Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a “traitor” after it was revealed that he told former President Donald Trump he should “resign” days after the Capitol riot but quickly changed his tune.
The Democrat, who says she is seeking reelection instead of attempting another bid for president in 2024, told CNN on Sunday that McCarthy’s subsequent denial, which is refuted by leaked audio, is emblematic of the duplicitous behavior within the Republican Party.
“Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor,” Warren told State of the Union anchor Dana Bash, adding that it is “outrageous.”
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The New York Times reported on the episode Thursday morning via an excerpt of This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future by Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns, two reporters with the outlet. McCarthy denied the report as written, calling it “totally false and wrong,” but then, audio was released on MSNBC in which he told GOP colleagues on Jan. 10 he would urge Trump to resign. The California Republican denied on Friday that he ever asked Trump to resign. He spoke with the former president after the audio was released, and Trump then announced that their relationship remains intact.
“I think it’s all a big compliment, frankly,” Trump said of Republicans, such as McCarthy, who criticized him after Jan. 6 and then came around to say they still support the former president, according to the Wall Street Journal. “They realized they were wrong and supported me.”
Warren said McCarthy’s behavior is an “illness” undergirding GOP leadership. “They say one thing to the American public and something else in private. They understand that it is wrong, an attempt to overthrow our government,” she said.
“The Republicans instead want to continue to try to figure out how to make the 2020 election different instead of spending their energy on how it is that we go forward in order to build an economy, in order to make this country work better for the people who sent us to Washington. Shame on Kevin McCarthy,” Warren said.
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In a separate interview airing Sunday, Warren talked about her own political ambitions. The senator, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for president in 2020, said she will rally behind President Joe Biden. Biden has said both publicly and privately that he plans to seek reelection.
I’m not running for president in 2024. I’m running for Senate. President Biden is running for reelection in 2024, and I’m supporting him,” Warren said on NBC’s Meet the Press. Pressed on whether she will rule it out, Warren added, “You can ask it any way you want, but I’m going to say the same thing. President Biden is running in 2024, and I’m supporting him.”
