In the days after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) privately told Republicans that President Donald Trump had admitted to him that he bore some responsibility for the deadly attack that day.
“I asked him personally today, does he hold responsibility for what happened? Does he feel bad about what happened?” McCarthy said in an audio recording from Jan. 11, 2021, released Friday by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns. “He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened. And he needs to acknowledge that.”
Speaking on a private conference call, McCarthy also told his colleagues: “He bears responsibility for his words and actions. No ifs, ands or buts.”
The GOP leader’s conversation with Republicans that day has been reported before now. What’s new is the audio recording of his exact words and tone with his colleagues when speaking about the horrifying events of Jan. 6.
On a separate call the day before, McCarthy told Republicans that he’d had enough of the president urging his supporters to defend him at all costs.
“I’ve had it with this guy,” McCarthy said, according to another audio recording shared by the Times reporters. What Trump did on Jan. 6 “is unacceptable” and “nobody can defend that, and nobody should defend it,” he said.
As recently as this past January, the GOP leader pretended he didn’t know what a reporter was talking about when he was asked if Trump had told him in a Jan. 11, 2021, call that he was partly responsible for the Capitol attack.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Do you have info to share with HuffPost reporters? Here’s how.
