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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy remains under intense scrutiny following the surfacing of recordings of his private comments about his own party and Donald Trump. More recordings have since surfaced, revealing the House Republican leader saying several far-right members of his caucus are security threats to their colleagues.
In a report for the New York Times by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, McCarthy privately identified several far-right members of his party as possible security threats to their colleagues in Congress, following the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The House Minority Leader made the comments in private conversations with fellow Republican leaders.
“In the phone call with other Republican leaders on Jan. 10, Mr. McCarthy referred chiefly to two representatives, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Mo Brooks of Alabama, as endangering the security of other lawmakers and the Capitol complex. But he and his allies discussed several other representatives who made comments they saw as offensive or dangerous, including Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Barry Moore of Alabama,” Burns and Martin wrote.
Burns and Martin noted that Gaetz and Brooks were perceived by the Republican leaders as the “prime offenders.” Louisiana GOP Rep. Steve Scalise, who is the House Minority Whip, also reportedly expressed concern that Gaetz was breaking the law.
This follows the recording of McCarthy privately condemning Trump after the riots and calling for his resignation. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was also revealed to have considered calling on Trump to resign, and reportedly said that the Democrats would be the ones to call for Trump’s resignation and impeachment for them.
Both McCarthy and McConnell ultimately backed down, even as the Senate Minority Leader condemned Trump after voting to acquit him for the second time. McCarthy attempted to deny making such comments, only to get fact-checked when the recording was played on air.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren ripped into McCarthy following the recordings. Warren called McCarthy “a liar and a traitor” and the contrast between the Republican leader’s public and private statements highlights “the illness that pervades the Republican leadership right now.”
