In newly-unearthed audio, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy endorsed a bipartisan investigation into the Captiol riot on January 6, 202...
In newly-unearthed audio, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy endorsed a bipartisan investigation into the Captiol riot on January 6, 2021 and said that former President Donald Trump told him he felt some responsibility for it.
The interview on a local radio station in California just days after the attack has resurfaced right after McCarthy said he would not cooperate with the now ongoing Jan. 6 investigation panel.
On Thursday, McCarthy was asked by CNN reporter Manu Raju about how he had said he was 'willing to testify' about Jan. 6 but now did not support the select committee hearing.
The House Minority Leader interrupted, saying, 'That's not true. Ask your question. I'll verify what's true in there.'
CNN has since unearthed two audio clips in which McCarthy called for the investigation and blamed Trump for the attack.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy bristled at questions on Thursday about why he would not cooperate with the Jan. 6 investigation, turning instead to attack House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and saying he had nothing to offer the House probe
Former President Donald Trump expressed some admission of responsibility for the events in a call with McCarthy, the House Minority Leader alleged
McCarthy and Trump have both refused to cooperate with a bipartisan investigation into the riots
'I say [Trump] has responsibility,' McCarthy told an interviewer on Bakersfield, California, radio station KERN on January 12, 2021. 'He told me personally that he does have some responsibility. I think a lot of people do.'
McCarthy then says he has proposed a bipartisan commission and 'get all your facts, actually work through the grand jury to find out at the end, instead of predetermining, whether someone's guilty or not.'
'The one thing about impeachment, why would you run it through so fast? I say let's put a bipartisan commission, let's learn all the facts,' he added.
The Texas Congressman now says that he refuses to cooperate with the committee because he believes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 'playing politics.'
CNN also found audio of McCarthy blaming Trump - and the ex-president somewhat blaming himself - for the riots in a call with fellow House Republicans right after the attack.
'I asked him personally today if he holds responsibility for what happened,' McCarthy is heard saying on January 11, 2021. 'If he feels bad about what happened. He told me he does have some responsibility for what happened. But he needs to acknowledge that.'
'Let me be clear to you and I have been very clear to the president,' he added. He bears responsibility for his words and actions. No, if ands or buts.'
McCarthy on Thursday said his Jan. 6 conversation with President Donald Trump was 'very short' and that he had nothing to give the committee investigating the Capitol riot.
A day after he refused a request by House investigators to provide information about his conversations with Trump, McCarthy shrugged off questions at his regular news conference.
Instead he attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the record of the Biden administration.
'My conversation was very short advising the president what was happening here,' he said of his Jan. 6 call with the president.
'There is nothing that I can provide the January six committee for legislation ... moving forward.
'There is nothing in that realm. It is pure politics of what they're playing.'
Yet in an interview with his hometown newspaper in the aftermath of the violence he characterized the call differently.
He told the Bakersfield Californian they had a 'very heated conversation as the riot was taking place and that he urged the president to 'get help' to the Capitol.
Those comments were central to a letter sent by committee chair Bennie Thompson on Thursday asking for more information.
McCarthy rejected that request on Wednesday evening, saying the panel was not 'conducting a legitimate investigation.'
That set the stage for a combustible atmosphere at the House minority leader's weekly news conference.
Reporters quizzed McCarthy about why he had publicly criticized Trump after the riot - saying he 'bears responsibility' - before changing his tune after a meeting at the former president's Florida home.
McCarthy claimed he did not single out Trump.
'My criticism went to everyone on that day: Why was the capital so ill prepared that day? ... And how do we make sure it will never be ill prepared again.'
He described a meeting with the head of Capitol Police with lawmakers this week and hinted that Pelosi was to blame for hobbling officers' efforts.
'Some of the questions that were asked to the Capitol Police, the chief said that was above his pay grade to make the answer,' said McCarthy.
'I asked him well, who's above you?'
He was also asked why he said in May last year he would provide testimony to the committee investigating the attack, but had apparently changed his mind.
McCarthy said that was two months before Pelosi set down the rules of the committee so that the minority could not appoint their selected individuals.
Committee chairman Bennie Thompson wrote to McCarthy on Wednesday asking for help with various topics, including his conversations with the president 'before, during and after' the riot
'So when you asked me that question, never did I think a speaker would play such politics and then appoint a chairman who starts the committee by saying the only person out of bounds is the speaker,' he said.
'Maybe if Nancy Pelosi had done what other speakers would do, and not play politics with it. It could have been a different answer.'
Critics within his own party have already accused the House minority leader of trying to cover up what really happened on Jan. 6.
Rep. Liz Cheney, one of the few Republicans to openly criticize Trump for his role in the violence and one of only two GOP members of the committee, told CNN: 'I wish that he were a brave and honorable man.
'He's clearly trying to cover up what happened. He has an obligation to come forward, and we'll get to the truth.'
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