Tag: Kevin McCarthy

Trump and Kevin McCarthy battled during expletive-filled phone call while the Capitol was under siege: report

After the completion of the fourth day of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial, CNN published a bombshell new report on phone call the then-president had during the January 6th insurrection.

“In an expletive-laced phone call with House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack, then-President Donald Trump said the rioters cared more about the election results than McCarthy did. ‘Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are,’ Trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by McCarthy,” CNN reported Friday.

“Trump’s comment set off what Republican lawmakers familiar with the call described as a shouting match between the two men. A furious McCarthy told the President the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows, and asked Trump, ‘Who the f*ck do you think you are talking to?’ according to a Republican lawmaker familiar with the call,” CNN reported. “The Republican members of Congress said the exchange showed Trump had no intention of calling off the rioters even as lawmakers were pleading with him to intervene. Several said it amounted to a dereliction of his presidential duty.” Continue reading.

Despite denouncing QAnon months ago, Kevin McCarthy now says, ‘I don’t even know what it is’

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After a private meeting Wednesday night of the House Republican conference meant to hold together an increasingly divided party, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) defended controversial freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). But as he lauded Greene’s apology to Republicans for her history of outrageous rhetoric on social media, McCarthy also claimed that the extremist ideology she supports was foreign to him.

“I think it would be helpful if you could hear exactly what she told all of us — denouncing Q-on, I don’t know if I say it right, I don’t even know what it is,” said McCarthy, referring to QAnon, a radicalized movement based on false claims that the FBI has deemed a domestic terrorism threat.

McCarthy’s comment set off immediate backlash, with critics pointing out that the minority leader has addressed QAnon before in TV interviews and at news conferences. Continue reading.

House GOP leader McCarthy backs Liz Cheney and Marjorie Taylor Greene

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House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy declared on Wednesday that he supports keeping Rep. Liz Cheney in her leadership role and opposes stripping Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee seats at this time, sources familiar with his closed-door remarks told Axios.

Why it matters: In keeping Greene, McCarthy risks public condemnation and fuels a Democratic effort to remove her through a House vote. In standing with Cheney, he also risks alienating himself from pro-Trump Republicans who remain a potent part of the Republicans’ base.

  • McCarthy (R-Calif.) made his declarations at the outset of a much-anticipated meeting of House Republicans.
  • He then outlined his positions in a statement issued to the media. Continue reading.

Kevin McCarthy taps Trump donors in seeking to retake House majority

Fundraising pitch comes from ‘trumps-majority’ web address

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is relying on the brand and grassroots network of his party’s ex-president to gin up donations in Republicans’ quest to retake the majority in the chamber in 2022. 

Not only did McCarthy meet with Donald Trump in Florida, but the House’s top Republican also sent a fundraising email Thursday from an account dubbed trumps-majority.com. 

It comes at a pivotal moment for the GOP as party insiders wrestle with the role that will now be played by Trump, whose supporters rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6 but who also remains hugely popular among conservatives. Continue reading.

GOP lawmakers voice frustrations with McCarthy

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House Republicans are voicing frustrations with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), underscoring divisions in the conference in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Those criticizing McCarthy say his messaging has been inconsistent. They note he’s at times criticized former President Trump for his role in the mob attack on the Capitol, only to reverse course later.

They also say McCarthy has sent different messages over Rep. Liz Cheney(Wyo.), the third-ranking House GOP leader, who voted to impeach Trump and now faces calls for her removal from leadership. Continue reading.

Republicans want reconciliation. Here’s what they need to do first.

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NOTE: The following is an editorial by The Washington Post’s Editorial Board.

A WEEK after the shocking Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol by an angry mob, Republicans are suddenly calling for unity. “We must work together to lower the temperature and unite the country,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.). “We must come together and put this anger and division behind us,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.). It is time to “take the crazy rhetoric down on both sides,” said Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.). What all of these GOP leaders — and many more calling for reconciliation — have in common is that they voted against counting President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral votes, even after a mob stormed the nation’s seat of government on President Trump’s behalf.

If Republicans want to talk about reconciliation, there is a minimum price of entry: a straightforward, unequivocal acknowledgment that the election was not rigged and that Mr. Biden won the vote fair and square. Mr. Trump is attempting to make the 2020 election a 21st-century Lost Cause, entrenching the myth that malicious forces subverted American democracy to install Mr. Biden against the will of the voters. It is this lie that Mr. Trump fed his supporters before telling them to march to the Capitol and show “strength” — and that he continued to feed them in tweets even during the raid. It is the same lie that Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Cruz and a startling number of Republicans fueled as they twisted what should have been a rubber-stamp electoral vote counting process into a forum for overturning a clean election and a locus for the mob’s anger.

Some other Republicans and right-wing commentators have arguedthat there is little difference between what Republicans have done since last November and what Democrats did following Mr. Trump’s 2016 victory. It would follow, they suggest, that Mr. Biden and the Democrats should make the first moves toward reconciliation by standing down from impeachment. This is unhinged. Democrats immediately acknowledged Mr. Trump’s win. There was a broad factual basis for the Russia investigation that followed. Democrats did not paint American democracy as so hopelessly corrupted as to convince a massive chunk of the country that the 2016 election was stolen and inspire a violent attack on the Capitol. Only Republicans are guilty of escalating the nation’s partisan warfare to such a sad place. Now that the consequences of their dishonest campaign are becoming clear, it is on them to begin the reconciliation process — by telling the truth. Continue reading.

McCarthy woos Freedom Caucus with eye on Speakership

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Five years ago, conservative bomb-throwers in the House Freedom Caucus blocked Rep. Kevin McCarthy from rising to the Speakership. Now, the California Republican is working to ensure he doesn’t suffer the same fate if Republicans take back the majority in 2022.

McCarthy, the affable, back-slapping minority leader, has spent the past election cycle bringing Freedom Caucus members — once relegated to the fringes of the party — to the leadership table and into his inner circle.

He helped former Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio) win the top GOP spot on the Oversight and Reform Committee and later the powerful Judiciary Committee. He’s invited leaders from the Freedom Caucus and other factions to the GOP’s annual leadership retreats the past two years in Middleburg, Va., and St. Michaels, Md. Continue reading.

Without Explanation, McConnell And McCarthy Skip RBG Memorial Service

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell skipped a service on Capitol Hill honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg, NBC News’ Kasie Hunt reported.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was also not in attendance at the ceremony honoring Ginsburg, the pioneering Supreme Court justice who died one week ago after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

It’s unclear why neither man attended the service. Doug Andres, a communications staffer for McConnell, declined to comment on what was on McConnell’s schedule that precluded him from attending the event. “No guidance or announcements on his schedule,” Andres said in an email. McCarthy’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

It is usually the tradition for the top four congressional leaders — the Senate majority and minority leader, and the House speaker and minority leader — to attend major events together, such as the ceremony honoring Ginsburg. Continue reading.

Discontent with McCarthy rises as GOP considers a possible post-Trump world

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Discontent with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is on the rise in the House, as Republicans increasingly fearful of a loss by President Trump on Election Day gear up for an intraparty war over the future of the GOP.

A cluster of GOP lawmakers is starting to privately question whether the California Republican is putting loyalty to the president over the good of the conference. And a small group of members is discussing whether someone should challenge him for minority leader if Trump is defeated Nov. 3.

The matter bubbled to the surface this week with the primary election of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a fringe House candidate in Georgia who espouses the QAnon conspiracy theory and has made numerous racist comments. Multiple Republicans implored McCarthy to help defeat her by supporting her primary opponent. But McCarthy refused, phoning the candidate in an apparent peace accord before the primary, while Trump embraced her on Twitter this week as a “future Republican Star.” Continue reading.

House GOP’s pleas to Republican National Committee for financial help go unanswered

Washington Post logoSenior House Republicans are pleading with the deep-pocketed Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign to provide financial help as Democrats vastly outraise the GOP, but top campaign officials are so far declining to commit.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has been prodding the RNC to write a check to the National Republican Congressional Committee — a request he has made multiple times. McCarthy specifically has asked Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, to make a financial commitment to the House GOP, according to several officials familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely describe private conversations.

But Kushner, who oversees such decisions and has a greater say than RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, has refused thus far, the officials say. While the Trump campaign and the RNC have brought in record amounts of money, some Trump officials see donating to the House as a wasteful investment as the GOP’s chances of reclaiming the majority sharply deteriorate. Their decline in fortunes can largely be attributed to Trump’s sagging support over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the sliding economy. Continue reading.