Rep. Liz Cheney denies being the one who leaked a tape of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy telling GOP colleagues he would urge former President Donald Trump to resign after the Capitol riot, which conflicts with McCarthy’s blanket denial.
A brief statement was released the morning after MSNBC host Rachel Maddow played an audio recording of McCarthy on Jan. 10, 2021, responding to Cheney, who was chairwoman of the House Republican Conference at the time, asking if there was a chance Trump would step down.
“The select committee has asked Kevin McCarthy to speak with us about these events, but he has so far declined,” Cheney’s spokesperson said Friday, referring to the Jan. 6 committee. “Rep. Cheney did not record or leak the tape and does not know how the reporters got it.”
The audio was released after McCarthy denied the reporting about the episode that first appeared in the New York Times on Thursday morning via an adaption 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. The reporting is “totally false and wrong,” the California Republican said.
MCCARTHY WON’T COMMIT TO BIDEN IMPEACHMENT
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second-ranking House Republican, and Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the chairman of the GOP’s House campaign committee, were also on the call, according to the report. “Neither he nor anyone on his team recorded or leaked private conversations among members,” a representative for Scalise told Fox News.
BREAKING: Audio recording contradicts Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s denial that he said he would call Donald Trump to recommend that Trump resign pic.twitter.com/iRmSFoeQPz
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) April 22, 2022
“I’m seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight. I haven’t talked to him in a couple of days,” McCarthy said in the tape.
“The only discussion I would have with him is that I think this [impeachment resolution] will pass and it would be my recommendation you should resign,” McCarthy also said. “That would be my take, but I don’t think he would take it. But I don’t know.”
McCarthy has yet to comment on the tape.
In the days following the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, McCarthy joined other Republicans in publicly denouncing Trump for not doing more to quell the attack on the Capitol. But that position shifted shortly thereafter. McCarthy traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida roughly a week after Trump left office on Jan. 20, after which they struck a deal to help Republicans win back the majority in the House. McCarthy is positioned to become House speaker next year with Republicans expected to retake control of the chamber, but there is growing dismay among some of the GOP rank and file.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, who has floated Trump for House speaker, lashed out at McCarthy and accused Cheney of secretly recording the leaked conversation.
“While I was rallying in Wyoming against Liz Cheney … Kevin McCarthy was defending Liz Cheney among House Republicans … While Liz Cheney was secretly recording Kevin McCarthy for the New York Times. [McCarthy] — you should have trusted my instincts, not your own,” the Florida Republican said.
While I was rallying in Wyoming against Liz Cheney…
Kevin McCarthy was defending Liz Cheney among House Republicans…
While Liz Cheney was secretly recording Kevin McCarthy for the New York Times. @GOPLeader – you should have trusted my instincts, not your own. pic.twitter.com/teTxIvUAUt
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) April 22, 2022
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McCarthy rejected in January a request by the House committee investigating the Capitol riot for testimony about his conversations with Trump.
“And now it wants to interview me about public statements that have been shared with the world and private conversations not remotely related to the violence that unfolded at the Capitol. I have nothing else to add,” he said in part at the time.
