VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) – A Washington state Republican who was one of 10 members of the Republican Party House who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump on Friday asked people with knowledge of the conversations Trump had during the Capitol rebellion January 6 to speak out.
Deputy Jaime Herrera Beutler said in a statement that minority leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, told her he spoke to Trump while the rebels invaded the Capitol. She said McCarthy publicly asked Trump to “cancel the riot” and told Trump that the violent crowd was a Trump supporter, not extreme left-wing antifa members.
In his statement, released via Twitter, Herrera Beutler said: “That’s when, according to McCarthy, the president said, ‘Well, Kevin, I think these people are more upset about the election than you are.’”
The congresswoman’s revelation comes as the U.S. Senate conducts Trump’s impeachment trial, which is due to resume on Saturday. On Friday, Trump’s defense team denied that he incited the deadly mutiny and said his encouragement for followers to “fight like hell” at a rally that preceded him was a routine political speech.
US House members who are acting as prosecutors in the impeachment say that Trump was the “chief instigator” who spread electoral falsehoods, so he encouraged his supporters to challenge the results.
Herrera Buetler, who represents Washington’s 3rd Congressional District in the southwestern part of the state, said she had broadcast parts of her conversation with McCarthy before to constituents and the local media.
She then called people with knowledge of Trump’s conversation with McCarthy to speak.
“And for the patriots who were at the side of the former president while these talks were going on, or even for the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time,” she said.
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This story has been updated to correct that Herrera Beutler represents Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.