Is Cheney innocent?
Rep. Liz Cheney denied allegations about leaking the tape of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The tape in question showed McCarthy telling GOP members that after the Capitol riot he would urge former President Donald Trump telling GOP colleagues he would urge former President Donald Trump’s resignation.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow played the recording of McCarthy in which he responds to Cheney, who at the time was chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, a question about Trump stepping down.
“The select committee has asked Kevin McCarthy to speak with us about these events, but he has so far declined,” Cheney’s spokesperson said on Friday. “Rep. Cheney did not record or leak the tape and does not know how the reporters got it.”
McCarthy has denied reports about this episode, which was first noted in the New York Times on Thursday morning. Notably, the California Republican said the report is “totally false and wrong.”
Also on the call were Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second-ranking House Republican, and Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, the chairman of the GOP’s House campaign committee. A representative for Scalise said, “Neither he nor anyone on his team recorded or leaked private conversations among members.”
“I’m seriously thinking of having that conversation with him tonight. I haven’t talked to him in a couple of days,” McCarthy is heard to say in the tape.
“The only discussion I would have with him is that I think this [impeachment resolution] will pass and it would be my recommendation you should resign,” McCarthy continued. “That would be my take, but I don’t think he would take it. But I don’t know.”
McCarthy has not yet made any comments about the tape.
In January McCarthy refused to give testimony to the House committee investigating the Capitol riot regarding his conversations with Trump.
“And now it wants to interview me about public statements that have been shared with the world and private conversations not remotely related to the violence that unfolded at the Capitol. I have nothing else to add,” he had said at the time.
