”
Rioters breached the Capitol around 2:15 p.m. on Jan. 6. About two hours later, the White House released a video of Trump telling the insurrectionists that he loves them and they are “very special,” but they need to “go home.”
Five people died during or shortly after the attack, including one police officer. Two other police officers who responded that day died by suicide in the days after the riot.
McCarthy initially condemned Trump’s response to the mob, which the president had encouraged with his repeated lies alleging a “stolen” and “rigged” election.
“The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” McCarthy said during a Jan. 13 speech on the House floor. “He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.”
But McCarthy’s denunciations of Trump didn’t last long. Weeks after the Capitol riot, he visited Trump in Florida to discuss how Republicans could win back the House in 2022. The meeting was captured in a smiley photograph of the pair at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club turned post-presidential home.
McCarthy and other GOP leaders did nothing to stop Trump from spreading baseless conspiracy theories about President Joe Biden’s victory. Many of Trump’s allies, including Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Josh Hawley of Missouri, helped promote those false claims.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said she offered concessions to Republican lawmakers in an effort to reach an agreement on the creation of a special committee to investigate the Capitol attack. Among those concessions, Pelosi said the panel would be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.
When asked Sunday if he will accept Pelosi’s concessions, McCarthy said he wanted the commission to also investigate “political violence across this country.” On Thursday, McCarthy suggested he wanted the scope of the committee’s probe to include Black Lives Matter protests.
Wallace pushed McCarthy to answer whether he would agree to a commission focused only on the Capitol riot. But McCarthy deflected, calling the terms of the committee “too important to negotiate in the press.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
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'Spineless Coward': Kevin McCarthy Ripped For Defending Trump's Riot Response
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was called out on social media for defending former President Donald Trump ’s failure to rein in his supporters as they attacked the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection .
McCarthy initially said Trump “bears responsibility” for the riot and admitted the then-president was too slow to respond.
“He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding,” McCarthy said a week after the insurrection.
But on Sunday, he changed his tune completely, telling Fox News that Trump promised to help stop the violent attack on the Capitol carried out by his supporters.
“And that’s what he did,” McCarthy said. “He put a video out later.”
Trump waited hours to release the video, eventually telling the rioters “ we love you ” as he asked them to go home.
On Sunday, McCarthy wouldn’t answer a question about a report claiming his conversation with Trump during the riot didn’t go nearly as well as he indicated.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) said McCarthy told her that when he asked Trump to stop the attack, the then-president replied: “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
In one of Trump's videos later in the day of the riot he told his supporters to "remember this day forever".
Doesnt sound like someone who was opposed to the riot.
(video) I love you, I love you all....
Anyone who supports the former occupant of the White House
Yeah, he put out a video hours after all the damage had been done (led on and incited by him) and told his mob that he loved them and that they were very special.
“And that’s what he did,” McCarthy said. “He put a video out later.”
Yep "later" after trump knew that his insurrection had basically failed and he could not legally declare marshal law to hold onto the power of the presidency.
IMO: this megalomaniac should be barred from ever holding public office again.
Why in the Hell would we ever give anyone who did what trump did another chance ?
Kevin, the man of many faces.
Two, like their standards, double.