Kevin McCarthy tries to distance himself from Trump election conspiracies despite previously backing them

‘President Trump won this election, so everyone who’s listening, do not be quiet’

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy attempted to distance himself from Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen, despite having backed the former president's challenge at the time.

Mr McCarthy made the claims on Friday when he was asked by a reporter why it was acceptable for him to challenge the 2020 election results but balk at Democrats similarly challenging the contested House race in Iowa between Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democratic Congresswoman Rita Hart.

"You're saying something that's not true," Mr McCarthy said in response to the challenge.

Mr McCarthy never pushed back on Mr Trump's attempts to challenge the 2020 election, and he backed a Texas lawsuit challenging the election results in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

The lawsuit, which was thrown out by the Supreme Court, would have invalidated millions of legally cast votes in favour of Mr Trump.

The Congressman refused to acknowledge that he backed those efforts, and did not say why he did not speak out against the conspiracy theory in the weeks following the election.

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"I'm not Donald Trump," he said.

Mr McCarthy said he only objected to the outcomes of two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, and said that those states being overturned would have not have impacted the election's results. However, had his objections succeeded, it still would have disenfranchised millions of voters' ballots.

"If Arizona and Pennsylvania were removed in the Electoral College [tally], would President Biden's numbers [go] below 270?" he asked. "The answer is no."

When asked if he supported the Texas lawsuit, he said he did.

"The answer is yes and you know why, because that's where you go: to the courts," he said.

Mr McCarthy was one of the first Republicans to back Mr Trump's election conspiracy theories. He made comments asserting as much two days after the election.

"President Trump won this election, so everyone who's listening, do not be quiet," he said.