Liz: McCarthy ‘a liar, traitor’
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Sunday slammed Rep. Kevin McCarthy as “a liar and a traitor” over recordings that show the House Republican leader — despite his denials — placing responsibility on then-President Donald Trump for the Capitol riot and suggesting Trump should resign.
It’s unusually strong language to use against McCarthy, who is in line to become speaker if Republicans win control of the House in November.
But Warren’s statement reflects a swell of Democratic criticism against McCarthy. They point to his recorded comments in January 2021 as proof that GOP lawmakers at the highest levels privately acknowledge Trump’s role in the insurrection yet continue to defend him in public.
McCarthy, of California, denied a New York Times report last week that detailed phone conversations with House Republican leadership shortly after the riot that he thought Trump should resign.
But in an audio first posted Thursday by the newspaper, McCarthy is heard discussing the possibility of urging Trump to leave office amid the Democratic push to impeach him.
“Kevin McCarthy is a liar and a traitor,” Warren, of Massachusetts, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“That is really the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now, that they say one thing to the American public and something else in private,” Warren said.
“They understand that it is wrong what happened. Shame on Kevin McCarthy.”
McCarthy’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The crowd that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, marched there from a rally near the White House where Trump had implored them to fight to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election, saying falsely that the election was stolen.
Trump has denied responsibility for the violence.
The House select committee investigating the riot requested an interview with McCarthy in mid-January, seeking information on his communications with Trump and White House staff in the week after the violence, including a conversation with Trump that was reportedly heated.
McCarthy issued a statement at the time saying he would refuse to cooperate because he saw the investigation as illegitimate and accused the panel of “abuse of power.”
Trump and McCarthy had a strained relationship after the Capitol attack, but later made amends.