Trump news: Kevin McCarthy says ex-president accepted responsibility for Jan 6 in new audio
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Your support makes all the difference.A newly released audio recording from January 2021 features House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy telling Republican members that Donald Trump “bears responsibility for his words and actions” around the 6 January riot – and that the then-president told him “he does have some responsibility for what happened”.
Mr McCarthy yesterday denied a New York Times report that said he had considered urging Mr Trump to step down in the aftermath of the riot – but not long after his statement was put out, audio of that conversation was released, confirming that the report was accurate and that Mr McCarthy’s denial was false.
Liz Cheney’s office has denied leaking the earlier recording of a discussion between the congresswoman and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in which the two discussed whether Donald Trump should resign after the events of 6 January 2021.
On the recording, Mr McCarthy tells Ms Cheney – now a member of the 6 January committee – that he would suggest Mr Trump resign from office in the face of a looming impeachment.
Utah Senator defends pre-Jan 6 texts to Mark Meadows
Mike Lee, a right-wing Utah Senator who infamously said Donald Trump deserved a “mulligan” over the events of 6 January 2021, has given an interview seeking to clarify texts he exchanged with Mr Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in the period between the 2020 election and the Capitol attack.
Speaking to his home state’s Deseret News, Mr Lee insisted Mr Meadows knew the senator “was not there to do his bidding”, claimed his texts have been taken out of context for “political motives”, and declined to unequivocally state that Joe Biden was elected via a free and fair election.
Read the interview below.
Analysis: Who is Trump backing for the Senate, and why?
Next month sees a rash of crucial Senate primaries in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Alabama – and in every major race, one of the most important factors is Donald Trump’s endorsement. So far, the received wisdom has been that the former president can do a lot to boost any the chances of any candidate he likes, but the unusual dynamics of the upcoming races will put that logic to the test.
Writing for The Independent, Eric Garcia offers a guide to Mr Trump’s most important endorsements thus far, and what they could mean for the future of the GOP in Washington.
From Doctor Oz to Herschel Walker: Here’s who Trump’s backing in primary races in May
May will be a crucial proving ground for the weight of aan endorsement from the de facto head of the Republican party, writes Eric Garcia
Congress begins investigating election misinformation
One of the biggest worries about threats to future US elections is that the proliferation of disinformation and conspiracy theories could fuel threats to election workers – and even lead to the passage of laws on false premises. Now, a House of Representatives committee is beginning an investigation into state-level disinformation, focusing for now on four states; Arizona, Florida, Ohio and Texas.
In a letter, the panel asked officials to explain the most significant misinformation and disinformation claims they were exposed to, the impact those had on election administration, and any threats they’ve received as a result of the many false theories pushed by right-wing supporters of Donald Trump.
Read more from the Washington Post.
McCarthy ”wanted Trump banned from Twitter after Jan 6"
The emerging reports of furious discussions among top Republicans after the 6 January riot are yielding all sorts of anecdotes, and one of the more ironic is a claim that Kevin McCarthy wanted Donald Trump and some of his party’s more extreme representatives kicked off social media.
Andrew Feinberg has more.
Details emerge of GOP leaders’ fury at Trump after Jan 6: ‘I’ve had it with this guy’
‘What he did is unacceptable. Nobody can defend that and nobody should defend it’
Marjorie Taylor Greene case could hinge on tweets
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene tomorrow faces a case that could see her barred from holding public office over a clause in the 14th amendment which applies to those who have engaged in “rebellion” against the Constitution. The group suing to get her banned from the ballot claims that she supported the rioters who stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021 – and in the complaint against her, it points to her repeated use of “1776” in messages and tweets sent in the run-up to the attack:
On January 5, 2021, Pence informed Trump that he did not have the authority to unilaterally reject electoral votes and consequently would not do so. This was widely and publicly reported that same day. Nonetheless, Greene insisted that the following day would be “our 1776 moment!” and that “the people will remember the Patriots who stood for election integrity.”
“1776” was used as a codeword for violence in the run-up to January 6. For instance, Ali Alexander, a violent extremist who listed Representative Greene as a speaker at his January 6 event, and referred to Greene as a “friend,” replied to a Tweet by Greene on December 30, 2020, promising that “1776 is *always* an option” if objections to certification were blocked.48 The responses indicate it was understood as a call to storm the Capitol.
And of course, Ms Greene wasn’t the only far-right member of Congress to invoke the year of the Declaration of Independence:
ICYMI: The audio that shows Trump "didn’t storm out of interview”
Enraged by the trailer for his interview with Piers Morgan, which purports to show him walking out in the face of aggressive questioning, Donald Trump has released audio recorded during the two men’s discussion – and the clip he’s put out appears to contradict the trailer’s version of events.
Read more from Gustaf Kilander below.
Trump releases audio in effort to prove he didn’t storm out of Piers Morgan interview
Ex-president says TV presenter tried to ‘deceptively edit his long and tedious interview with me’
New book reveals how McConnell, McCarthy backed out of effort to punish Trump for Jan 6
An upcoming book from two New York Times reporters details how top GOP leaders on Capitol Hill were all in with the effort to punish Donald Trump over the Jan 6 attack on Congress — that is, until it became clear that the majority of their party was still behind the former president.
In This Will Not Pass, reporters Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin examine behind-the-scenes statements made by the two GOP leaders on the Hill, Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, and how their thinking evolved in the days and weeks following the deadly attack.
“I didn’t get to be leader by voting with five people in the conference,” noted Mr McConnell to a friend, according to the two reporters.
Read more at the Times:
Lawyer fighting to disqualify Marjorie Taylor Greene says she used ‘codeword’ to encourage Capitol riot
One of the attorneys involved in the lawsuit to toss Marjorie Taylor Greene’s name from the ballot in Georgia argued on Wednesday that Ms Greene “signalled” her followers to join the attack on Congress the next day.
Ron Fein’s statement to MSNBC on Wednesday went further than most have done and directly accused Ms Greene of knowing ahead of time that violence was likely.
“The day before the attack, she signaled to her followers a codeword that meant to storm federal buildings and supposedly overthrow tyrants,” said Mr Fein. “So, we are going to ask her about all of that and more.”
Ms Greene has long denied any support for the violence on January 6, but remains a supporter of Donald Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election.
Read more from The Independent’s Nathan Place:
Lawyer says Marjorie Taylor Greene used ‘codeword’ to encourage Capitol riot
‘The day before the attack, she signaled to her followers a codeword that meant to storm federal buildings and supposedly overthrow tyrants,’ says Ron Fein, the lawyer who will question Ms Greene
Former US ambassador to Ukraine rips Trump’s commitment to Kyiv
Marie Yovanovitch, the US ambassador to Ukraine under former President Donald Trump who was ousted in an apparent effort to give Rudy Giuliani free reign to conduct diplomacy in the country, tore into her former boss on Wednesday.
Ms Yovanovitch joined MSNBC and claimed that Mr Trump was never committed to aiding Ukraine’s national defence, sharply contrasting the claims made by the former president and his allies since the Russian invasion began.
“President Trump was using Ukraine as a pawn for his own personal reasons, rather than working for our national security interests, which included having a strong Ukraine,” she said.
Watch the interview at MSNBC:
Trump Jr to meet with Jan 6 committee
Donald Trump Jr will meet with lawmakers on the January 6 committee who are seeking his voluntary testimony, sources on the committee told ABC News on Thursday.
The eldest son of the former president was a top figure in Mr Trump’s reelection campaign, unlike his sister Ivanka and her husband who served inside the administration.
The committee is likely trying to establish how much the Trump campaign and former president’s inner circle knew about the likelihood that violence would erupt on January 6, and to determine how deeply Mr Trump Jr was involved in post-election efforts to overturn the results.
Read more from The Independent:
Donald Trump Jr expected to give evidence in Capitol riot investigation
Former president Donald Trump’s eldest son will soon meet with congressional investigators looking into the causes of the worst attack on the US Capitol since 1814, according to a new report.
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