Rep. Kevin McCarthy wanted to remove Trump from White House after Jan. 6: new audio tape
A newly released audiotape reveals that Rep. Kevin McCarthy emphatically denounced former President Trump and expressed support for removing him from office after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“What the president did was atrocious and totally wrong,” McCarthy (R-Calif.) told fellow Republican lawmakers on the recording on Jan. 8, 2021, revealed by New York Times’ journalists Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns in their forthcoming tell-all book, This Will Not Pass.
McCarthy slams 'totally false' report about criticism of Trump -- but doesn't deny quotes
McCarthy, who has since flip-flopped and expressed undying loyalty to Trump, also discussed different options for forcing Trump from office.
He mentions the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president and cabinet to oust a president who is declared unfit for office.
McCarthy’s only objection? Not that Trump might be fit to serve, but rather that it might be too complicated, time-consuming, and could spark division among GOP lawmakers.
“That takes too long, too,” McCarthy said in response to a question about the 25th Amendment. “It could go back to the House, right?”
McCarthy did say he opposed impeaching Trump, although his main objection was that it would extend the national drama and might divide the nation, not that Trump did not commit impeachable offenses.
“The only best way, I think, for everybody as Americans moving forward is to focus on the future, not the past,” McCarthy said. “And I do think the impeachment divides the nation further and continues the fight even greater.”
McCarthy later visited the former president at his Mar-a-Lago home and declared his support for Trump’s continued de facto leader of the GOP.
Trump and McCarthy spoke when the first audio leak was revealed in April, and the former president told the leader he was “not mad” about the disclosures.
To become speaker if Republicans win back the House, McCarthy would need to win at least 218 votes.
“President Trump said their relationship has never been stronger. That’s good enough for me,” said Roger Williams (R-Texas). “We’re totally supportive of Kevin McCarthy.”
“He’s got my support. He’s got everybody else’s support, too,” he said.
With News Wire Services
