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New York Times: Audio reveals McCarthy worried GOP lawmakers’ rhetoric would incite violence after Jan. 6

New York Times: Audio reveals McCarthy worried GOP lawmakers’ rhetoric would incite violence after Jan. 6

Politics of the Day

The New York Time’s Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns join CNN’s Jake Tapper to discuss never-before-heard audio they’ve obtained of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other GOP leaders right after the January 6 insurrection.

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WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during his weekly press conference on January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Minority Leader McCarthy held his first press conference as the Biden administration takes office.  (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

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‘This is serious sh*t’: NYT audio reveals McCarthy’s fear about rhetoric after January 6

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) responds to leaked audio obtained by the New York Times in which McCarthy said he was considering asking then-President Trump to resign over the Capitol insurrection.

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CNN has obtained 2,319 text messages that former President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows sent and received between Election Day 2020 and President Joe Biden’s  January 20, 2021 inauguration. CNN’s Jamie Gangel has the exclusive reports.

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FILE - Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Oct. 30, 2020. An elections board in a North Carolina county has removed Meadows from its list of registered voters after documents showed he lived in Virginia and voted in the 2021 election in that state. Questions arose about Mark Meadows last month, when North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein's office asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into Meadows' voter registration in Macon County in western North Carolina. In announcing his removal, the Macon County Board of Elections said it has received no formal challenge and is referring the matter to the SBI, the state Board of Elections said Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

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CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger discusses the GOP lawmakers defending Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) after he was caught in a lie regarding then President Trump’s involvement in January 6.

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WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 18: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) talks to reporters during his weekly news conference in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on March 18, 2022 in Washington, DC. McCarthy blamed Democrats for national and state policies that he said hinder domestic energy production, which results in more opportunities for Russia to sell its oil and natural gas. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 06:  Rise of the Rest Seed Fund managing partner J.D. Vance speaks onstage during Day 2 of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2018 at Moscone Center on September 6, 2018 in San Francisco, California.  (Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch)

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Attorney Andrew G. Celli Jr. discusses his cross-examination of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) during a hearing in Atlanta to determine if Greene is constitutionally barred from running for reelection because of her alleged role in the January 6 insurrection.

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U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks, Friday, April 22, 2022, in Atlanta. Greene is appearing at a hearing Friday in Atlanta in a challenge filed by voters who say she shouldn't be allowed to seek reelection because she helped facilitate the attack on the Capitol that disrupted certification of Joe Biden's presidential victory.(AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool)

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CNN  — 

New audio of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, obtained and reported on by The New York Times on Tuesday, reveals he expressed concern about far-right House Republicans inciting violence against other lawmakers in the aftermath of January 6, 2021.

In the audio, the California Republican repeatedly lamented the inflammatory comments made by some GOP lawmakers following the US Capitol attack – a far different posture than his efforts to downplay Republicans’ role in the insurrection.

On January 10, 2021, McCarthy urged Republican leaders on a private call to monitor the public statements of lawmakers, such as Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama and Matt Gaetz of Florida, and alert him of any potentially dangerous messages.

“The country is too crazy,” McCarthy said, according to audio obtained by two New York Times reporters for their upcoming book, “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future.”

“I do not want to look back and think we caused something or we missed something and someone got hurt. I don’t want to play politics with any of that.”

McCarthy did not respond to questions from reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday regarding the New York Times report. Asked if he was concerned it could hurt his chances of becoming speaker if Republicans win the House in the midterm elections, he said, “Nope.”

The Republican leader had specifically taken issue with a television interview that Gaetz gave attacking Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and other Republicans who criticized former President Donald Trump. “He’s putting people in jeopardy,” McCarthy said of Gaetz, according to the audio. “And he doesn’t need to be doing this. We saw what people would do in the Capitol, you know, and these people came prepared with rope, with everything else.”

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise called Gaetz’s conduct “potentially illegal,” according to the Times. Scalise deflected questions about the New York Times report on Tuesday, blasting the “liberal media” for reporting on the insurrection.

“I haven’t seen what they’re referring to. But it’s not surprising that the liberal media wants to keep talking about January 6, because they don’t want to focus on all the crises that President Biden’s created from inflation to gas prices to the border,” he told reporters.

Gaetz told CNN that he has not seen the Times story.

Brooks, in response to the report, told CNN in a statement that “Kevin McCarthy spoke before knowing the facts.”

According to the audio, McCarthy grew more pointed when an inflammatory tweet from GOP Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama about rioter Ashli Babbitt was read aloud during the call. “Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” McCarthy asked.

His comments mark the latest instance of a damning conversation he had in the immediate aftermath of January 6 coming to light.

The California Republican is already facing criticism after separate audio clips revealed contradictory statements he made about Trump.

In one audio clip, he is heard telling GOP leaders in the days following the insurrection that he planned to advise Trump to resign, among other things. McCarthy has since defended his comments, saying he had been walking through potential scenarios about Trump’s fate after the insurrection and hadn’t been advocating any of them.

During a closed-door leadership meeting Tuesday evening, McCarthy addressed the recent controversy, two sources familiar with the meeting told CNN.

After making a joke about whether anyone was recording him, McCarthy explained to his leadership team, as well as committee leaders, that he never asked Trump to resign or brought that idea to the conference.

“Don’t let things like this divide us. We need to stick together,” McCarthy said in concluding his remarks.

In another audio clip obtained and previously reported by the Times, McCarthy told Republican lawmakers on a private conference call that Trump had admitted to bearing some responsibility for the attack.

This story has been updated with additional information Tuesday.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/kevin-mccarthy-audio-january-6-republican-lawmakers/index.html